Alaska!
Midnight Sun Summer 2026
Telegraph Creek
Day 53 8/12/26 Wednesday Foggy this morning. We were/are expecting a sunny day. At some point it will burn off. Dease Lake. Coffee crisis. Didn’t realize how low the supply was when shopping in Whitehorse … let’s see what Dease Lake has. Bought coffee .. Tim Horton’s was the most reasonably priced. Kicking Horse coffee was…
Jade city
Day 52 8/11/26 Tuesday We had a rainstorm last night. It rained pretty hard for quite a while. It sent everyone scrambling inside tents and campers for the evening. Disappointing because it was beautiful and calm on the lake. I, however, still felt pretty miserable from my cold so I crashed out early. We are…
Cassiar Highway start
Day 51 8/10/26 Monday Fairly sunny start this morning. Then it turned to showers. Back to bright but cloudy before the turnoff to Hwy 37. The Cassiar Highway. We have seen several cyclists today. They are riding either north to south or vice versa. Prudhoe Bay to Argentina. Some have shorter routes. Lots of soloists. Cassiar…
How’s the road?
Day 50 8/9/26 Sunday Mosquito count: prevalent in the morning. Several in the van. Weather: This morning is overcast with a cool breeze. As the morning progressed the sun was trying to break through and take the chill off. But it turned into a mostly cloudy, gray drizzle day. Highway conditions. Today’s highways are notoriously…
Leaving the 49th state on Day 49
Day 49 8/8/26 Saturday. Such a coincidence that we are leaving Alaska (the 49th state) on day 49 of our trip. It just dawned on me as I was writing this. Mosquito count: they’re back in Canada Thick!! Weather. Today is a warm day. We both were overdressed and by the end of the day…
Fairbanks
Day 48 8/7/26 Friday Say goodbye to Denali NP. We left Denali park about 11am. High clouds in the sky and very lights winds. Mosquitos were out this morning for the first time in many, many days. Our campground was 29 miles into the park so we have wonderful views of wide open land and…
Bear Bear! Moose! Mountain!
Day 47 8/6/26 Thursday Moose for breakfast. We had breakfast this morning at Jana’s camper. Lance cooked us scrambled eggs (delicious) and Moose bacon! I had never had moose meat of any sort and this bacon was delicious. Fortified with a good breakfast and lunches and snacks packed we were ready to hike the Sable…
Bicycling Denali
Day 46. 8/5/26 Wednesday Denali shuttle bus system. This is how the shuttle buses and Denali roads work. When you check in to your campground at the entrance you also pay $32/each for the shuttle bus. You drive to the Savage River and stop at mile 15 or so where there is a ranger station. The…
Denali bound
Day 45 8/4/26 Tuesday Scenic Route. We drove the scenic way over Hatcher Pass route to Parks Highway. 49 mile route over Hatcher Pass following the Little Susitna River. Bypassing a busy part of the Parks Highway. Once again I am just enjoying the farm scenery of Palmer with red barns and all. We really…
Whittier
Day 44 8/3/26. Monday Weather change for the next couple of days. Wet and windy… mostly windy. This morning temp is 55’F One Way Tunnel. Headed 12 miles to Whittier. Basically a long one way toll tunnel to get there. Toll is $13. No fee on the return. The cue is divided into 6 lanes…
Hike Day in Seward
Day 43 8/2/26 Sunday We had a long casual morning camping on the glacial washout. Not quite the same sunny day as yesterday. The clouds were low and it looked foggy toward the bay. Hike day. We made plans to hike the Tonsina Point Trail at Lowell Point near Seward. At the end of the…
Hero day! Kayaking
Day 42 8/1/26 Saturday We have an expression in snow skiing to define snow texture when it’s so perfect you feel like a hero when you’re skiing… it’s indescribably perfect, the snow is so easy to ski that you feel like you’re an awesome skier! Effortless. If days could have that description than today was…
Return to Seward
Day 41 7/31/26 Friday Time has a way of slipping away. Even though the daylight is long in Alaska it seems that time flies here. Maybe it’s because it’s all new to me and there’s so much to see and explore but even on the quiet days with nothing planned it melts away quickly. Is…
Watchin’ some fishin’
Day 40 7/30/26 Thursday Mosquito count: At sunset they were buzzing. Moose count. 1 Chores. We cleaned the interior of the van. It hasn’t been washed inside since our stop in Whitehorse YT day 17. We did wash the exterior a couple of days ago. As soon as we did it rained… of course. Now…
Salmon fishing on the Kenai River
Day 39 7/29/26 Wednesday Wednesday market. Our arrangement for fishing the Kenai River is set for mid afternoon so we took a trip to the Wednesday market in Soldotna. They have an artisans fair and evening music every Wednesday in the summer. It was a fun “something to do” on a beautiful sunny day. There…
Halibut fishing
Day 38 7/28/26 Tuesday Moose count: 17 (12 cows, 1 bull, 4 calves) Early start. Our day of halibut fishing started really early. Marianne had the coffee ready at 3:45am and we were instructed that AIS (ass-in-seat) was 4:30am. Bagels and cream cheese, coffee to go, lunch and snacks packed and a bag with extra…
Zero Day
Day 37 7/27/26 Monday Mosquito count: 0 Today there is only one photo. It was definitely a “zero” day. Yesterday’s blog was so big everyone needs a break from reading and studying photos. Pivot. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. We had planned to go fishing in the Kenai River but due to circumstances beyond…
A flyout…fish&bears
Day 36 7/26/26 Sunday Mosquito count: 0 Brown Bear count: 3! It’s going to be a good day and a big day! We are getting ready to take a float plane to Crescent Lake in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. It will be a long day 1:30-9:00pm from takeoff to return landing. Settle…
Mountains are out!
Day 35 7/25/26 Saturday Expecting to arrive at 7am in Homer when we woke up about 6:30 the sun was shining and I lifted the shade to the best surprise! The volcanic mountains were showing off this morning! As we were approaching the ferry dock about 15 halibut fishing boats came ripping out of the…
A mossy hike…Kodiak 3
Day 34 Friday 7/24/26 Mosquito count: 0 Kodiak Bear Count: 0 Scat count: 2! Termination Point hike. We woke up to another sunny day. It was windy again… but sunny. We planned to go on a 5 mile hike to the end point of our bay and back. There was a loop trail. We walked…
Kodiak… day 2
Day 33 7/23/26 Thursday Mosquito count: too windy Kodiak Bear count: 0. Scat count: 0 Well as we expected the kayak trip was cancelled about the time we got to get ready…6am. Seems to be how our excursions are working for us on this trip. Chiniak Point. This gave us time to take a beach walk,…
Kodiak Island… day 1
Day 32 7/22/26 Wednesday Mosquito count: zero. We’ve been told there aren’t mosquitos on Kodiak… biting flies? Yes, but we can’t prove that yet Kodiak Bear count: 0. Scat: 0 Ferry by night. We made it through the night on the ferry. There was some rocking and rollling in the middle of the night but…
The “Art” of ferry loading
Day 31 7/21/26. Tuesday Mosquito Count: they all drowned today Campground checkout by noon. We had a full day in Homer before we had to be at the ferry station to Kodiak island at 8:30pm. The usual RV checkout duties, gray water, urine bucket, fresh water before we leave the campground. Jim is working his…
Hike to Grewingk Glacier
Day 30 7/20/26 Monday Mosquito count: ZERO Grewingk Glacier hike by water taxi. There was probably about a dozen of us on the 20 minute taxi this morning that departed Homer at 11am. We were dropped off at the shore and walked the beach to the trail head start. Once we started into the woods…
Set sights for Homer Spit
Day 29 7/19/26. Sunday Mosquito count: one or two. The beauty of cold and wet I guess. Officially one month since we left home in Billings Montana We slept well on our highway pullout with rain falling all night long. It was a pretty steady somewhat heavy rain until we climbed up and out of…
Seward Bound
Day 28 7/18/26 Saturday Mosquito count: just a few…very few Our highway turnout camping turned out to be pretty quiet. Not a lot of highway traffic even in the early morning. We woke up to a neighbor camping on the turnout as well. No rush to get to Seward this morning. I think it is…
Bore tide Turnagain Arm
Day 27 7/17/26. Friday Mosquito count: moderate at camp this evening. Headnet to grill. First… Happy Birthday to my 3rd sister Mimi! (I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers… I’m last) Trust me they all make getting older look pretty good😊 We took good care of Jana’s front yard last night. Nice neighborhood and she…
Glaciers & Moose kind of day
Day 26 7/16/26 Thursday Mosquito count: nope… not today Sunshine and mountains…Good Morning! What a delightful surprise to take the van window covers off and see sunshine and mountain tops this morning! It’s been several days and made us excited to get out and do something active this morning. We decided to get the bicycles…
Heading back into population…
Day 25 7/15/26 Wednesday Off the grid Denali Highway to Palmer AK Mosquito count: am = zero. Pm=zero It rained most of the night and we woke up to being enshrouded in fog. I am happy we had a good view last night because this morning it’s like looking into the abyss. The road was…
Eskers and Kames
Day 24 7/14/26 Tuesday Mosquito count: none really. Too cold and windy today. Heard it raining during the night and it’s been a steady rain this morning. It’s an Alaska muck boot kind of day for sure! No need to be in a hurry getting out if camp. What to do? Where to go today? Not…
Denali Highway
Day 23 7/13/26 Monday Mosquito count: yes there are mosquitos today. Sometimes thick and annoying. Cool early morning a little over 50’f. Very calm at breakfast but the wind came up as we were leaving mid morning and now it feels cold. As we depart camp looking for tonight’s stop around mile 20 (we are on…
Trip pivot to Denali Hwy.
Day 22 7/12/26. Sunday Mosquito count: slight breeze slightly so very few mosquitos at camp tonight. A few to slap in the van. We had a nice sleep last night. Even though we were just in a pull off of the highway there isn’t really much traffic. Especially between 6pm and 9am. This mornings view…
Chicken Alaska
Day 21 7/11/26 Saturday Mosquito count: saw a couple. We had a breeze and used our thermacell when we sat outside in the evening Dawson City YT to A view of the Alaska Range AK taking the Top of the World Highway Tour of Dawson. Today we are spending about half the day in Dawson…
Tombstone Mountain Hike
Day 20 Tombstone Mountain to Dawson City 7/10/26 Friday Mosquito count: few…yet again We started our day with a 5 mile round trip hike up to a viewpoint of the Ogilvie Mountains including Tombstone Mountain. In the beginning, for the first half, the trail was riddled with tree roots. Like veins on an old persons…
Tombstone YT
Day 19 7/9/26 Thursday Mosquito count: few and far between Woke up this morning to some sunshine and only partly cloudy. The wind seems to be minimal today. Yesterday was a bit breezy with a cold wind. On the advice of my brother Paul, Holly & Guy (who we met in Jasper) and Lenore last…
Mountain bike Whitehorse
Day 18 7/8/26 Wednesday Mosquito count: very low to none First things first. I found a bread bakery a few miles outside of Whitehorse. It was closed Monday and Tuesday but open this morning. I’d been saving a bread purchase for this place. Landmark Bakehouse. It was just a nondescript warehouse building. Enter through the…
Explore Whitehorse YT
Day 17 7/7/26 Tuesday Mosquito count: low No special plans today. Expecting it to rain this morning so we slept in. Our van has great blackout window coverings. They magnet to the inside metal on the windows. It’s very, very dark inside. Like a cocoon. It was the spam phone calls that were our alarm…
Carcross to Whitehorse, Yukon
Day 16 7/6/26 Monday Mosquito count: campsite in am: high Whitehorse: low Since we are back traveling north and headed to Whitehorse, Yukon we had another opportunity to visit the Carcross/Tagish First Nation cultural center. It was pretty busy with cruise ship busses last time we were here. This time it’s only 9am and the…
Haines Alaska
Day 15 7/5/26 Sunday Mosquito Count: low (cool & breezy) Ferry to Haines AK. Taking our first ferry of 2026. It’s an express ferry to Haines AK. Takes about 50 minutes. We are taking our bicycles with us to take a ride and for transportation to explore Haines. Traveling a 90 mile fiord and as…
Skagway AK USA
Day 14 7/4/26. Saturday 4th of July!! Calm beautiful morning in Atlin when we woke up. The lake was like glass and it was sunny. We had hopes of going to Kershaw’s Coffee Cafe that is so cute but it doesn’t open until 10am. It’s 8am and we’re ready for breakfast so we made our…
Atlin BC
Day 13 7/3/26 It rained all night and we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on the surrounding peaks of the lake. It’s still really cold outside 43’F with a slight breeze. Doesn’t look like a warm 4th of July. We drove south to the town of Atlin. In the distance to…
Atlin Lake
Day 12 8/2/26 Thursday It’s cold out today. On our drive at 11am it’s only 44’. Good news… fewer mosquitos (maybe). Rain showers were on/off during our drive. Little snippets of sun on occasion. We are taking a tangent today off the Alaskan Highway and headed south back into BC to Atlin Lake. Continental Divide.…
Yukon Territory
Day 11 7/1/26. Wednesday Woke up to a cool, wet morning. Our destination is Watson Lake, Yukon Territory Canada Day! Doesn’t appear to be as big of a celebrated day in the province of BC. As I was talking to a BC woman the other day and mentioned it was almost Canada Day she was…
Liard Again!
Day 10 6/30/26. Tuesday Today we chose to not move forward so it’s going to be an easy slow day. Not much to tell. We started the morning looking for open campsites that were available on the first come-first serve basis. After 3 laps around we settled on our site. It was situated away from the…
Northern Rockies scenic drive
Day 9 6/29/26 Monday Buckle your seat belts… today was a doozy! Beautiful beautiful beautiful Mosquitos Galore Nice camp spot last night. It rained all night. We seldom stepped foot outside at this camp because the mosquitos were thick. I did a video this morning from my window… yikes! Many times when you are “in…
AlCan Highway start
Day 8 6/28/26. Sunday It will be another rainy, cool and cloudy day. Good day to travel and get some miles under our belt. We are planning to camp at Liard Provincial Park Hot Springs tomorrow (Monday night) about 500 miles up the road. So the closer we can get the better… more time to…
North 40 Route
Scenic Route to Alaska Day 7 6/27/26 Saturday Hinton AB to Grand Prairie AB We are continuing north now toward the start of the ALCAN Highway. I have only one objective today and that is to take care of some laundry. It’s been a week and we have some clothes to wash! We’re going to…
Miette Hot Springs
Day 6 June 26,26 Friday Drive Maligne Canyon in Jasper NP to Maligne Lake Tried to take a short hike along the Maligne River in the “bridges” section. It was the only trail open after the fire. That hike didn’t last long… needed our muck boots. The river is high and every little side stream…
Explore Jasper area
Day 5 6/25/26 Thursday Looks like another beautiful windless day. Expecting some rain later in the day. We shall see. Leisurely morning since we are staying put for the day. We have another night in this campground and we intend to bicycle around some trails along the Athabasca River and to Pyramid Lake this morning.…
The color of the lakes and rivers!
Day 4 6/24/26 Wednesday Banff to Jasper BC Another beautiful day. Sunny and pleasant temp. Hoodoos above Bow River Bow River Falls We headed north to Jasper National Park today. There were many places we did not stop because it was far too crowded with visitors and cars. You could wait a long time to…
Banff/Bow Valley Parkway
Day 3 June 23, 2026 Tuesday Free Parking in Banff is a premium. Even though it’s only Tuesday we left camp at 8am to park in the free parking area near the Train Station. Once there we had some breakfast and got the bikes ready to ride our 30 mile out & back on the…
We keep returning to Canada
Day 2 June 22, 2026 Monday Choteau MT to Banff AB Canada Entering Canada on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The Port of Piegan/Carway near Babb MT. It enters Alberta west of Lethbridge and directly south of Calgary Driving north of Choteau on the Ivan Doig Memorial Highway. Ivan Doig is a famous Montana writer. Some…
Western Montana headed to Alberta…again😊
Day 1 June 21, 2026 Sunday Grasshopper Creek Inn Polaris MT to Choteau MT. We are starting our trip after joining our Spa to Spa friends on their annual bicycle ride around the Pioneers. (See Spa to Spa bike ride in 2025 posts). We left Grasshopper Creek travelling the Pioneer Wild & Scenic road to…
Let’s go to Alaska in a van!
Summer 2026 June 19 – September 4 We are embarking on the longest and biggest trip of our lives. 10+ weeks in the van. Driving from Billings MT to Alaska (Kenai Peninsula) and everywhere in between and then south to San Gregorio CA for a family wedding before heading back to Montana. At this point…
cinnicrew 