#ProjectAlaska: Taylor to Innisfail

The scenery turned to a more familiar theme upon coming onto the plains of Alberta - back to flat land. As such, I didn't get many pictures. This is the Peace River Bridge at Taylor located where my campground was. The remaining three pictures were taken at a park where Napoleon Lake is located in Innisfail.

#ProjectAlaska: Muncho Lake

Not long after leaving Liard River, I came upon Muncho Lake; a truly exquisite area. The beauty here reminds me of North Cascades National Park around Diablo Lake in the US. The drive through the park is one of awe. My only recommendation is to make sure you have plenty of gas BEFORE entering the park. Gas prices inside the park are VERY high; about $8.00 per gallon at the time I was there. The trip to Toad River was exhilarating and made the day very pleasurable. While the rest of the day wasn't bad by any stretch; the trip from Toad River to Taylor just didn't quite compare.

#ProjectAlaska: Whitehorse to Liard River

One road I considered taking a side trip on and then decided against is the Canol Road. This road is gravel; very steep and narrow in parts; and due to its remoteness, I decided I should stay on a more main route. As you can see here, there are no services at all until Ross River, 226 kilometers from this point. Part of why I decided against taking it had to do with wildfires. Out here, most wildfires are left to burn being there aren't many buildings or anything to protect other than forest. Also, there is no cellphone service out here to call for help should anything go wrong. I was carrying a rather substantial amount of food in the freezer which required electricity each night at the campgrounds. A breakdown on this road might turn out to be a serious problem, so I decided not to risk it.

Further along this day's route brought me to the world famous "Sign Post Forest" at Watson Lake [http://www.watsonlake.ca/our-community/sign-post-forest/].

Also along my route to Liard River, I came upon quite a bit of wildlife. Here are a couple of young black bears:

Not too far from the bears, I came upon a herd of bison. Upon further investigation, sadly I realized that part of the reason they were all congregating on the side of the road was due to a young calf having been hit probably not too long before I arrived.

Tomorrow I'll have some really beautiful pictures along with more wildlife!

#ProjectAlaska: Tok to Whitehorse

So, now that we've done a redesign of this blog; what do you think???

I found this display of historical information about the old Tanana River Bridge not just interesting, but found the layout rather artistic as well. It is actually situated in the old roadbed on top of the old abutment. Pieces of the old bridge were used in the construction of it and a model of the old bridge in its entirety forms the railing:

The mountains in the background and the storm clouds give an eerie look to this lake:

This is Kluane Lake at Destruction Bay:

                                                       

#ProjectAlaska: Fairbanks and Beyond

I was somewhat glad to leave Nenana as the mosquitoes were pretty thick there. As it turned out, this particular location was the only one during the entire trip that gave me any trouble from insects. Considering what I had read about in so many different publications, blogs, and even talking with friends who had been to Alaska; I was actually rather surprised that with the exception of this single location, no further bug issues were encountered.

The route from Nenana to Tok was rather uneventful and I didn't come upon much in terms of scenery, either. In fact, very few pictures were even taken during this stretch.

 Looking down into Fairbanks:

At Fairbanks, the road becomes the "unofficial" Alaska Highway. The "official" highway actually begins at Delta Junction; about 94 miles to the south of where the Richardson Highway and the Parks Highway meet at Fairbanks. A pretty lake I spotted along the way:

#ProjectAlaska: Talkeetna to Nenana

Starting out at Talkeetna, I drove in rain and fog all the way to Denali National Park. I was disappointed that the fog was so thick; I didn't even bother stopping at the southern viewpoint on the Parks Highway because one couldn't see more than about 50 feet in front of the vehicle, let alone be able to see Denali (Mt. McKinley). Still, I was hopeful that the rain and fog would clear up by the time I got to Denali NP or shortly thereafter. As it turned out, the rain did stop and the fog cleared; but the clouds themselves were still there which prevented any sights of Denali's peak. So, I enjoyed the sights of the wildlife in the park (my first sight of a brown bear up close!) and also got a small bit of climbing a rock in.

This rock doesn't look very impressive when taking a picture from the bridge, but once I got to the top it seemed MUCH bigger:

This next set of pictures was taken from the Grande Denali Lodge high above the valley below [http://www.denalialaska.com/grande-denali-lodge/]:

#ProjectAlaska: Tolsona and Anchorage

I felt great as I wound my way back to Glennallen; excited to see what was to the west along my way to Anchorage. The Tolsona Wilderness Campground turned out to be just how it was labeled: wilderness. There was no town to speak of, just the campground and a restaurant/bar that was more or less empty. It is a pretty fair distance back in the woods from the highway on a gravel road which was very dusty. It was a very quiet place with just the sound of a creek flowing through it along with occasional sounds from guest's vehicles entering or exiting.

The following day was going to be a busy exciting day for sure. Along the way to Anchorage, I discovered an unexpected surprise. I came upon a small town named Glacier View, which is where I got to see the Matanuska Glacier. As usual, the pictures don't do it justice. 

Around lunchtime, I reached my first destination of the day; the sprawling Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport:

Here is the view of the Pacific Ocean from Elderberry Park in Anchorage; along with a shot of part of the park itself: