Safely Home - Reflections on the Trip

Sept. 5-10, 2004

After leaving Glacier National Park it was time head home. There is not much of interest once you leave the mountains so we made fairly good time across the plains of eastern Montana and North Dakota. We laid over a  day in Minnesota to enjoy the warmer weather and take a break from the driving.

We arrived home on Sept 10. The trip lasted 4 days shy of four months; we drove a total of 11,618 miles, not counting distances traveled by ferry. Except for a propane leak which was fixed without too much difficulty, the Roadtrek performed flawlessly. Our average gas mileage for the trip was 15.5 mpg, which is real nice when the gas prices are so high, as they are now.

Since this will be the last installment for the web page for this trip, we thought we would share with you some of our reflections on our trip. We start with the disclaimer that these reflections are purely personal and reflect our interests and tastes; other people may see things differently.

Most interesting parts:

1. Coastal Alaska - especially the way the mountains come down to the sea, villages tucked between the mountains and the sea, fjords, tidewater glaciers, and abundant marine life - it is very beautiful.

2. Denali National Park - especially the abundant wildlife. We would still like to get a good view of "the mountain" up close. Maybe next time.

3. Barrow - seeing how the Eskimos live on the bleak tundra adjacent to the Arctic Ocean was very different and interesting.

4. The coastal region of British Columbia - it is very scenic.

Of lesser interest:

1. Most of interior Alaska and the Yukon - the towns and wooded hillsides soon begin to all look alike. So do all the gift shops.

Other Observations:

1. This summer was reported to be the second worst forest fire season in Alaska on record. Hence we encountered a lot of smoke at times that obscured the views. As they say, "There are no guarantees; you pay your money and take your chances."

2. Where were the mosquitoes? Alaska is famous for mosquitoes, so we took plenty of bug juice and mosquito head nets, but never used either one. We encountered a few mosquitoes, but nothing bad at all. Perhaps the dry weather that led to the severe forest fire season caused a much smaller mosquito hatch than normal.

3. The best way to see southeast Alaska is to use the ferry system, and spend a few days at each stop. If you simply take the ferry from Bellingham (or Prince Rupert) to Haines or Skagway and don't get off to see the towns, you miss a lot.

Things we would like to see/do on our next trip to Alaska:

1. The Aleutian chain.

2. Denali  - we would spend more time camping in the backcountry (three days was not long enough).

3. The Wrangell - St. Elias mountains.

4. Drive the Dempster highway to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories (we aren't in agreement on this one).

That's all for this trip.

                                                                                                       Happy Roadtrekking,
                                                                                                       Gil and Nancy