Alaska or Bust - Canadian Travels

CANADA, eh ! (Part 1)

As we begin our travels into Canada from the border crossing, we are welcomed with grand views of Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada's sister park to Glacier NP) with miles and miles of mountainous wilderness. For many days we experienced this same type of Canadian beauty overload of high snow capped mountain peaks and green river valleys.

We knew we wanted to visit Lake Louise in Alberta's Banff National Park so that was our first scheduled stop. Lake Louise is known for it's iridescent turquoise waters and the dramatic glacier-fed backdrop. During our visit it was the start of the summer tourist season and the area was packed with visitors all wanting that perfect shot of the lake and mountains. We walked along the lake edge and the historical Chateau Lake Louise built in the early 20th Century by the Canadian Pacific Railway. We loved the grandeur of the whole area. But just as appealing was the sister lake near by, Moraine Lake, which also has the iridescent turquoise water and beautiful snow capped mountains, with less people. (Side Note: you do need a shuttle reservation to tour these lakes and we lucked out and scored two cancellation seats for our next day visit.) 

Lake Louise from the Chateau's shoreline

Us at Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Fairmont's Chateau Lake Louise

Chateau Interior

Lake Moraine

Lake Moraine

Lake Moraine looked amazing from all angles

This is not the only place where we were amazed at the beauty. We then make our way from Lake Louise northward to Jasper through Jasper National Park on the Ice Field Parkway, which dishes out the most exquisite vistas in the Canadian Rockies.  This highway is known to be one of the best scenic drives on the Earth and it did not disappoint. 

200 miles of this scenery was unbelievable  

Columbia Ice field:   The Columbia Ice field is the largest ice field in North America's Rocky Mountains astride the Continental Divide with in the Jasper/Banff NP. The ice field is about 125 miles square in area, 328 to 1,198 feet in depth and receives up to 280 inches of snowfall per year. (The photos do not portray how massive it really is.)

Tangle Falls, just past the ice fields, is a stunning multi-tiered water fall at approximately 157 feet tall

Mount Robson - The  highest peak in the Canadian Rockies - 12,972 feet

As we transverse out of the rugged snowy Rocky Mountains we begin to drop down into more of a  tempered climate of the mid-Canadian coastal mountains and find a much different terrain of greenery and vast forests. One such area is the Ancient Rainforest/Chun T'oh Whuduiut Provincial Park.  This park protects the only inland temperate rain forest in the World. We wondered along one of the trails that meandered us through 1,000 year old Western Red Cedars and various large plants, mosses and fungi. These giant Cedars are similar to the large redwoods in California just slightly smaller.  Within the forest it was damp and muggy leading to the perfect habitat for these plants and trees to thrive. 

Nice boardwalk 'trail' through some of the forest

See how large the trees are

Huge leaves. These plants love the rainforest climate. 

Continuing on, we had read about a little town in British Columbia called Chetwynd that was known for the annual chainsaw carving competition and has earned the well-deserved title as the 'Chainsaw Carving Capital of the World'.  As we arrived into town, the streets, parks and various businesses are lined with carvings like an outdoor gallery from previous years competitions. They boost over 150 sculptures but we only saw a small portion and were blown away with the artwork.

Title - A Hornet's Storm

Title - Protected Depths

Title - Guardian of the Wild

Title - Warrior's Landing

This first half (part one) through Canada was 1,150 miles, 6 days and 2 provinces to get to the start of the Alaska Highway. Up next is our start of the Alaska Highway, a 1,422 mile journey starting at Dawson Creek, British Columbia (Mile 0) and ends at Delta Junction, Alaska (Mile 1,422). 

Thanks for joining us on this continuing adventure.

Alaska or Bust !

 Let the journey begin....

Part 1: Crossing the US up to the Canadian Border - Arizona to Chief Mountain, Alberta Canada.

To even make the trip possible Jack worked hard on upgrading and prepping our Dodge 3500 Diesel and our Outfitter Spire Camper so we were comfortable while camping and have a reliable vehicle to get us to Alaska. The finished product turned out to be what we needed to start on this bucket list adventure.

June 8th, 2026..... Let's get this party started!

As we pulled out of our driveway in 100 degree Arizona temperature we were hopeful that we were heading to cooler temperatures.  When we prepare for a trip like this, we try to stop for the night in cooler temperatures, which is known as 'chasing 70 degrees' in the nomad camping world. So we planned and plotted our route according so our first week brought us to:

Flagstaff, AZ - on the Mogollon Rim at 7,000 ft elevation, pine trees and cool air for sleeping!

Campsite at the Mogollon Rim outside Flagstaff, AZ.

Truck survived the first 120 miles!!

Duck Creek, Utah - at 8,400 ft elevation and again, cooler air.

In the pines again

Ely, Nevada - 6,400 ft elevation. Driving through western Utah and eastern Nevada, we drove NV HWY 50 which is called the Loneliest Road in America to get to Ely. The area is high desert plains/valleys with mountain ranges dividing the valleys for hundreds of miles and after a long day, we made camp in the trees at the foothills of the mountains. After a good night sleep we spend some time that next morning exploring the awesome local train museum. We were able to walk around their current restoration machine shop and talk to the mechanics and restoration guys about the unique trains they were working on, from 1890's steam engines to the newer 1950's diesel engines and a few specialty cars. This tour was two thumbs up for sure.

On our way to Ely on the Nevada HWY 50 - The Loneliest Road in America 

Coal tender car.

Rotary Snow Plow for clearing train tracks.

Hard not to want to jump in and get my hands dirty! 

Outside the Museum /Train Station

Bruneau Canyon Overlook in Idaho - We made a small detour off the straight north route to grab the Idaho's Cache Across America geocache.  When we arrived at the cache it was late so we decided to camp in the overlook area and were awarded with a beautiful canyon view and sunset all by ourselves.  Good sleeping.

Looking into the canyon at Bruneau Overlook

Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho. - We were surrounded by mountains and the only visitors we had were two wild mustangs that seemed to be curious why we were camping in their area.  The night was chilly and we were glad we have a heater in the camper.

At this point we had been averaging about 250 miles driving per day and dry camping for 5 days straight so we elected to stay a couple of days in Spruce On the River RV Park in Kalispell, Montana to take some really long hot showers, laundry and relax. Our RV site was next to the river and was our nature's symphony music for those two nights.

View from our site of the Flathead River

After a good rest we decided to head north again and visit near-by Glacier National Park.  We ventured into the west entrance of the Park only to find out that the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which transverses the park and connects the west entrance with the east entrance, was not open for the season as it still had snow drifts on the road, so we would need to drive the long way around to the east entrance to see the other side of the Park.  We are so glad we did. The glacier carved peaks, beautiful lakes and grand hotels are a sight to see.  After taking in the beauty from the St Mary's Glacier entrance the ranger recommended the Many Glacier entrance. This area seems to be less visited as the other areas of the park probably because of the 7 miles of dirt road. But yet again, it's so worth it. We were able to see more glaciers another grand lodge and less people.

West Entrance - Lake McDonald Lodge and old touring bus which is 
still used today.

Interior of the historic 1914 Lake McDonald Lodge

Views of Lake McDonald

Happy Us!

Mountain Goat looking a little shabby losing winter fur coat

East Glacier Entrance - View of Jackson Glacier

Everywhere you look... just WOW

Are we in Switzerland ?

Beautiful view of Many Glacier Hotel built in 1915 on the Swiftcurrent Lake
and massive peaks in the background

Interior of Many Glacier Hotel

Our journey continues to Alaska as we cross into Canada at the Chief Mountain Border Crossing just 80 miles NE of Glacier NP. We had no problems at the border crossing with only the typical inquiring questions and looking over our passports.  No person or vehicle searches. So we were pretty lucky.

Hello Canada

We have been on the road for one week, travelled 1900 miles and stayed at 7 unique places and crossed 6 states. So join us next time when we continue our travel through Canada to the Alaska border.

Thanks for coming along.