Beaumont Provisional Park

  On our journey we stopped at a rest area and I decided it was time to measure the Fireweed. So I sent Liz out into the ‘field’. Take a look!!!

  We were a long time in deciding that the ‘cottony’ things were actually on the Fireweed.

  We arrived here at Beaumont Provisional Park and it was, of course, another nice park. It may have been the nicest of all the parks that we stayed in as far as walking trails and if there had been time for kayaking the lake was beautiful.   We saw many, many berries. (Can you say “Hey Bear”), some we had seen before and some looked kind of like some others but maybe a little different. However, we didn’t eat any of them. If you get the wrong one, it can do nasty things to you.

  and fungi!

  The Ft. Fraser Trail that we took had lots of interesting information on sign boards all the way down the trail. Certainly the most educational trail so far. We started at the old house!

 

  We had an opportunity to look at some great birds while we were out walking. This was a really large campground. Sapsucker, Cedar Waxwings, White-throated Sparrow.

 

  We left Beaumont and headed toward Lucerne campground in Jasper National Park and the beginning of the Icefield Parkway.

Tyhee Lake Provincial Park

It was another beautiful day. Sunny and nice.

The drive from Kleanza Provincial Park to here at Tyhee Lake Provincial Park was like driving in valleys of hay fields with trees in between. Some small towns were mixed in with the farm areas. We had a little cloudy and misty weather during the morning but it cleared off and was a nice afternoon. This was a nice stop. I pulled in because I thought it was a Farmer’s Market at a Rest Stop. Partly right. Took some nice photos at the stop. Didn’t buy any Farmer’s stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

We passed through Smithers and got gas there. We arrived at Tyhee Lake Provincial Park. This was another nice park. By this time of the year the park roads may have potholes large enough to drop Herbie into them. We managed to find spots and get setup. Then we went into town to stock up on some groceries at the local Safeway.
We had seen a sign for a city park when we were driving in so we drove by to look at it. It was booked solid. It was a fairly large campground with no trees within the parking area but was surrounded by trees and a river was running beside the campground. We made our way back and then went for a hike. It was nice when we started our hike and most of the way through it. However, it did start to sprinkle about 100 yards from the campground. We didn’t melt however. In the lake we saw these small fry and then some more even smaller fry. Beautiful clear water.

Critters abound….stuffing themselves for winter.

Kleanza Provincial Park

When we left Prince Rupert it was not quite breaking day. A few miles out of town we pulled off and awaited the breaking of dawn.  Here it is!

Then we hit the road again. The weather was fog, mist and cloudy much of the drive, but not too bad.

We made the Kleanza Provincial Park and spent our first night there. That was a nice park even though the GPS gave us the wrong directions. I had to unhook Herbie and turn around. Liz turned Sport around went on a little further and found the park. Surprisingly the FRS radios worked and I was able to get directions from her. The Park Operator opened an area that was closed so that we could get Suite Pea, Herbie and Sport close together. There was another spot in that circle, but he chose to not put another rig in there.

After getting setup we took a hike and found lots of interesting things. Liz is always dragging me off up the mountains, thru the forests and showing me all these great sights! What a travel companion!

The water was so clear you thought you were looking at the river bottom with no water.

Yes, it is Liz down the trail! See that rope pulling me?!

 



 

Interesting ferns growing in this climate.

 

Can't see that it is a full grown tree the falls going over. No way to get there and get a better shot.

 

Dad and daughter having a fun time out while mom is with brother over at camp. She was so cute!

 

 

Our friend the Robin.

 

 

Liz walking back up from a little exploring.

 

 

It was a beautiful day!

 

 

 

 

I was left trying to figure out how the rock got into the trunk of that tree. Any ideas?

 

 

The next morning we got up fairly early and hit the road as we wanted to make as many miles as we could….we were goal oriented. The Icefields Parkway!

Inside Passage–Petersburg to Prince Rupert

We were due to arrive and depart Petersburg in the dark. Didn’t happen. Schedules are made. (As an RVer the schedule is made in JELLO) We thought that we would awaken in route to Wrangell. However, when we got topside we found we were somewhere but we didn’t know where. We were not moving, we were stopped. Nice photo ops at Petersburg while waiting for the tide to come in!

  Seems as though we were at dock at Petersburg but we thought we were early at Wrangell. Seems like the system forgot that we would be arriving and be in port at the time of the “low tide” and thus we were slightly stranded for a few hours. Once we got moving we went with great speed. Okay as fast as they could. We were way behind schedule. Nice gulls flying by but they were hard to shoot!

 

 

 

 

 

  That was the second large flock of gulls. No ID from me!!!

   Consequently, we just kissed the dock at Wrangell and kept on moving. That means there was no passengers to get on or off at that point and any goods musta been tossed to the dock cuz we surely didn’t stop.  Our next stop was scheduled for early evening and a stop of 4 hours at Ketchikan. We arrived late and we were there a couple of hours. We walked on the side of the highway again. We looked at what appeared to be some type of storm, plane, or natural disaster damage to the mountain/hill above the roadside. We then went back to the boat and took photos of the sunset and moon rise at the harbor. We also got some awesome sights of wildlife in the bay area.

   We called it a night and hit the bed knowing we would need to get up about 1:30 to be ready to eat a bite. We would need to go get our rigs off at the Prince Rupert dock as we docked.

We arrived on schedule at Prince Rupert. Liz was to be one of the first out, but they started on the opposite side and she was a little later starting. I was about 4th behind her with Herbie and then had to go back and pick up Suite Pea. There was a spot outside that I was able to hook up and then go thru Canadian Customs. Then we met up and were on our way. It was about 4 a.m. We wanted to be out of Prince Rupert before the City awakened. So we hit the road and had some fog to deal with.

Inside Passage–Haines to Juneau–Day 1

We left the campground for the Ferry about 8:30.  

We viewed our campground on the way by as well as Fort Seward and the city of Haines. Great little town and I’d definitely come back.

 

  That away to Skagway (bear right) and to the end of the bay and the State Park and bear viewing area.

  We spent a lot of time watching the birds as they both followed the boat and moved out of the way of the boat. The docks for the towns and cities and normally quite a way from the town. Could be anywhere from 4-8 miles away. So you either have to have a taxi and make sure they get you back on time or you just walk locally for sight seeing. the AKMHS waits for no one!   Looking back, right and left side of the boat.

  This is the “cabin” on the Inside Passage. Watch as it develops.

 

  Just some of the scenery.

  Another nice glacier!!

 

  This glacier means we are getting closer to Juneau.

  Spouts in the water….check it out. Liz has much better pics.

  Yep it is Juneau.

  A little boat in the harbor. It is private and “parked” in a special spot.

  Our first stop was scheduled for Juneau mid-afternoon. We were late and only had a couple of hours for our stop. We elected to walk up the highway for a little ways. We met a couple that told us about a stream and spawning salmon and Bald Eagles. They also said that there were Golden Eagles, but they were actually immature (HY-hatch year) Bald Eagles. Mom and Dad were teaching them to catch fish in the stream. That was fun to watch as they would walk out into the stream and touch the fish with their feet and then jump back.   On the way down and little ID.

  The eagles get priority for the show. Here is Dad.

  This is mom and two of the three young. I think one is a HY and the other is 3rd year – but I have been wrong before. The third young is around somewhere.

  Young caught a fish and was dragging it to the shore for eating.  

Here it is kind of looking at everyone around, ravens, gulls, and people and asking the question – so what?

Kayakers in the bay!

The Salmon were, of course, in the throes of final life as they spawned and then you could see them a little bit at a time, just floating backwards with no attempt to go forward any more. Then they would just flip and flop and die.   Salmon has second priority for photos though this all happened at the same time.

 

 

 

Really!! They look like this!

  We made it back to the ship in time to go to dinner on board. Then we were back out and watching the receding shoreline and the birds.  We retired to our cabin and made a night of it.

Goodnight!