After more than a month of travel in wild places, it was quite an adjustment getting home and straight back into a five day horse show at Spruce Meadows. Tim and I proved to be quite a good team on the road, which actually seemed much easier than our routine at home, and other…
Alaska and Yukon
We spent the next two days testing the FJ’s off-road capabilities, exploring the old abandoned mining roads, crossing creeks and tundra-climbing around Steamboat and Vaughn Mountains. The fall colours were just beginning to turn, and the few caribou that ranged here challenged the scope of my 300mm lens. The weather was erratic as we faced…
We carried on south with the feeling that we really did not want to be heading home. After one month on the road we were really into the rhythm of traveling and the simplicity of the outdoors. Tim suggested we stop at Atlin Lake, a slight diversion to the route home. Tim had visited Atlin several years…
As we proceed south back to Tombstone Territorial park we were disappointed but not surprised to find that some of the better hiking trails and campsites had been closed due to the amount of bear activity. However, the clouds at least had lifted enough that we were able to see the peaks of Mount Tombstone…
Inuvik is one of the most forgettable places I have been to. It seems the town makes little effort to entice travelers to stay. It is difficult to find decent food, everything is overpriced and (other than a nice visitors centre) there is no interesting landscape. A lot of people take a flight tour from Inuvik to Tuktoyuktuk,…
We continued on up the Dempster and arrived at Eagle Plains where we got gas for $1.78/litre and two burgers and drinks for $35.00. The locals told us that the Porcupine Caribou herd had begun their fall migration just north of the Arctic Circle. This migration is one month early which may indicate an early…
We arrived in Dawson City and the weather finally broke so we took the opportunity to spend a few hours restocking our groceries and again drying out our gear. We cruised around this strange little town which seems to struggle in its attempt to appear as it did in the Gold Rush Days. We then…
A long and rainy drive from Anchorage to the Yukon boarder gave me much time to reflect on my week with the Katmai Bears. I come away with two main thoughts. One is that I have just witnessed something that will impact me forever, the behaviour of the brown bears in their natural habitat and…
Hallo Bay is the ‘eden’ of the Katmai Coast. Meadows filled with wildflowers and tall grass, incredible rocky islands with towering sea cliffs and the Hallo Glacier feeding the bay. The river from the glacier to the shore is prime feeding grounds for the local bears and so our first excusion was an early morning…
Our morning excursion to the river’s mouth brought us upon two young males. They were either siblings or had partnered up after being kicked out by there mothers. They came up the river, snorkeling underwater, looking for fish along the way. They were full of energy and gave us a full display of ‘play fighting’. Both…