September 2024

Arctic Circle Sunset


September 30, home

We arrived a little past midnight. One of the first things we did, shower!

September 26, camp 48 NE Yellowstone 212.1L, 84F, 6,900ft

Headed to northeast entrance of Yellowstone. We found a dispersed camping spot near the entrance of YS. Going to spend tomorrow at the Lamar Valley.

September 25, camp 47 Beaverdam (Butte) 84F

We are headed to Yellowstone. We are hoping to add a few more species to our list for the trip.

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September 24, camp 46 Tally Lake

We are headed home. We crossed into the US around lunchtime and found a nice camp in older Ponderosa Pines. The euphemism to describe the road to the camp would be “bumpy.” We heard a northern pygmy owl but couldn't locate it.

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September 23, camp 45 Bleaberry Creek

We camped in a very interesting area. We did have to avoid the logged areas. In the process of looking for camp we found a slot canyon.

If you count all our trips in the trailer, we just spent night 150 in the tent!

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September 22, camp 44, North Saskatchewan River, (Mouse House)

In case you didn’t notice the alternate camp name yes there was a mouse in our house. While I was sleeping it ran across my face. No harm done, except it move with us to our next camp, along with a mouse trap. We visited Jasper N. P. A good time was had by all, mouse included as he shredded our TP.

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September 20, Rocky Mountain House. 57 miles, 45F, 3,273 ft

This is where Jeep-Jeep spent the night, in a hotel parking lot. We had hot showers, a heated room, and indoor “washrooms” very civilized. The predicted minimum temp tonight, depending on your source, 27 - 31F with precipitation.

September 19, camp 42 Nordegg, BC

We had snow at elevation and freezing rain at our camp.

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September 18, camp 41 Musraeu Lake, BC

Beautiful fall weather today. We moved around 200 miles south headed toward Jasper. We found out the road is open.

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September 17, camp 40 Inga Lake, 377 miles

Lots of driving today through gas fields. We saw sheep and caribou, as well as spectacular valleys in fall color.

September 16,

We stayed up until 1:00 am taking photos of the aurora. The one above is only with my phone. The good ones won’t be out until we get home. The plan for the day is to pack up.

September 15, camp 38, 0 miles

We are staying in camp today waiting on the aurora tomorrow night. It is supposed to be a Kp of 7!

September 14, camp 38, 243 miles, 52F, 2,612 ft

Yesterday we were staying in camp until we weren’t. We moved 243 miles to northern Alberta. That pushed our current total mileage over 10,000. It is another 2+k to home.

We found a nice free camp on the shore of Morley Lake.

There was a very bright rainbow last night. We got lucky. It rained on the opposite side of the lake and not on us.

The current plan is to stay here a few nights but you know how that goes.

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September 13, camp 37, 0 miles

We are staying in camp today. We are camped by an enormous lake that we thought we would check out.

We have a camp robber. Apparently magpies do not like garlic. The other option for him to steal was jalapeño. After the garlic he didn't come back!

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September 12, camp 37, Aishihik Lake, Yukon, 3,032 ft, 52F

We are looking for a clear sky but expecting 100% cloud cover no matter where we go. The plan is to head toward home but stay as north as we reasonably can.

We decided to take the Alcan. It is not supposed to be as pretty as the Cassiar but with fall color it is very nice.

September 10, camp 35, 0 miles

I think we are hiking to a view of bridal veil falls. It going to rain though. That should be fun.

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September 9, camp 35, 0 miles

View from the Ship

We took the Valdez Glacier tour. It was very nice. We saw lots of wildlife and Glaciers. Most of our photos are on a different camera so I can't share them here easily. We saw a Merlin (type of falcon) on the way back to camp.

September 8, camp 35,

Yesterday was rainy and cold so we took a short drive along Phelon Creek then moved south to Valdez. It’s very pretty here.

Today we went into town to book a harbor tour and check out the town. Saw lots of Steller sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, ducks, coho salmon…

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September 7, camp 34, 182 miles, 2,043 ft, 62F

Camp 34 with Gulkana Glacier

September 7, camp 34, We plan to hike around camp today. Tomorrow we will head toward Valdez.

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Someone's all matchy-matchy

September 6, camp 34, Yesterday we found a nice camp just below Gulkana glacier. Today we will try to hike up to the glacier.

It rained on us again as we neared the glacier. Then it started to sleet. The mountain and glacier make their own weather.

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September 5-Today we are headed south of Fairbanks on Hwy 2 along the Tanana River.

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Moose Hunt”n Sourdough Style

Camp 33-Today we will be scouting for a new camp. Moose hunting season started on September 1. We have had one group that drives a truck up to our mountain top. The truck has scaffolding mounted in the truck bed! They block the road out while they sit there for hours searching for a moose. They don’t really bother us but I have to be careful which tree I “go” behind. “Sourdoughs” are the Alaskan old timers or maybe just rednecks.

A Wild Ground-Cover Azalea

September 2 camp 33, 0 miles

We are staying around camp to take photos. We will probably move tomorrow.

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