It's about 4,500 miles from Anchorage to Hilton Head using the shortest possible road connections, but I chose a route that took me along the Canadian Rockies and into Idaho and western Montana, where I haven't been before. So, all in all it was close to 5,300 miles (8.500 km) that I drove in 4 weeks.
The first two weeks I was accompanied by my daughter Beate, how arrived in Anchorage from Germany the same day when Silke and Benjamin had to fly home (because school started for Ben). Going south from Alaska, we took the Cassiar Highway as an alternative route to the Alaska Highway, going through Prince George instead of Dawson Creek. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't always cooperating the way it did on our trip up north, but it was nice enough for Beate to enjoy the great nature of the Northern Rockies.
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| Wrangell Mountain Range, Wrangell-St.Elias National Park in Alaska |
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| Autumn starts early in Alaska... |
On the Cassiar Hwy, I had to deal with refueling issues for the first (and last) time.
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| Overnight stop at beautiful Boya Lake, Cassiar Hwy. |
From the Cassiar Highway, we drove east, via Prince George, across the backbone of the Canadian Rockies into Jasper and Banff national parks.
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| Pyramid Lake in Jasper National Park |
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| Elk resting near the town of Jasper |
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| Athabasca glacier, right next to the Icefield Parkway between Jasper and Banff |
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| Beate with Lake Louise as backdrop |
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| Lake Minnewanka in Banff NP |
After two weeks, Beate flew back from Calgary to Germany and I started my long haul back to Hilton Head. Through British Columbia (again) to Idaho and Montana on beautiful mountain roads, then I-90 across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, then I-80 across Iowa and Illinois to Indiana, and from there via I-65, I-75 and I-40 through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina finally to South Carolina. Here are some impressions:
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| Lake Kookanusa in western Montana |
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| On I-90 east in Montana - notice the fresh snow! |
One of the ultimate highlights of the back trip was Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Looks like Utah or Arizona, but it isn't!
Once on I-80, the scenery didn't change for almost 1000 miles and 4 states: Cornfields, cornfields, and cornfields.
Until, finally, North Carolina tells me
I am close to home...
All those who have made that trip say, it's the trip of a lifetime. And we couldn't agree more. It's a unique, mind-boggling experience, almost impossible to describe why. At the end of this blog, here is one of the many images we will never forget:
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