Tuesday June 18th we boarded the Matanuska Alaska Marine Ferry from Prince Rupert, BC to Haines, AK. It was rainy Tuesday the 6 hours we waited to board. Going through yet another customs and border crossing. But once we were on the ferry the clouds started to break and we had beautiful weather for our day and a half trip through part of Alaska's Inside passage.
The beauty of this area is amazing. Glaciers, hump back whales, sea lions, quaint fishing villages, light houses, and miles and miles of wilderness.
Once in Haines (12:45am docking), we camped in the ferry terminal parking lot for the night. The next morning we drove to Chilkoot Lake St Rec campground. So pretty and a great place to camp for two days. We were blessed with sightings of eagles, baby eagles on a nest, harlequin ducks, and surf scooters.
We left Haines and traveled the one and only road out, north through a bit of Canada to the Alaskan Highway then headed west back to Alaska. We have been treated this entire trip so far with beautiful wildflowers. Here is Lake Kluane in the Yukon.
Below you see a sunset picture from Delta Junction just 100 miles south of Fairbanks. What you need to know is that this was taken at 11:45pm! The days here ARE long. Sunset about midnight and sunrise around 3am! And the "night" is not dark at all. Glad our blinds in the camper are good at darkening.
We are seeing a lot of moose now feeding along the roads. And being spring we get to see the babies. Here is an adorable little moose. But they sure do grow up to be very big.
We were told many times in our research for this trip that there would be a lot of road construction along the way because the hard winters are tough on the roads and they have a very short window of opportunity to do their work. We are seeing this very often. But thankful they are doing it because there is many miles of dips, patches, and holes that still need attention. You really have to drive below the speed limit or you will be air born, literally!
We are camping just outside Denali tonight. Tomorrow we will go to our reserved site in Teklanika campground. It is 30 miles into the park. No private vehicles are permitted past 15 miles so we are excited to get back in a more remote part of the park. We are not permitted to move our RV once there until we leave (7days). We have stocked up on supplies, will empty our tanks and fill our fresh water. Lets see if we can make it stretch for 7 days! Oh, did you hear that Alaska is having a heat wave? Yes, 90o! We did not pack enough shorts I fear. But we probably won't want shorts as that just exposes more for the bugs! Yes they are abundant too. But we are still having a wonderful time!
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