Trailer trip from Toronto to Alaska and back

4 may - 10 july 2025

Andrew Smith and family

I guess going to Alaska is a common bucket list item for many people. It wasn't for me, but I did always want to go. And it was almost the last place in english-speaking North America that I haven't seen yet.

The costs were: 6100$ for gas, 400$ for camping, 5300$ for food, 4100$ for repairs, and 2500$ for everything else. A total of 18500CAD. Not counting the food: a total cost of 13000$. Not the cheapest trip, but given how far we went: not bad.

This time I recorded the trip with OsmAnd~'s "Trip recording" plugin. It worked quite well. The trip was plotted for this page using umap.openstreetmap.fr - the map might still be there. Here's the overall trip:

Contents:

Preparation

Packed all our stuff, based on these checklists:

The packing was very efficient and stress-free this year.

I was excited about the DC-DC charger I installed to charge the LiFePO batteries from the truck's alternator while driving.

I was also excited about all the places I found on the iOverlander website. Didn't need to worry about all the campgrounds that were closed till the 16th of may. Though still had to find places for dumping and water filling.

Dewinterized, sanitized the potable water tank and filled it with water.

Day 1 (4 may): Richmond Hill to a Sand Pit CL (Ontario)

Left at 10:00, on a beautiful sunny day.

Planned to go some place past Sudbury. The rough idea was to do longer drives early in the trip in order to spend more time in the mountains in the west. Maybe even go see the Arctic ocean.

At the first stop: found that the bumper cover for the poop tube fell off, with a couple of links from the chain which was attaching it to the bumper. I replaced it with a spare, didn't attempt to tie it again.

Around 11:00 found that the DC-DC charger keeps cycling off and on with the voltage cut-off set to 12.5V, and even to 12.4V. So I set the cut-off back to the default of 12.7V but lowered the charging current to 30A. That worked reliably, charged the batteries from 90% to 100% in no time. [And it worked wonderfully for the rest of the trip.]

Stopped for a break on the highway just past Sudbury, the kids did some rock climbing:


Got to the Sand Pit crown land campsite after 16:00. I was going to try under the power lines but the path off Birch St. was impossibly narrow for the trailer. [Later found that if I went just a little north: there's plenty of room under the power lines.]

Didn't get stuck in the sand. I was worried I might, it looked quite deep.

Went for a quick walk to check it out:

It's really cool, reminded me of the round-the-USA trip. Lots of sand, looks like used by ATV people.

There was a firepit. We used it to burn some of the garbage people dumped there. Not the nicest fire.

Could definitely hear cars on the highway, but not loud enough to disturb our sleep.

I didn't feel exhausted after the long drive.

Day 2 (5 may): Sand Pit to Sault Ste Marie Walmart (Ontario)



Slept very well. Slept in till 10:00.

Wasn't in any rush. Put a pin in the map in the trailer, and was surprised to see how far we went on the first day.

Car battery was at 12.1V when I started this morning. Decided to keep an eye on that. [Haven't noticed it so low again whenever I checked later.]

Stopped at the Massey Area museum. It's run by volunteers and is full of interesting things. Gave them a good donation.

Stopped at the District A5 memorial forest playground for lunch. Batteries at 100%. The bluetooth connection from the charger to my phone kept dropping, likely because of the distance between the charger (in the trailer) and my phone (in the front of the truck). Still, I was very impressed with the setup. Felt I would never need electrical hookups again.

The municipal campground at Bruce Mines looked pretty good, though it wasn't completely clear whether we could stay at a 25$ campsite or would have to pay 42$ for water+electric.

The visitor centre in the Sault was closed, looked like maybe the lot was being renovated.

Parked on Canal Dr. The girls did their hockey workouts. I think that was the USA across the water:



 

Went on a bike ride on St. Mary's island.

By the time we were done there it was getting late, so we decided to eat and stay overnight in the Walmart parking lot. It has signs saying that the city doesn't allow overnight parking, but we ignored them. Later more campers showed up.

Day 3 (6 may): Sault Ste Marie Walmart to Mamainse Creek CL (Ontario)



Truck battery was at 12.7V in the morning, as it should be.

Moved to the Havilland Shores crown land campsite to have breakfast. It's really nice, must get very busy later in the year.

Went up Stokely creek with our kayaks.



Got over three trees but then the current made it near impassable (definitely not passable for Natasha), and just upstream of that were rapids. So we turned around. But it was still fun.

After that we paddled a bit on lake Superior. The wind started to pick up so we didn't go too far away from shore.

 

13:00 Had lunch at the same place.

Came up with a 10km hike: half of it a loop using trails on OSM. Drew it on paper and navigated using that map. It worked out very well except there were no blazes on the way back and we couldn't find the lookout trail. I just had to go for a swim.



Decided to drive a bit in the evening. No gas stations untill Wawa (160km away). Looked like I had just enough to get there.

The gravel lot near Chippewa falls was unlikely to be usable even if noone was there: the entrance was too steep, and it had lots of sand on the bottom.

The pull-out on Wilson lake would work if we had no choice, but I didn't like it because it was right next to the highway.

Stopped at the unmaintained campsites just north of the Mamainse creek not expecting much, but found three large areas in there to camp and even turn the trailer, and a few more secluded small sites in the forest. Officially free to camp in, very nice.



Had dinner and went to sleep.

Day 4 (7 may): Mamainse Creek to Wawa Reservoir (Ontario)



Slept in till after 10:00.

The weather was still gorgeous. Even with the wind blowing from lake Superior it wasn't all that cold. We were still using the propane tank which was only half full at the beginning of the trip. Wasn't sure about the clean water and waste tanks, figured I should find a dump station and a potable water fill.

We could have actually fit into the overlook east of the Agawa islands, though being inside the park it's probably problematic after the park opens on the 19th.

Went to see the pictographs (drawings on rocks made by people who can't draw) and hiked a bit on the Coastal trail, up to the lookout.



Was too tired to go farther.

In Wawa everything closes before 17:00. Had dinner next to the school. Dumped the tanks next to the general store. Still needed potable water though.

Stayed on the service road which goes around the reservoir. It was nice and quiet.

At 22:00 the temperature outside was 2°. Forecast said -3° for the night and -4° the next one. Got mentally prepared for the water freezing in the trailer the following couple of days. [it didn't]

Day 5 (8 may): Wawa Reservoir to Mazukama Falls (Ontario)



Slept pretty well, got up at a reasonable time.

Got 27$ propane from Davidson's Fules next to where we got gas the previous day.

Got a new 70$ garbage bin from Canadian Tire in Wawa (to replace the one Nikita broke).

Stopped at the Winnie the Pooh statue in White River and paid 16$ for two showers at the Esso truck stop there.



The Melgund lake crown land campsite is quite nice, but I was only willing to pull the trailer about half about half way to the lake to avoid the risk of getting stuck in muddy water or being unable to turn around. Had lunch there.

Walked over to the lake. There's a beaver dam I think crossing the lake outlet, and I'm sure I saw tire tracks in it. Must be fun to have an ATV.

The drive so far this day wasn't very interesting - looked like a typical logging/mining region in Canada.

Stopped next to a closed rest area on the Schreiber channel on lake Superior. At least two aweful screeching and horning trains went by in the 20 minutes we were there.



Got 20l of crystal clear water from the lake. It smelled and tasted great.

Pulled into the parking lot for the Mazukama Falls trailhead. A really nice place to stop for the night.


Day 6 (9 may): Mazukama Falls to Westford Park (Ontario)



Slept well, didn't hear a single train.

Went on the trail to see the falls. Near the beginning found a creek with a missing bridge, which has been replaced with a handy rope. I just had to go on it of course.

I was surprised to see that Nikita's technique worked quite well.

Natasha made it most of the way until I had to catch up and rescue her.

 

Then we came back on the rope and continued on the trail to see the falls. These were smaller ones on the way:



And the big falls might have been the best I've seen in my life from so close.

 

Sasha dared me to go into the falls, and I thought that was a great idea. Cold as hell, but also cool :) Kim requested that I doctor the photos.



This is also from near the falls:



Couldn't find the lookout. The trail died at rough creek crossing. But the view from under the power lines was probably just as good. Can see the trailer down there.



Had to cross on the rope again on the way back. Much easier going down than up.



16:00 Had lunch in the same spot.

Wanted to go get spring water from Hurkett Cove but the highway widening project closed the natural exit, and I didn't feel like extending the detour.

Our typical stop at the Terry Fox statue. This time I was wondering whether he knew what a monstrous system his name was going to be used to support for decades after his death.

 

Got groceries in Thunder Bay, I found places to stop for this and the following night.

Kim had to do some computer work, so we stayed in the Westford park parking lot. A bit of a gamble (right next to an airport) but the noise really wasn't bad. In fact more noise came from the highway than from the airport. Mostly propeller planes.

Day 7 (10 may): Westford Park to an Island on Rainy Lake CL (Ontario)



I really wanted to avoid going through Winnipeg but looked at our full fridge and decided I don't want to deal with border stupidity.

Got water at the Shell gas station at Arthur St. and Willard Ave. The guy working there said no problem.

Got some sweets at the Persian Man.

The pullout under the power lines west of Shebandowan is a nice place to stop.



There was a GFL "Septage Disposal Site" sign. I didn't know what that was exactly, I couldn't smell anything.

Parked in Quetico provincial park's parking lot and went for a walk in there. Dangerous place :) First Sasha punched Nikita in the nose, and he dripped a pool of blood on the boardwalk. Then Sasha got a splinter under her fingernail. Took two people to get that out.

The "Local Fishing Spot" off the highway did not produce any fish for dinner.

I tried to have a nap. It didn't work but the hour of rest cleared my head enough for the rest of the drive.

For the night stopped on an island (the western of the two on Rainy Lake). This one had a boat launch and noone else on it.



Right next to the highway, between two bridges. But it was very quiet at night. Kayaked on the lake. Got an hour of rain at night.

Day 8 (11 may): Island on Rainy Lake to Rush Bay Road CL (Ontario)



Kim, Natasha and I went paddling on Rainy lake. Tangled the two braided fishing lines together. I managed to untangle one and most of the other.

Stopped outside the Emo fire department to dump the tanks. Lots of dandelions there.



Already had a 30km stretch of completely straight road, to get us mentally prepared for what was coming.

14:00 Stopped at the Nestor Falls picnic area for lunch. The girls wanted to go swim but the water was too cold.

All three went to fart around under the small waterfall. Pelicans were fishing at the bottom of the falls.

I was reading my book in peace but that never lasts with these three around. Nikita lost his shoe at the bottom of the waterfall (which creates a current in the lake) and I had to strip to my underwear, bruise/cut my foot on some sharp rock, and go swimming in the freezing cold water to go get it. Lucky for me the air temperature rose to 32° in the shade.

Stopped to check out Gelley lake. There's a large clearing next to a snowmobile ice crossing, and it really looked like someone cut the grass in it. I wasn't going to fish but the lake looked so appealing I decided to cast a spoon a few times. Got an average and a large pike.



Cooked them for dinner in a pan when we stopped for the night at Rush Bay road.

2025 must have been the year of the tick. Found the third one crawling on me. None on the kids.

The mosquitoes were out too. Really big fat ones here.

Day 9 (12 may): Rush Bay Road to the Redvers Log Cabin Campground (Saskatchewan)



Woke up before 4:00 with a nightmare about airport security bullshit. How deeply they managed to ingrain the expectation that you'll be treated like shit, just to show you that they have all the power and you have none. Luckily I have enough experience with these fuckers that so that when we get to a border - I'm not too stressed about it.

Noticed a water leak on the second or third day. A small leak, but I kept the water pump off just in case.

Spent the early morning hours looking at roads through Alberta, BC, and Alaska. Thought I should probably get the Parks Canada pass because of all the national parks we were likely to go through and spend time in. [Buying it was a mistake.] There's no free camping anywhere in these national parks.

The Dalton highway looked like gravel, 800km from Fairbanks to Deadhorse. Too much for the trailer.

At Deadhorse you can only get to the ocean by taking an 80$/person bus. And to add insult to injury: I think the Arctic ocean there is similar to the southern shore of James Bay: shallow, nasty-looking brown water.

I figured a good plan would be to spend two weeks getting to the mountains, one month going north including Fairbanks and Denali, one month south, and two weeks to get home.

So for this day we'd drive 520km to cross Manitoba (not on the transcanada), the following day 520km to cross most of Saskatchewan, and spend three days at the Reesor ranch to recover from that stupid long drive.

But since the only way west through Canada went through Winnipeg: we had to stop at the children's museum:



And get out during rush hour. That ate 4 hours.

Stopped for lunch at the St Claude sports fields campground. Looked like it had one no-service campsite, all the others had full hookups. And had to book it online.

Drove through endless fields. So many - I wonder if Canada alone could feed the entire world.

36° this day.

Stopped for a break in the Lions' park in Souris. It smelled terrible, like vinegar maybe. I'm guessing it was the fertilizer flowing into the river all along its length.

Started seeing oil pumps when we got close to the Saskatchewan border.

Arrived in the dark, after 22:00.

My headlights must be super annoying with the trailer pushing down the back of the truck.

The Redvers Log Cabin campground also only had one no-hookups site, took that. Tasted the water and did not fill the water tank from it, it tasted oily. But no vinegar smell here.

At night I was watching a lightning storm far in the WNW. It passed north of us. Lots of lightning, no thunder.

Day 10 (13 may): Redvers Log Cabin to the Ogema Regional Park (Saskatchewan)



Paid 15$ for a "tent" site, which I interpreted to mean "no-hookups". There were a couple of guys driving lawn mowers around, they didn't say anything.

Stopped by the park by the river in Weyburn. There's a campground and a disk golf course in it. Lost two drivers in the reeds by the river. I almost lost mine too. The water in the river was nasty.

Decided to have lunch there. Lots of mosquitoes, but luckily it was very windy.

Called the Reesor ranch about the following day, left a message. Didn't hear back. Sent an email, called again - no answer.

Stopped at the Ogema regional park to have a nap - it has a campground in it too. 15$ for overflow/no services. But they have laundry machines.

After my nap decided to stay there for the night. The only reason for the rushed driving was to get to the Reesor ranch, and I was no longer sure that was an option.

It was sunny all day. My hands were going to burn soon unless we got sunscreen. We didn't have any left over from the previous year.

Day 11 (14 may): Ogema to the Reesor Ranch (Saskatchewan)



I slept until 11:30, must have been tired.

Checked the phone (which I kept in airplane mode mostly), and found a message from Jason Reesor saying we can come for two nights.

With groceries, gas stations, and food breaking: figured we could get there by 20:00 - oh well.

Stopped at the Co-op at Assiniboia for groceries. Good store. Got gas at a Co-op cardlock. It was no different than a regular gas station during business hours.

Tried all day to make it to the destination on hwy 13, but forgot that these small cardlocks all close at 17:00. Had no choice but to get back to the transcanada via hwy 21.

I don't remember where the home of Hayley Wickenheiser was, Kim wanted to stop there:



Saved some of the wasted gas by filling up at the last station in Alberta but then wasted a bunch more by going to highway 41 and through the Cypress Hills provincial park on Reesor Lake road.

There was a sign saying that the section of the road from Reesor lake to Graburn road was closed. I took the whole time getting there to mentally prepare myself to ram that fucking gate, to avoid another 60km detour. The gates were open.

Arrived at the ranch at 21:30. Met Jason Reesor, parked next to the red barn.

Day 12 (15 may): Reesor Ranch (Saskatchewan)

Spoke to Theresa for a bit. She did not remember us. Her and Jim separated the year before, and her son was slowly taking over the duties of his father.

Kim and the kids went horseback riding. The kids were loving it.



But about 15 minutes after the start of the ride: Natasha's horse (Rex) got spooked with all the others, and bucked her off. After the bleeding stopped: I cut off the hair around the cut and put a bandaid on with a small gauze pad with Polysporin.

Here she is recovering with Cowboy:



The others managed to stay on: Kim on Walker, Nikita on Senior, and Sasha on Skip,

Later in the day we went on a hike on the ranch trail (Click-Clack or some such). It's a short, easy trail but rain started to pour, and then hail came down hard, all in a strong, cold wind.

The two dogs (Cowboy and Charlie) came with us. They didn't seem to mind at all.


Day 13 (16 may): Reesor Ranch (Saskatchewan)



There was a big ultramarathon starting/ending at the ranch this weekend. People started showing up early. I spoke to Jason and he said it would be fine for us to stay longer if we moved to the tractor yard, though they were expecting rain on the weekend and I might not be able to get out on the soaked soil until tuesday. That was fine with me.

Drove to Reesor lake in very thick 1° fog to go on a hike. The dirt road right next to the ranch had no gravel on it and was very slippery.

Started the hike at the marathon checkpoint tent west of Reesor lake. 7.2km through the hills, then a cut straight for the road, and 3.5km back to the truck - straight up. All together 11.5km.

For the part going up the road with no shoulders: the sky cleared fully, and everyone was sweating.

Had a nap. At 22:00 went to see the marathon runners. Amazingly everyone was already asleep, hundreds of people and not a peep anywhere.

I spent three hours at night finding places to stop up on the way to the Kootenay national park.

Day 14 (17 may): Reesor Ranch to Indian Battle Park (Alberta)



Watched the start of the marathon. I liked the people doing it. A group of 7 started an hour late.

Jason gave me a tour of his shop.

Batteries at 47%.

Headed out. Stopped at the Spec Savers in Medicine Hat to get new frames for Sasha's glasses (he left them on the trailer steps and I stepped on them). They didn't have any close enough to fit the lenses. Luckily Walmart did, and it only cost us 30$ (installed).

The lady at the visitor centre in Medicine Hat was very nice and helpful. I bought the Parks Canada Discovery Pass from her.

Found an "Old Man Park" disk golf course in UDisc. I think it was the one in Taber Municipal Park and Campground, neither of which were in OSM. The course was nice and after it we also rode on the trails by the river.

Drove to Lethbridge, stopped in the Indian Battle park for the night. Arrived with batteries at 87%.

Watched a beaver bring a branch all the way from the other side of the river.


Day 15 (18 may): Indian Battle Park to Emerald Lake (Alberta)



The parking lots in the Indian Battle Park parking lots have "No camping" signs. Luckily noone bothered us.

Went to do groceries at Safeway in Lethbridge before heading into the mountains.

I was expecting this to be a pretty boring day except seeing the mountains for the first time on the trip. The day turned out to be quite out of the ordinary.

I noticed the "Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site" on OSM. Kim said she's been there before so we turned off highway 3 to go see what's there. The site isn't worth the detour. They wanted to charge us 60$ to go into the building, we didn't go for it.



Continued in highway 785, despite OsmAnd insisting that I don't. That soon turned to gravel. It was flat and well packed, not dusty because it rained, so at first I didn't mind.

But then in parts the gravel disappeared and I was pulling a trailer on wet clay. Going up one particular hill was very dodgy. I had to speed up so I wouldn't get stuck, and the whole rig started sliding left and right. If the road had any curves: I would have ended up in a ditch for sure.

Stopped at the Old Man Dam recreation area, just to look at the fluorescent blue lake. The photo doesn't do it justice, it was a really unnatural colour. Found that the entire truck and trailer was covered with a thick layer of dirt (5 cm thick in some places).



It was windy as hell there, and I guess that's normal. There are fences in stalled on the west side of each bench.

Stopped briefly at the Old Man dam. It's kind of neat. [The "OLD MAN" label stayed there to the end of the trip.]



Had lunch in Lundbreck, where I discovered that the township road 7-4A doesn't cross the railway. I was 5m away from where I wanted to stop and I couldn't get there.

The park turned out to be quite nice. Still crazy windy, but we managed to finish all 9 holes of disk golf without losing any frisbees.

Finally got to the real mountains in Crowsnest Pass. Stopped at the first pullout to marvel at the 1km-long, 400m-deep rock slide. There was a tent where we stopped, I thought someone was resting on a ride across the mountains.

A bunch of people with very fancy cameras and a guitar were filming a music video or something.

Went to prepay for gas and couldn't find my wallet. The last time I remembered using it was at the Safeway in Lethbridge. Called the phone number on the receipt and they said they have it.

Left the trailer with everyone at the Emerald Lake parking lot (little more than the dead end of a road) and drove the 155km back, tripling my driving for the day.

All-in-all I was lucky that I didn't lose my driver's licence. The rest of the stuff in the wallet we had backups for.

On my way back to the trailer I stopped by the same rock slide again to see whether the bike tent was still there. It was. Turned out it was a homeless person. I paid off my wallet finding karma debt by buying him the coffee and food he asked for.

Let the kids call their nana at 21:30, forgot that we were hours behind back home.

While I was gone the rest of the family was watching mountain goats, and pretending to be mountain goats themselves:


Day 16 (19 may): Emerald Lake (Alberta)



Went to conquer the Sentry mountain.

More goats (or sheep, whatever):



Drove to the beginning of a trail from OsmAnd. Had to open a livestock gate to get onto the access road.

Did some exciting off-road driving until the intersection with an ATV path. That's where we started the hike. What looks like the mountain peak in the background here is just the top of the foothills, we ended up climbing way higher than that:



Started at 11:30. Straight up, slow going.

This flat spot was even more windy than the rest of the climb. Literally had to almost lie flat on the ground so I wouldn't get blown away.



Found a cool cave somewhere on the left of that rocky part on top (2017m elevation I think). LOTS of goat poop in there, no sign of any mountain lions.

According to the GPS tracker we went up to 2284m. I'm not sure I trust it, but even if that were true: it was and 840m climb, much of it up and down slippery rock slides.

   

The climb up took 3h, the climb down 2h. We had to deviate from the established trail at 2082m (150m from the top). The ridge was covered with snow, I suspected meters deep.

I only carried Natasha on my shoulders for about 20-30 minutes down the slippery rocks. After that my knees started to hurt.

Day 17 (20 may): Emerald Lake to Abandoned Highway near Wardner (BC)



Found lots of mountain biking trail collections on the upcoming roads.

Stopped to fill a propane tank at a CO-OP in Sparwood, an active mining town. Found there the world's biggest tandem axle dump truck:



Had showers at the Leisure Centre there, 2x3.5$

Got to Fernie around 16:00, filled a groceries cart.

The Mark's there has actual work clothes and boots, but nothing for kids. Found hiking boots for all the kids in one of the shops on 2nd avenue. Lucky it was still open, everything there seems to close at 16:00.

Stopped for the night on an abandoned stretch of highway north of Wardner. All two lanes and shoulders to ourselves, right next to the river, with snowy mountains for a background.

It rained all day, started clearing in the evening.

Sasha and I went for a short walk to check out where the nearby trail was going and to scout a launching place for kayaks. Found an old car in the forest. I think it's been there for a while:

 

Day 18 (21 may): Abandoned Highway to Moir Park (BC)



Beautiful morning, sunny 9°.



I drove to Wardner and left my bike there. Drove back and dropped off all the kayaks close to the trailer. Just left the truck in the middle of the road.

There was a fisherman's trail going down to the water. Just enough room to assemble the kayaks and launch them one at a time:



Kayaking this part of the Kootenay river isn't hard. Some parts had fast current, most did not.



Did 8.4km in 1h15m. Got some windy cold rain in the last third of the ride. Dried out by the time we arrived at the old bridge leftovers.

Got out at the bridge. Later found a much easier way to get out less than 100m downstream.



Natasha got a kite for finishing her homework book. Everyone had lots of fun with it [until the end of the trip].



The two lanes with shoulders were not nearly enough to turn the 15m rig around. Kim drove, I guided her to back out all the way to the highway.

Drove to the Eager Hill trail parking access road. I was going to spend the night here but there was a sign on the access road saying "No camping past this point". It wasn't a great place for camping anyway - too open, to much noise from the highway intersection.

Somehow managed to turn around in that parking lot, parked facing out, and went for a ride. Natasha and I did the green Padawan trail. Kim took Sasha with Nikita on the blue R2DTour.



Dumped the tanks and filled with water at the Cranbrook chamber of commerce.

Found a disk golf course nearby: Moir Park. 10 holes, pretty nice. Decided to stay there for the night. It was very quiet, I didn't expect anyone to bother us.

Day 19 (22 may): Moir Park to Redneck Hill with Cows (BC)



To this day from the beginning of the trip I was still using the furnace every night.

Drove to Kimberley, parked in the ski lift parking lot. It was completely empty, but it did say "No camping".

Rode some mountain bike trails. Natasha was getting really good at it, even with her single-gear heavy bike.

And they had a cool obstacle course. The kids all managed to go over the big teeter-totter.



Parked downtown and walked around hipsterville. Kim recorded Happy Hans's cute yodeling [that was a long-lasting hit].



Stopped at the playground next to the hockey rink in Canal Flats. Didn't check out the campsites there - it was cold and windy.

There was lots of resort shit between Fairmont and Radium. We went up the Forester Landing road in Radium, watched the sawmill operating for a bit. There were less than 20 cars in its employee parking lot - the whole thing must just run itself.



Stopped for the night further down on a hill with cows. There was one other trailer there. I went to ask whether they mind if we stay, they said (politely) that of course not, it's a free country.



Looked for campgrounds in the Kootenay national park. What a joke. There are four of them, and three of them don't open until june. Marble Canyon is open from the 19th of june till the 1st of september. I was starting to regret that Discovery pass.

Day 20 (23 may): Redneck Hill with Cows to Lake Louise in Banff NP (Alberta)



The cows were there in the trees at night, their eyes were glowing back at the flashlight.



By the time I got up for real (after 11:00) they were all gone.

The drive this day was very stressful. Started with the hot springs "national park" which is literally just two swimming pools.



Then on top of the fact that the campgrounds are closed most of the year: some are permanently closed (e.g. the mount Wardle trailhead parking lot).

Stopped at the Sumpson river trailhead. I couldn't enjoy the blue crystal clear water, was fuming at all the signs.

No riding on the poopsie trail, no swimming, no kayaking. I swear one day people will accept that they'll need permission to breathe.

Went to Marble Canyon. It's nice, would have been nicer if I wasn't so irritated.



Went the wrong way at the intersection of highways 93&1. Eventually saw a place to do a u-turn early enough to pull over. I'm sure those will not be allowed soon either.

Got back to the intersection, drove down highway 1A for a few minutes, up to a sign saying that the road is closed in 6km. Just before the sign saying that the Johnston Canoyon campground is in 6km.

Do people really not see that the purpose of these national parks is to keep you the hell out of those areas? It's exactly the opposite of "providing access".

Had to drive to the train parking lot which they call the Lake Louise hard-sided campground. 35$. The tent campground was closed. I was almost certain I saw a bear running inside the electric fence.

Almost all the trees in the Kootenay national park have burned down. Did anyone bother to calculate how much CO2 that released? Of course not, but be sure to save the planet by buying an electric car. Speaking of which - we only saw one on the trip so far.

Driving to Lake Louise is effectively no longer allowed. Most of the parking lot is closed. The few spots that are still open cost 37$.

We took our bikes there, but wait (why didn't I see this coming): the bike trail was closed too. We went up half way on the side of the road, then for the second half found another trail that was still open.I'll be damned if I willingly go to another national park again, which is of course the whole point of this bullshit - just an elaborate way for them to say "fuck off, you're not welcome here".

All day I kept wondering what the world would be like if people had working brains. I don't expect I'll find the answer in my lifetime.

Near the Lake Louise parking lot there was a porcupine ignoring people:



The lake looked dirty (though that may have been an illusion). A couple of people in kayaks looked stuck in there in the ice, but they didn't seem very stressed about it, so I guessed they weren't actually stuck.


Day 21 (24 may): Lake Louise to the Icefield RV Parking Lot (Alberta)



Dumped the tanks and filled with water at the campground dump station. Didn't have any need for the power hookup at the campsite, used it to make popcorn in the microwave and heat up water for dishwashing.

Had showers at the campground too.

More nature closed on the drive this day.

Stopped at the Crowfoot glacier viewpoint. Decided to park in the Payto lake parking lot (a little tough with the long rig bug we managed) and hike up towards Observation peak.

The Observation peak route I found in OSM was, of course, closed.

There was an average of 50cm of snow on half the hike this day. I was very impressed with my trail finding abilities. I followed the mostly snow-covered, unmarked, barely used trail almost precisely until near where we turned around at the top.



On the way down I noticed a pileup of cars at the intersection below. I thought there was actually a chance they were waiting there to "rescue" us. It turned out to be a non-trivial collision.



Had lunch in the parking lot. The distance going up was 3km, but only a 300m climb. I thought we went most of the way up to the peak, we weren't even close.

This is from the top of the very long hairpin climb both Kim and I remembered from the last trip west. I remember worrying the old Ford Flex wouldn't make it all the way up.



Drove to the Icefields RV parking lot. Staying overnight is allowed there, not for free of course. Kim and I were quite tired. Sasha really needed a nap. Nikita and Natasha seemed fine.

At 23:30 could still see a bluish glow where the sun set. Not sure if that was a distant aurora borealis or it never gets dark there at this time of year.

Day 22 (25 may): Icefield RV Parking Lot to Doré River CL (BC)



I wasn't all that interested in the glaciers and for sure one is not allowed to climb them, so after a break we just left.



Much of the northern part of the Jasper park burned completely.



I was going to do laundry in Jasper (the town) but it was closed on sundays. Got expensive groceries there at TGP, I told Kim to get used to it this far north.

Much of the town burned down too, though the fire seemed strangely selective. Some stuff burned to the ground, other stuff (including trees) showed no signs of fire damage.

I was planning to get gas at the entrance of the mount Robson provincial park. The gas station was closed, but the lady working there happened to be checking the fuel levels and she turned the pump on for us. That was really nice of her.

Got a pretty good view of mount Robson:



There were many very nice ranches going west on highway 16 past the provincial park.

I was going to go all the way to the end of the road next to the Doré river, but there was a sign at km 0 saying the bridge was closed at km 2.1, and I didn't want to risk having to back up that far. Stopped in the equestrian/snowmobile parking lot instead.

The number of mosquitoes there was astounding. I must have zapped over 100 outside, and it didn't make any difference.

Day 23 (26 may): Doré River to the Willow River North Rec Site (BC)



At 5:30 (in full daylight) rode my bike to the bridge. It looked to me like it can handle 40 tonnes without difficulty.

The Doré river is very fast, steep, and has a massive flow. Way beyond our kayaks' abilities, even if we had the skills to paddle it.

Found an old 5th wheel with straw under it and a wood stove inside. Someone's warming cabin. Something tells me it's been there longer than 14 days.

Tha kids and I farted around near the bridge while Kim was riding farther on the road.



Everyone was still tired from the hilkes. I was hoping to stay here a couple of nights, but the mosquitoes gave me pause.

Booked a service at Prince George Toyota for 12:15 the next day. They said it could take them up to 16:00 to finish the oil change.

Drove to Hungry (or Hungary?) Creek road for lunch and to check it out as a future campsite. Could almost make it past the ditch and into the camping area. One of the trailer wheels was off the ground. Had to back out before I would break the black tank drain pipe. Had the lunch on the road there.

Had to back up all the way to the highway, which wasn't too hard because this highway has almost no traffic.

Drove to the Willow River North recreation site for camping. It has what looked like proper campsites, two of them right down by the river.

I thought the bugs were insane the previous day, but here there were just as many, with black flies on top. Couldn't kill them with the bug zapper quickly enough inside the trailer. New ones kept showing up. I thought I saw a crack between the screen door and the frame, so kept the door closed. And didn't go outside at all. The bugs kept teleporting in.

Day 24 (27 may): Willow River North to the Vanderhoof Skateboard Park (BC)



Sleep was impossible. Spent until 2:00 zapping bugs non stop. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what hole they were coming in through.

The girls kept themselves fully covered with blankets. I managed to get 3 hours of sleep eventually.

In the morning there were more bugs inside the trailer than outside. I was sure it wasn't the doors or windows. Just for sanity I taped over the three openable vents.



Filled a propane tank. Looked like we're using one tank per week without conserving.

Got groceries at Walmart. Got some more bug spray too, but didn't find a second bug zapper.

Dropped the truck off at Prince George Toyota with instructions not to mess with the computer.

Rode our bikes to the Canada Post in the Shopper's at the mall nearby. Also in that mall stopped by TD to take out american cash.

After 15:00 picked up the truck. The guy said the rear tires will need replacing soon. I looked and sure enough - they were much more worn than the front. Really weird, I haven't experienced that before.

Found a small swarm of bugs in the bathroom. Thought they might be breeding in the grey tank and getting in via the shower drain. Taped the drain closed.



Dropped Kim off at Starbucks and took the trailer to do laundry.

Drove to Vanderhoof to spend the night in its parking lot. There were definitely mosquitoes outside but no swarms to chase in the trailer.

This was right next to a train line.

Day 25 (28 may): Vanderhoof Skateboard Park to the Kager Lake Recreation Site (BC)



The train didn't prevent us from sleeping. The bug problem appeared to be solved [oh, how I wish it had actually been solved].

Took the kids to the swimming pool across the street - 11$ for all three of them. I had a shower in there.

Stopped for lunch at Drywilliams lake. I had a two hour nap there.

Drove to the Kager Lake recreation site. A free campground next to loads of mountain bike trails and a small lake. There were lots of cyclists there, almost none of them staying at the campground.

We had a competition to see who can run farthest on this contraption:



Made a fire, baked some corn in aluminum foil with butter, salt, and seasoning salt.

There were many bugs outside but inside was fine. I took the plastic off the roof kitchen vent.

Day 26 (29 may): Kager Lake Recreation Site (BC)





Went mountain biking on the trails. Kim said these may have been the best ones she's ever been on. She saw a couple of bears.



Kim and I went kayaking.



I caught a rainbow trout while going back to the dock to help Nikita get his off the hook. Both were too small to eat.

Kim drove me to the top of the mountain and I rode my bike down Full Boar and Charlotte's Web. The trails here are coded appropriately. They are impossible to ride without suspension and high ground clearance. I got off the bike and still had a hard time progressing.

At one point I realized I'm riding on a spiral wooden thing down from the middle to the bottom of trees. Very cool.

Cooked sausages on the fire. They turned out very well.

No bugs outside either this night. I thought maybe we brought them with us or maybe it got too cold for them.

Day 27 (30 may): Kager Lake to Abandoned Factory near Carnaby (BC)



It started to rain in the morning. Noone went to ride.

Got gas in Houseton. Went looking for the farmer's market we saw signs for. It was closed but found a dump station there.

Ran out of fresh water while washing my hands. filled up there.

Drove to the Skillhorn disk golf course south of Telkwa. Supposedly it has a 36-basket, 3.1km course. We couldn't find any baskets past #9. I don't think they exist any more.



It looked like the forest took over the open fields that were there when the course was built.

Drove to an abandoned factory/mill/mine/something SW of Carnaby. It must have been some sort of millitary installation. The size is obscene, the concrete work is fantastic, the steel first grade.

It's been fully dismantled (just the foundation left), it's near impossible to figure out what it used to be, unless you're already familiar with the general layout of the concrete and metal rails.

I walked around the entire thing. I think. I didn't see the active railway, so maybe there's even more than I saw.

Day 28 (31 may): Abandoned Factory to Furlong Bay in Lake Lakelse PP (BC)



Woke up late (that seemed to be the norm at this point). Made some photos of the graffiti surrounding us. I really liked much of it.



Kim did a hockey workout for the girls, Nikita joined in.



Made a photo of the "For Lease" sign on our way out, hoping I can use it to get some of this places history. [I wasn't able to find anything whatsoever, but I didn't call the agent.]



Drove past the right turn to highway 37, on our way to Terrace.

Looked like they have Vancouver weather there. Rain on-and-off all day long.

Played 9 holes of disk golf at the Cassie Hall park, and had lunch at dinner time there.

The vegetation in the campground is really nice. Tall trees, and rainforesty.


Day 29 (1 june): Furlong Bay to Kitwanga Centennial Park (BC)



By this time I forgot how annoying it is to worry about checkout times. I hoped they'd leave us alone since the campground was empty. They did.

Had breakfast at the campsite, then moved the trailer to the beach. The kids played there for an hour.

Had showers at the park and left.

Spent 500$ on groceries at Safeway. Because of that - got a good discount on gas at the Shell.

Dumped the tanks at the closed visitor centre. Found that the angle of the trailer really matters when dumping the black tank.

Filled with water. Was finally on the road at 16:00.

Had linner at the intersection with highway 37, where this sign is:



A guy was literally trying to tie his driveshaft back to the rear differential using zip ties. I wished I could help him but I didn't have any bolts. His first try he made it about 1m. Second try 25m. Tough.

Went north at 18:00. Good thing I did the searching for places to stop in advance.

58km up the road saw one of the tires' pressure in my TPMS quickly and pulled over right away. I hoped it would be a fixable puncture, but given how quickly the pressure dropped: I should have known it was more serious.

I did stop before the rim was going to get damaged.

Disconnected the trailer half-way on the northbound lane, lifted the entire right side of the truck to rotate the tires (I didn't want the doughnut under the trailer tongue).



I should have paid more attention when the "service manager" at Toyota said that the mechanic said that the rear tires needed to be replaced. Not only did the outside of the tread wear out way before the inside: both rear tires were worn on the inner sidewall.



I have always noted (wondered, and asked abut how) the rear wheels on my Sequoia looking like they have negative camber (especially, I thought, under heavy load). I couldn't determine in advance whether that is a problem. I guess it is.

But it's strange that after all years of pulling this trailer on at least three sets of tires: this is the first time I noticed such wear.

[After doing some more internet research: I figured I should have been inflating them to the maximum that the tire specifications will allow, rather than what it says on the driver's sidewall sticker.]

Pu the spare on the front right. Rotated the left side wheels too, cause now I had no spare and this was a bad place to get stuck.

Drove back to the Kitwanga Centennial Park. A small, nice, volunteer-maintained campground. There was one family there with a tent and small children.

Found a spot to be comfortable in for some days, while I got all the truck tires replaced.

Day 30 (2 june): Kitwanga Centennial Park (BC)



After 9:00 drove to the mechanic's shop at the gas station where the guy was trying to ziptie his driveshaft. The guy there said I should go to the dealer in Terrace, and that I don't want to end up with blown tires on the road north.

I called everyone I could find a phone number for from that gas station parking lot. The stealership gave me "it will only take one or two weeks to ship the tires". I didn't even ask for any special kind of tire.

Finally settled on Yokohama all-terrain tires from KalTire in Terrace, with a 15:00 appointment on the next day.

Good thing this happened here and not later. Recovery would have been much more problematic farther from civilization.

Lazied around for the rest of the day. Couldn't figure out whether this was once a real boat or it was made just for the playground:


Day 31 (3 june): Kitwanga Centennial Park to Mehan Lake RA (BC)



Packed most of the stuff, hoping to get a couple of hours of driving in at the end of the day.

Stopped by the Battle Hill historic site, found nothing interesting there.

Left for Terrace by myself around 13:00.

The steering wheel kept shaking consistently (50% of the time) on the highway at 100km/h. Slowing down to 80km/h got rid of the shaking completely.

Got to KalTire half an hour early, but they were ready to start the work.

They let me in to wiggle the front wheels while the truck was in the air. I didn't notice any clunking I was afraid to find.

Left KalTire at 16:00. Almost forgot my spare there.

Didn't have any more arthritis-inducing shaking with the new tires on.

Left the campground at 17:40. Stopped at 19:00 for a break at a rest area. Black flies galore! Saw several brown bears (small ones) at Meziadin Junction. Three on the road (one of the bears was sitting on the road) and at least three more in the gas station parking lot.

The bear butt photo is going to be forever famous in my family:



The truckers were calmly walking pas the bears to the gas station building, like they were calm stray dogs.

The Mehan Lake rest area has a narrow dirt portion lower than the main parking lot and closer to the lake. There was one cyclist there in a tent. We fit also.

There were almost no black flies there. Lots of small fish splashing in the lake. Beavers swimming around. And even a boat launch:


Day 32 (4 june): Mehan Lake to Morchuea Lake Rec Site (BC)



It wasn't completely dark at midnight when I went to sleep, nor at 3:00 when I got up. At 4:00 I went fishing, spent 2-3 hours on the lake. Looked like all the fish splashing was trout. I got two of them (one through the middle outside top of its head), and let them go. They fight a lot, it would be lots of fun if they were bigger and stronger.

I went back to sleep and got up well after noon. Everyone went kayaking. All of us except Nikita went swimming. The water was cold, but not the coldest on the trip.



Saw a helicopter land a load as we were pulling into the expensive Bell II gas station (40c/l extra). We were told that goes on all day every day, supplying the mines.

The drive through the mountains was nice. Stopped at the Kinaskan Lake provincial park at 18:00 for lunch.

Paid 25$ for using the dump station at the Red Goat Lodge in Iskut.

Stopped at the Morchuea Lake recreation site. Took the spot closest to the lake, much nicer than the Kinaskan Lake provincial park. And free.

Day 33 (5 june): Morchuea Lake to Abandoned Cassiar Airstrip (BC)



At 8:00 I went to paddle around and fish on the lake. There were ducks on it, but I didn't get a single bite. A couple of tiny shrimp must have come into the boat on the weeds. They were having sex in my kayak.

Natasha drew a picture of the fish splashing in Mehan Lake.



Got expensive gas at Diese Lake, and some groceries from the gas station store.

Stopped to eat at the Sawmill Point recreation site. Took a lot of juice to make it back up to two gravelly hills leading down to it.

I had a two hour nap there.

As we drove into Jade City: the highway was being closed. The guy said a fuel truck tipped over.



Jade is cool - it turns green when it's wet. They had some old machines on display, and several diamond blade saws of different size they use for making the souvenirs I guess. There was a sign saying it's family mined and processed.

Took a small detour to go sleep at the long-ago abandoned Cassiar airstrip.

It was a big, straight airstrip, and though it looked like gravel: I think it was paved. It was ok, not as interesting as I had hoped.

Day 34 (6 june): Abandoned Cassiar Airstrip to Little Rancheria Falls (Yukon)



Drove back to Jade City to use their wifi. It was free, but we bought a souvenir there as thanks.

Not a huge backlog of traffic was waiting to go south. Spoke to a trucker waiting there - he said the highways up there close all the time due to accidents, avalanches, fires.

Stopped for a nap at the French Creek recreation site. A couple of 1930s cars stopped there for a break as well. They went from Montana to Alaska and were on their way back.

Got gas at Junction 37 Services. Only a 20c/l premium there. Spring hours 9:00 - 15:00. The guy there is nice, worth stopping for a chat to decide which way to go. I think he makes fishing lures as a hobby and sells them.

Had lunch at the Little Rancheria river. No bugs! (east of the bridge). As I was driving: noticed on the map that the river is very close to the highway. Decided to go kayaking from a lookout parking lot for a few km downstream.

Left the trailer in the parking lot, dropped the bike off at the destination I chose based on proximity to the highway.

Accidentally found a trail going from that parking lot down to the river, it was good to put the kayaks into the Rancheria river.

Mostly the ride was very calm:



Until it wasn't. Both Kim and I got much water in. The kids did great. Had to get out and dump the water out. The waterproof case for the phone was needed for the first time, it worked. My ass was very wet.



Got out almost exactly where I intended. It was hard, the current is very fast there. Parking the kayaks happened to be easy in that particular spot, but getting them up the slope to road was surprisingly difficult.



By the time I rode back to the rest area where we left the trailer: there were 3 or 4 rigs camping there, one running a generator.

We drove another 30km to the Little Rancheria Falls. Lucky we didn't encounter falls on our ride.

There was noone else there, but I parked in such a way that I could get out even if the parking lot filled up the next day.

Nikita flew his drone some more, hit some more trees with it. I was sure this thing wouldn't last a day - I was very wrong.

Day 35 (7 june): Little Rancheria Falls to Little Atlin Lake (Yukon)



Everyone except Kim slept till noon. Walked on the wheelchair-accessible trail to the falls. Bah. At least it didn't have barbed wire fences.



Filled with gas at the Yukon Motel, but they wanted to charge me for using the dump anyway. False advertising! I was annoyed.

Played disk golf in Teslin - an interesting course with very short distances and thick tree growth.

Played some baseball and ate linner there.

Stopped for the night at Little Atlin lake. It was crazy windy everywhere except the little camp spot I backed into.

Found a trail to the top of mount White, hoped to do it the following day.

Day 36 (8 june): Little Atlin Lake to Grey Mountain Road in Whitehorse (Yukon)



There was enough light outside at 3:00 that you could still read.

I was up looking for campsites - only Alaska left at this point.

It was still very windy.

Drove to the nearby Mount White trailhead and hiked up. Actually I don't know where exactly the trailhead was. I suspect the way we started is not what most people do:



I wonder if that trail was setup just to service the cellphone tower on top of the mountain (not all the way on top of mount White). We hiked next to that massive conduit almost the entire time:



I found a rock to climb and sit on. Didn't immediately realize just how crumbly this shit is. It has no strength at all, I could probably have pushed that entire thing I was sitting over, and it was a long way down:



The top was very windy. Good thing we were dressed expecting it. We brought Natasha's kite. It was very difficult to fly off the top of the peak: looks like the wind goes up one slope and down on the other side of the peak, so the kite wants to fall down if you try to fly it with a nice view for a background.



There was a helicopter landing pad next to the cellphone tower. I could have probably climbed that tower, but I was afraid of the microwave radiation so I stayed away from it. These are from the way down:



I think I was looking for a spot for a break when I found a wind sock post:



I'm sure that flat spot is (or at least was) used for launching hang gliders. Very cool. Must be quite a challenge carrying the glider all the way up on the trail.

At the bottom I went to look where the orange cable goes. I think it's just for power. That's quite a distance for low voltage inside an on-the-ground conduit.



Our hike was 2.8km one way, 700m climb. 3 hours up, 1.5 hours down.

Ate linner at Little Atlin lake, and drove to the Grey Mountain road east of Whitehorse where all the mountain biking trails are.

Nikita made pizza for dinner. We finally went to sleep before midnight.

Day 37 (9 june): Whitehorse (Yukon)



This was an errand day. Left the trailer at the campsite and drove to Whitehorse.

Got a bit of information at the visitor centre. Watched a 15 minute woke video.

Had showers at the Robert Service campground - 10$ for five very pretty tokens, 3 minutes each.

The SS Klondike was fenced off with private property signs everywhere. The barge was being worked on. Would have been cool to watch, except it was fenced in too. I imagine those workers feel like zoo animals - sucks for them, sucks for everyone else.

Did laundry at the hotel. Dirty place but efficient. While I was doing that: Kim took the kids to the Shipyards park - the kids enjoyed the learning centre.



Went to Coast Mountain Sports, where I realized that my hope to find a real winter jacket in the far north was unreasonable - they sell exactly the same stuff as everyone everywhere else.

I went to TD to get cash out, they were very efficient at this branch. Kim went to a hipster coffee shop.

Had dinner (95$) at a chinese restaurant.

Did groceries at the Superstore.

I was falling into a daze. This day was nothing like the quiet I got used to during the previous month.

I can't figure out where this was from. Maybe Kim went on a ride by the river at some point.


Day 38 (10 june): Whitehorse (Yukon)



Drove to the end of the Grey Mountain road. The views from up there are very nice.

I spent a half an hour marveling at the effort it takes to put a single cell tower up, and the cost of keeping it running. Looked like this one used to get power via old-school lines on wooden poles (kilometers of those through trees on the side of a mountain for just this one use). Now at least a part of those original lines were replaced with the same flexible shielded conduit we hiked next to the on mount White.

Nikita went and rode the black B&S trail, he said he did the whole thing.

Drove back to town. Got bear spray from the store, and a belt to carry it.

Kim went to a much better coffee shop (Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters) in a bike shop.

Went back to the playground. I looked for campgrounds in Alaska from the border at highway 9 to the Yukon river on the Dawson highway.

Drove to the bottom of the bike trails. It's too long a drive from the top (16-18 km). After dinner Kim drove me to the top of the blue Payback trail. It was very shaky and boring.

Day 39 (11 june): Whitehorse to Rock Island Lake (Yukon)



Got up after 9:00. At 11:0 drove to the phone tower again and hiked to the Grey Mountain peak.



Had lunch at the trailer after 15:00.

Filled gas, propane, water, and dumped that tanks at the Integra Tire (thanks!) at 17:00.

Passed a bunch of government campgrounds. Didn't want to stay at any of them.

Stopped at Braeburn Lodge, got one of their enormous cinnamon buns for 20$. A cool place, the owner must be a biker. There were Harley group ride photos on the walls. In a couple of those photos more than one guy looked like it could have been me. Except I never liked large group rides.

The road this day had more than a few surprise bumps. One was so bad: my control of the rig came into question. I experienced dangerous sway for the first time ever. Luckily the bump must have caused the brake controller to go to 100% - faster than I would have time to press it myself.

Hit such nasty ruts in a rest pull-out: I thought I lost one of the front truck wheels. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any damage to anything. Stuff didn't even fly out of the freezer.

Played nine short holes of disk golf in Carmacks. Nice course, pretty village.

Drove to stay at the Rock Island lake. Peaceful, quiet place - but swarms of mosquitoes. Arrived there at 22:30. Set up the bug gazebo with a view on the lake, and relaxed before going to sleep.

Day 40 (12 june): Rock Island Lake to the Klondike Riverbed (Yukon)



Woke up quite a few times at night to zap mosquitoes. It wasn't as bad as the 26th-27th of may, but it sure felt like more than I could have gotten through the open door.

Got up at 11:00 - annoyed, but reasonably rested.

There are still trees up here. Hard to say how tall they would get, old forest fires burned them down to the ground.

Went paddling around the lake, got blown south while trying to fish. Got one pike - cleaned it and put it in the fridge.

 

At 15:00 it was 30º in the trailer, only slightly cooler outside.  A bright, sunny day. No mosquitoes now. Had a swim:



Drove to the free campground in Pelly Crossing, had lunch there.

Continued to Stewart Crossing, paying a lot of attention to holes in the road.

I thought I might be screwed when I saw the gas station at Stewart Crossing: just a tank with pumps, not even a place at attendant might be. It turned out this one you can use on your own with a credit card, no need for cardlock access.

Couldn't get to the river for a break and continued on.

Past that point the highway was disassembled. Though I felt I was going faster because there were much fewer holes in the dirt/sand than in the broken pavement.

Stopped by Gravel Lake to check it out and have a break. There were two RVs there taking up all the space.

Saw a lot of this weird teal shit on the sides of the road. Finally stopped to look at it. At first I thought it was natural, but after inspecting it closely: I was almost certain it's a man-made material, fiber of some sort. Probably industrial waste:



I was hoping to stop at the riverbed camp for the night, but didn't feel like experiencing the excitement of driving through the river (20cm deep water over clean river rock cover).

The second riverbed camp was very easy. Not much of a view and swarms of mosquitoes, but it was good enough. The gazebo with the bug net works very well for places like this.

At 23:45 the sun still hasn't set.

Cooked the pike over a fire, and put it back in the fridge.

Day 41 (13 june): Klondike Riverbed to Top of the World Highway Pullout (Yukon)



Broke the left lens of my glasses this morning. Lucky that I had the foresight to own and bring a spare set.

Drove to Dawson City. I had a nap until 15:00. This must have been from there, or it could be from the next day:



The ferry over the Yukon river was neat, uneventful. It keeps going across non stop, I got on the second time it went.



Went to see the ship graveyard, it was ok. Had to park in a campsite to be able to walk to it.

The top of the world highway is almost entirely unpaved. Good views, which I didn't see much since I was busy watching for potholes.

Stopped at one of the many pullouts available at 21:30. Growth obstructed the view, but can walk to get much better views.

Something incomprehensible happened with the day timestamps for the photos from the 13th onward. They clearly weren't taken on the days in their timestamps. And right as we crossed the Alaska border. Weird!

Day 42 (14 june): Top of the World Highway to West Fork BLM (Alaska)



Went up the hill to see the views. Looked like a haze of smoke everywhere.



Crossed the border without issues.

Right after the border crossing lost the rear left trailer tire. It wasn't even one of the two tires which were worn down to the markers. The tire didn't lost air, it just lost its tread. The partially-detached tread acted like a baseball bat, but it didn't damage anything critical.




I'm guessing what happened was: the potholes over the previous few days damaged the steel mesh which holds the tread over the inner rubber.

Put on the brand new spare I bought back home.

Chicken had nothing in it but campgrounds, and when we arrived: a music festival.

   
 

Tickets were sold out. We went to walk around and accidentally ended up inside without paying. We spent 55$ on food, and left.

Everyone was tired, so we stopped at the BLM West Fork campground for the night (12$).

Day 43 (15 june): West Fork to the Moon Lake Rec Site (Alaska)



Didn't wake up to zap mosquitoes for the first time in 2-3 nights, even though there were plenty outside.

Made it to Toq without issues. I forgot how unusually bad the roads we've been driving on were. The main Alaska highway is in much better shape.

Tried the trailer brakes going down a couple of hills, they barely did anything. Found the wires torn on the front left axle.

I didn't realize it was sunday. The service places were closed. But I managed to find one that was still open: Northern Energy Corporation. I called just after 16:00 - they had two tires the size I needed. I left the trailer at the park (even though I didn't know where Kim and the kids went exactly), and rushed the damaged tire to the shop. Had it replaced in 15 minutes.

It was expensive: over 200USD.

Back at the park switched the new tire with the rear right, so that both new tires were on the rear. I think they get worn faster on the rear for some reason.

Decided to make it back to Alberta before replacing the other three tires.

Drove to the nearby Moon Lake recreation site (18$) - it looked nice enough so we stayed.

Sasha and I went swimming - the water was quite tolerable.

I found that I forgot one of the 6x6 tongue blocks in the park in Toq.

Day 44 (16 june): Moon Lake to Gerstle River (Alaska)



Went kayaking on Moon lake. It is very shallow. Natasha and I had to do it twice - she forgot her crocs at the end of the lake.

Reconnected the trailer brake wires. Served as lunch for a mosquito swarm while doing it.

Stopped at a school playground for an hour.

In order to be able to visit Delta Meat and Sausage - didn't drive far this day, only to Gerstle River. A very nice place to stop.

Some guy was playing with a drone in the best place to camp. I waited till he was gone and parked there.

The water is shallow but very fast. Sasha and Nikita went in - it's scary fun.



Missing a tongue block cost me two stabilizers. I tried to use a rock instead of a wooden block and the tongue jack slipped as I was putting the stabilizers down.



Broke five of the six screws that were attaching the jacks to the frame. Had to strongarm them off.

Watched a storm in the distance approach us. It missed us, we just got a few drops of rain and a lot of wind.

One of the nuts from the DC-DC circuit breaker fell off. Lucky that it didn't fall out through the water hose hole. I didn't know how long it's been off.

Day 45 (17 june): Gerstle River to Shaw Pond (Alaska)



I was hoping maybe the rain would clear out the smoke. It didn't.

Stopped at Delta Meat & Sausage. Got 130$ worth of bison sausage, elk sausage, ground beef, pork chips, Alaska salami, salami with yak, salami with elk.

Got groceries at Delta Junction's IGA. There was much russian food there, almost like Yummy Market.

Stopped at the Big Delta historical park for lunch.

The boat launch right next to there was a great spot to put in the kayaks to attempt a 20km/h fast river run. [This is not for the faint of heart!] Drove to the Shaw Pond campsite and left my bike on the river. This took a while, there was several km of one-way construction traffic.

That's the Alaska pipeline going across the river:



The beginning of the ride was frightening. Crazy fast current, and some weird shit where the Delta river joined the Tanana river.

At the same time a thunderstorm passed over us, freaking Natasha out big time. I had to tow her.



Several times during the ride I heard a distinct fizzy/bubbly sound coming from the kayak. I never figured out what it was. I don't think there were any actual bubbles, and I can't imagine how static electricity could be a factor when you're right on the water. If I had to guess: I'd guess the noise was electrical in nature.



If one pays attention: the river is very fast but definitely navigable.

Unfortunately the kids don't pay enough attention. Nikita decided to be a continuous pain in the ass, broke formation, and got stuck on a bank. Sasha got confused with the current taking me forward quickly while Kim slowed down to deal with Nikita. While so distracted Sasha got snagged on a tree branch and her kayak flipped. Kim lost her kayak trying to deal with Sasha.

All of us managed to get out on an island, unfortunately on the wrong side of the river. The ropes with the anchors were critical in making sure the kids don't float away separately.

Warmed up Kim and Sasha.

Annoyingly my phone's battery was about to die. There's no signal here, but I could have used GPS. For my preparation I drew a map on paper, but there was no time for mistakes in navigation. Stopped the tracker to give myself a few more minutes of GPS time.

I tried to walk south-east on the upstream to see how close I can get to the other side of the river. Found that carrying the kayaks that way would have required too much time and effort.

Settled on carrying the remaining three kayaks downstream on the west side of the island, where we could get back into the water without too much stress.



Natasha got in behind Kim, Sasha behind me.

The rest of the ride was reasonably straight-forward. Just two or three more heart palpitations, but getting out was much easier than I expected. The water barely flows at all on Shaw creek (between the island and the road where we got out).

I rode an hour to get the trailer, and brought it to join everyone. Arrived just after 23:00.

Inventory of what we lost:

Inventory of important things we didn't lose:

Day 46 (18 june): Shaw Pond to the Whitefish Campground (Alaska)



No crazy numbers of mosquitoes this night, but enough to get Kim and me up at 4:30. We got a couple of hours of sleep later in the morning.

The kids found a contraption - I couldn't figure out what it was for. The water is practically knee-deep. These lakes are stocked with fish but I was too roughed up to even think about fishing.



Drove through North Pole. I was hoping to stop there and make a photo of all of us near the sign, but we didn't see any clear place to get off the highway and find said sign. Also we wanted to get to the farmers' market in Fairbanks before it closed at 16:00.

Did have time to stop by the Sourdough gas station for free water and dump.

Drove to the Whitefish campground for the night.

Day 47 (19 june): Whitefish Campground to Tatalina River Pullout (Alaska)



Bugs! Fast mosquitoes, microflies, and black flies. 30º in the trailer, but had to keep the windows shut because of the microflies.

Around 3:00 opened the windows for a short time. It was 11º outside.

The mosquitoes were still getting in somehow. Not as many as before with the AC vents open, but enough to keep me up.

I slept between 5:00 and 12:00.

Drove to the beginning of the Dalton highway, which is all gravel. The bugs at km 0 were so terrible - I immediately decided to turn around, even though I was considering risking the drive. We barely managed to stay in one place long enough for a photo:



This is the farthest north we went on this trip.

A trucker stopped by and chatted with me for a minute. Said that bug spray mostly keeps them away, except some season (I forgot which) when even that doesn't work.

On our way back a construction truck pulled me over and said they're closing the road between MP24 and MP28. He wouldn't say whether they would open it the next day, and suggested we stay overnight at any of the rest stops before we get there.

Tried to rest stops which both had no bugs the first time we stopped in them, and lots of bugs the second time. I wondered whether they're afraid of diesel exhaust.

Decided to stay at the Tatalina river pullout for the night.

Taped the kitchen hood outlet outside. It still took an hour to zap five mosquitoes, but after that slept well enough.

Day 48 (20 june): Tatalina River to Gravel Pit with Nice View (Alaska)



Saw a tiny bit of smoke where the highway closure supposedly was the previous day.

Stopped at he Whitefish boat launch for a dip (much needed, even though the water was icy cold).

Bought a 2x6 from Home Depot and cut four pieces off it in the parking lot to match the tongue block.

A replacement bug zapper light at Walmart was 50$. Didn't get it, decided it's not worth it because it doesn't work well enough.

Did laundry in Fairbanks for 11$.

Replaced the air filters in the truck, figuring we're about done with gravel roads. Planned to call KalTire on the following day.

Dumped the tanks and filled with nasty-tasting water at the same gas station we used on the way north.

Drove to a gravel pit up on a hill with a nice view, past three or four forest fires.

For about 20 minutes on the road the sky looked almost frightening with the smoke, and everything looked brown - as if I were wearing brown-tinted sunglasses.

Day 49 (21 june): Gravel Pit to Denali View North Parking Lot (Alaska)



Slept reasonably well, zapped less than 5 mosquitoes at night.

Had a very pleasant, sunny morning.

The gravel guy drove in and talked to us. He was nice, didn't kick us out, though he made it clear that he could.

Didn't stop at the Denali national park at all. Not only was I done with national parks, but half of it was closed due to a mudslide or something.

Thought that maybe we will go to Anchorage for the summer solstice festival - this was the longest day of the year. Kim looked online and found that all the activities end at 17:00. I didn't get it, and we didn't plan to go.

Decided to do a hike instead: the Little Coal Creek and Kesugi Ridge trails.

Stopped at the Denali View North "Campground" - little more than a parking lot, but with a 20$ fee payable by credit card only.

Took the camp host's spot - the only one that looked remotely like a campsite, and paid the 20$.

My phone battery was at 9% at the beginning of the hike, it didn't make it all the way to where we turned around, but it was close.

Just over 5km one way, a 550m climb:



Once we got out of the trees - there were no more bugs. I guess it's too cold and windy for them.

Had a decent view of mount Denali (a.k.a. mount McKinley) on the whole hike.



This must have been the sign or guestbook for the beginning of a trail, there was nothing in it:



A spider was running around on the snow:



Went to sleep after midnight, exhausted.

Day 50 (22 june): Denali View North to the Matanuska River Park (Alaska)



Got up after noon.

There were some microflies in the trailer and at least one mosquito. I didn't wake up till the morning.

Pulled out to the Susitna River free camping. I don't think camping is allowed there any more, and it was a pain in the ass to back out. I'm impressed that some people do drive through the river on muddy sand to get to a large open beach for camping. I didn't even consider trying it.

While we were taking a break: an air boat showed up. I've never seen one up close before. But it makes sense to have air boats on these northern rivers - they must be impossible to navigate with too much hull under water. The guy said the engine is from his old pickup truck and burns a lot of gas.

Saw the Linux logo on the side of the highway and had to stop. The shop is called Arctic Penguin Technologies:



It looks like a very cool place, unfortunately it wasn't open on sunday and I couldn't talk to the guy running it.

Stopped at a dog sled drive-through coffee shop north of Willow (Lead Dog Cafe), and for lunch at the community centre parking lot. Willow must be the dog sledding centre of the universe. They have some insane competitions that make all my  trips look like walks in the park. Cool.



Played 18 holes of disk golf at the Alcantra recreation facility.

Stopped for the night at the Matanuska River park. I was expecting 20$, it was 30$ for no hookups. But it had hot showers included and water that didn't taste like shit.

Day 51 (23 june): Matanuska River Park (Alaska)



I had a headache and felt like shit all day.

Had the energy for a 9-basket disk golf course. It's amazing that we haven't lost any disks in the thick bush. The dates on the photos are screwed up, but I think these are from there:





Kim took Sasha to try the mountain biking trails which start at the university. The trails were not well maintained of so they came back quickly.

I was checked out for the rest of the day.

Small airplanes were landing right over our heads every 3 minutes.

Stayed another night at the Matanuska River park.

Heard three or four desperately scary screams at night while I was reading in the trailer. Didn't go to check it out.

Day 52 (24 june): Matanuska River Park to Gulkana River (Alaska)


This morning the tongue jack refused to raise the trailer tongue. I got the truck's jack under the tongue, barely managed to get the weight distribution bars on. I wasn't surprised, if anything: I expected it to die much sooner. It got used a lot every year we owned it.

Dumped the fresh water out and refilled it. Dumped the other tanks too.

Got gas and groceries in Palmer.

Drove by the Matanuska glacier. It's huge:



Everyone there wanted us to pay for parking, so we didn't spend much time at it. But it just so happened that just a couple of kilometers east there was free parking, free camping, and a great trail going up 300m to the Lion Head for a better view:

 

Drove to the Nelchina river free campground. Haven't seen this many mosquitoes since the Dawson highway. Left immediately.

Drove to the parking lot next to the Gulkana river instead. There were seven other RVs there.

Day 53 (25 june): Gulkana River to the Deadman Lake Campground (Alaska)



Our bus neighbors' generator turned on at 1:00 and I felt it stayed on all night. The fucking thing was louder than a tractor trailer.

Lots of people were fishing for king salmon in the morning.

Not much interesting this day. Drove to Toq. I was going to stay on the disused runway but there were "Fire camp, no parking any time" signs.

Both RV repair places in Toq were closed (I was looking to have the tongue jack replaced).

Had lunch at the park. The tongue block I forgot was not still there.

Saw a big "last gas" sign. Stopped there since I was not paying attention and I had less than 80km of gas left.

The Lakeview free campground was full.

The Deadman lake free campground was also full, but there was a former campsite with a canoe rack parked in it. I confirmed with the camp host that it's ok and pulled in there for the night.

There were four or five good-size dead fish on the bottom of the lake to be seen from the dock. Also four canoes with paddles next to the lake - probably free to use.

Got halfway to finishing the webpage from the 2024 trip. The one you're reading now was created in november of 2025.

Day 54 (26 june): Deadman Lake Campground to Kluane Lake (Yukon)



Went paddling (in turns) on Pickhandle lake. It's very shallow, with a weedy bottom. Could see good size fish swimming in it. They are very fast.

Sasha caught her first pike!



We let it go.

Lots of gravel sections on the road this day, but not many bumps.

Pulled over in a rest area with a mediocre view of Kluane river. A sign there said the King Salmon swim there all the way from the ocean via the Yukon river to spawn and die.

I had a good nap. Haven't slept well the previous two nights because of nightmares.

A few kilometers west of the Burwash gas station saw a guy walking his loaded bike east. He said his pump was broken. I let him use ours, but the new tube he put in was leaking too.

Put his very heavy bike in the trailer and gave him a ride to the gas station.

Destruction bay had nothing to look at.

Stopped on the shore of Kluane lake (just north of the Congdon Creek campground) for the night. It's very pretty there. Lots of space.

There was still plenty of light at midnight.

Day 55 (27 june): Kluane Lake to Solstice Disk Golf in Whitehorse (Yukon)



Kluane lake is very pretty. A bit cold this day, but maybe that kept the bugs away.

Drove to Haynes Junction, played disk golf in a very wooded but pleasant course. The shortest basket was 21m away from the tee.



Had lunch on the road to nowhere. It must be an abandoned mine or something.

The driving this day was much nicer, helping my lower back recover from all the whiplash I'm sure was caused by the waves and gravel on the highway.

Drove to the Solstice disk golf course in Whitehorse. Played 18 holes.

Stayed in the parking lot for the night. I couldn't be bothered too much to be worried about complaints, even though the access road to that parking lot goes by a prison.

Day 56 (28 june): Whitehorse to Lower Hazel Creek Rest Area (BC)



Broke off two of the three bolts holding the tongue jack in the trailer's tongue. It became clear that I'd have to do without for the rest of the trip.

Moved the trailer to the parking lot for the bike trails near the Canada Games centre. Kim went on a ride, I played catch with Sasha.

Got gas, propane, water, and dumped that tanks at Integra Tire. This time the place was busy, but I was still very grateful they offer the services.

Called the Kal Tire in Grade Prairie to confirm they'll have the tires I need for the trailer.

Had breakfast at Ricky's at 12:00.

Followed the sound of the music to the Shipyards park, where they were getting ready for a concert at night.

I tried to sleep in the Superstore parking lot but with so much noise it was impossible.

I wanted to make it to the disk golf course in Teslin lake for lunch but could hardly keep my eyes open.

Stopped at the rest area across from Squan lake for a two hour nap.

The Morley Lake recreation site was full. I got a couple of mosquito bites while guiding Kim in a very difficult turnaround.

Went down the road just past the rest area to Helen lake. After a few days of a break: the mosquito swarms were back, including teleporting into the trailer. The AC and kitchen vents were still taped at this point.

Around midnight, after realizing I'd have to spend all night zapping them: moved back to the rest area in the open, hoping maybe it wouldn't be as bad there.

It rained a lot this day.

Day 57 (29 june): Lower Hazel Creek Rest Area to Whirlpool Canyon (BC)



Killed all the bugs by 3:00, then slept reasonably well till noon.

Stopped at Junction 37 Services. The guy said all the roads are open.

Played 18 holes of disk golf at Raven Pines in Watson Lake and had lunch there.

Went to see the signpost forest - it's pretty cool. Lots of signs from everywhere in the world, many clearly made before the people even set out on their trips. I did not prepare any sign so we headed out.



Except I forgot my mug on the truck's bumper. I figured it fell off when I turned - and I found it on the road. I was excited that I didn't lose it but it turned out someone (possibly me) drove over it. Amazingly it wasn't crushed completely, but there was a hole in the bottom.

I had to take this opportunity to make a cool sign out of it and add it to the signpost forest. It says "Survived Alaska but not Watson Lake":



Hopefully the permanent marker will last a few years. The best way I could think to attach it to the tree was to tie it using 12ga wire I had for trailer repairs.

There was less rain this day, but still some on and off.

This day was a long drive. I wanted to get close to the Liard River hot springs so that we could go get a spot there in the morning, and get to Grande Prairie before friday.

Saw a grizzly bear crossing the road:



One bison playing in a sandbox:



And a big herd of bison on and next to the road:



After watching them for a few minutes I went out and started to think of how I could get them off the road. There were too many, with young ones, and I didn't feel like risking being a tough guy. A tractor trailer came from the other side, stopped for half a minute, and honked his horn - that got them off the road.

Stopped at Whirlpool Canyon for the night. The bugs weren't bad there. Parked along a big spruce that fell onto the driveway.

Day 58 (30 june): Whirlpool Canyon to the Liard River Hot Springs (BC)



Slept very well, no bugs.

This is where we were camped:



And the Whirlpool Canyon itself (it's the Liard river):



Right in front of the viewpoint the trees were burned. I spent much of the previous evening and this morning trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for how that could have happened. A number of trees were burned from their bottoms to their tops. Right next to them were trees that showed no signs of fire damage at all. Every burned tree was covered with the same orange shit I noticed at some other forest fire leftovers we stopped at.

And the logs brought onto shore when the river swells were also burned and had that colour. They burned after the water brought them, otherwise there wouldn't have been loose charred pieces lying around.

People must assume this was caused by a campfire, but I really don't think so. I thought what I would have to do to set a fire to cause this damage: I'm completely convinced it would be impossible without an accelerant. You'd have to spray napalm in the area to get this result.

Arrived at the hot springs campground around 11:00. I saw that lineup and figured they'd be full but there were plenty of fist-come-first-serve campsites available. The lineup at the entrance was for day use.

The hot springs were very nice, definitely not overbuilt:



The water was unbearably hot where the water comes out of the hill, and almost cold by the other end (some kind of dead end branch). So depending on where you go: you get a different temperature - very convenient. According to a sign nearby: noone really knows what causes these particular hot springs to exist.

It was a beautiful day. No biting insects, just some flies buzzing around.

Went to see the springs a second time this day around 18:00. I was going to sit by and wait for the kids, but the bugs were too much. Had to go back to the trailer to get my jacket and bug spray.

My lower back's been bothering me for several days now, I assumed because of the driving.

Day 59 (1 july): Liard River Hot Springs to the Buckinghorse River Campground (BC)



I coulnd't sleep till 7:00. Around 5:00 saw a couple of dark grey mice. One coming out from where the water pump is, the other from under the stove. I thought I managed to frighten them out of the trailer, out whichever way they came in.

Got everyone up at 8:30, was planning to start the end of the trip: long driving days. Almost 5000km to home.

Went swimming in the hot springs one last time. I got dizzy getting out.

Everyone was stuck on a bridge I couldn't find the name of. I still don't know which river or what time it was - Kim said she made photos but I didn't get any. Maybe Liard river.

There were two buffaloes on it.

I figured if I don't do something - we'll be there half the day. So I walked to the other side of the bridge, stared the buffalo down for a minute, and shoed them off the bridge. While wearing my cowboy hat.

People were suitably impressed.

Drove all the way to Fort Nelson. Had lunch there and a 90 minute nap. Kim saw a mouse under the stove - I guess I didn't frighten it enough.

Used the free dump and water at Fort Nelson, north of the visitor centre.

As it started getting a bit dark: a bear ran across the road in front of me. Good thing both Kim and I saw it first, I probably would have hit it if the horn didn't make it run faster.

Got to the Buckinghorse River campground (20$) at 21:30. I was shocked there were almost no bugs. Maybe forest fires kill them, even though the immediate vicinity of the campground was spared.

Day 60 (2 july): Buckinghorse River to Williamson PP (Alberta)



Had a good night sleep. Left at 11:00.

Stopped at the speed skating ring in Fort St. John and nowhere else until Kal Tire in Grande Prairie.

Replaced the other two (front) trailer tires.

Got a couple of mouse traps at Canadian Tire, and ate linner in the parking lot there.

Drove to the Williamson provincial park. For 29$ I was expecting showers but no - just a dump station.

Arrived at 21:00, accounting for the timezone change.

Had showers in the trailer. Parked in a "must reserve" site, was too tired to drive around looking for first-come-first-serve sites.

Day 61 (3 july): Williamson PP to Vegreville Municipal Campground (Alberta)



Dumped the waste tanks (mostly shower water) and filled the fresh water tank.

Stopped at the park in Mayerthorpe for lunch at 15:00.

Stopped almost on top of railroad tracks for a break (the date timestamps on the photos were no longer a day behind starting with this one):



17:30 did laundry in Fort Saskatchewan (which is not in Saskatchewan). Kim took the kids to a park and they found sheep there:

 

19:45 got to the Vegreville municipal campground. Just had enough time to pay 25$ for a no-service spot before they closed the office at 20:00.

 

Came up with a possible plan to get home in five days (3291km = 660km/day):
  1. Lanigan
  2. Portage la Prairie
  3. Ivor road
  4. Sand pit
  5. Home

Day 62 (4 july): Vegreville to Lanigan Lions Campground (Saskatchewan)



The Vegreville Pysanka festival was happening on the 4th-6th of july.

Moved the trailer next to the fairgrounds. Stuff wasn't open yet so we had breakfast in the trailer.

The kids had lots of fun, especially with embroidery and making pysankas.







I sat there for an hour trying to read Aristotle's Organon, but finally gave up on it and threw it out. I don't imagine I'll ever be able to understand it (or learn whether there's anything there to understand).

I remembered I only had two hours of sleep and went back to the trailer to get two more.

Good thing we came early and I parked in such a way that noone could block my exit.

Left almost at 17:00

Arrived at the Lanigan Lions campground after 23:00. It has seven 20$ no-hookup sites, only two of which I could fit in after much struggling.

Day 63 (5 july): Vegreville to the Williams RV Park (Manitoba)



Had showers. Didn't use the dump station.

Mostly drove all day.

Stopped for lnch at the park in Langenburg. That park had a nice-looking pool. I gave the kids 15$ + 1.50$ tax to go there after lunch while I had a nap.

They came back in 10 minutes because they closed the pool "for an hour", i.e. until 18:00. They would not give the kids their money back.

At the playground a little girl in tears with her even smaller brother asked me whether I know where the subway station was. Turns out her dad went there, probably because he wasn't expecting the pool to close and everyone to get kicked out (what an outrage). I went and growled at the four teenagers running the place, sent two of them to hang out with the abandoned children in the park.

I was going towards free camping in Portage la Prairie but forgot about the timezone change. Saw a campground sign on the highway, checked on its website (it said 25$ for no hookups), and pulled in there.

All marked sites had hookups, so I just picked a spot on the grass.

Day 64 (6 july): Williams RV Park to the Dixie Lake Rest Stop (Ontario)



Stopped in St. Anne for lunch. Didn't realize until we got there that was the same place we stopped on our way west.

OsmAnd had a stroke and lost the morning's recorded track, I restarted it.

I was going to begrudgingly stay at Walmart in Dryden, but stopped at the Dixie lake rest stop and decided to stay there. It was pretty nice actually.

Went swimming, kayaking, fishing.

Had teleporting mosquitoes again. Found a tiny hole in between the AC foam filter and the plastic grill. Taped it, which got rid of the bugs.

Day 65 (7 july): Dixie Lake to Mazukama Falls Trailhead (Ontario)



Went kayaking and swimming again:



Got groceries at Safeway. I forgot about the 15c/l discount for gas there - that was nice.

Drove to the Mazukama Falls trailhead parking lot for the night. Crossed the last timezone border on the trip.

I was getting quite tired of the driving.

The bug cocktail was out in force. Good thing it wasn't hot - slept with the windows and vents closed.

Day 66 (8 july): Mazukama Falls to Mamainse Creek CL (Ontario)



Drove to White River. Stopped at the visitors' centre for lunch. It was still closed.



Dumped the tanks for free, in case the Uxbridge station was not going to work out.

The black flies were unbearable.

Arrived at Mamainse Creek at 19:00. There was no room in the southern opening. I used my trailer maneuverning magic to turn around in there and after some struggling managed to guide Kim driving into the northern opening.



We were close enough to home: I finally got rid of my jeans:


Day 67 (9 july): Mamainse Creek to Sand Pit CL (Ontario)



There were no mosquitoes in the trailer but the microflies kept me up half the night.

Getting close to Sault Ste Marie: an accident happened on the highway not far in front of us in a construction site.

There was no practical way to go around, so we waited about an hour for them to complete the cleanup.

Got new jeans at Mark's.

Had lunch next to the Rosedale park. I'm not sure I was allowed to park there, but noone complained.

Drove to the Sand Pit campground for the last night of the trip.

Day 68 (10 july): Sand Pit to Richmond Hill (Ontario)



I got up at night and finished the webpage for our slow 2024 USA trip.

Left at 9:30.

The free Uxbridge dump station closes at 15:00, I should have left earlier to get to it in time.

If you have questions for me, please use this form.

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