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Date:         Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:33:01 -0500
Reply-To:     Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Long Trip Report & Pictures -- British Columbia and Yukon
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

If you only want to look at the pictures, scroll to the bottom of the email and go to the picture link.

In the summer of 2005, my wife and I took an incredible 14,000+ mile and 77 day round trip journey from Harrisonburg, VA to Dawson City, Yukon. After returning home, I posted some trip information to the list but with hurricane Katrina hitting our family members hard right after we returned, I had my hands full with other matters and never followed through with pictures. Inertia took hold but I have finally taken the time to go through the pictures and select ones that I think provide a good overview of the portion of the trip in British Columbia and the Yukon.

A trip of this magnitude would have been pretty scary had it not been for the knowledge that had we had problems, there was the entire Vanagon list community to call on for help. While I am not a regular contributor to the list, I have religiously read most of the posts since I purchased our van in 1996, and have gained a lot of knowledge, ideas, and my fair share of paranoid thoughts about the van.

We were fortunate to have a van that had been properly maintained by the previous owner and I have tried to do the same since over the years. Before the trip, the van had a full tune up including new belts, fuel lines, some ball joins, and tires. During the trip, I changed the oil and oil filter twice (Mobil 15-50) and every evening or morning, I checked the coolant level and the oil level and frequently checked the condition of the belts and the hoses and looked for any oil or coolant leaks. I carried tools that were enough for my mechanical ability and an extra distributor cap, rotor, plugs, oil filters, belts and a few other parts. OK, just in case, I also carried duct tape, marine epoxy, wire, etc. and am happy/lucky to say that we had absolutely no mechanical problems on the trip.

We made a deliberate decision to avoid as much as possible the interstate highways on the way out and West and to not use them until we were in Washington State on the way home. While the exact trip route was not planned, we did carry a copy of the book “*Roadtrip USA*” and we made decisions as we drove on where to spend each night. All we knew is that we wanted to spend a lot of time in British Columbia.

From Virginia, we took smaller roads through WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN and ended up spending some great time along the western shore of Lake Superior before taking highway 2 through MN, ND, MT, to Glacier National Park. After a great hike to Iceberg Lake and a night in the van, we hoped to drive the Road to the Sun through GNP. But, it was cold, rained all night, and the Road to the Sun was closed because of 8" of snow during the night. Then we headed to the North Cascades NP and to Olympic NP.

After about 20 nights in the van, we took the ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC and spent 3 nights in a hotel in Victoria. Those were the only nights we didn't spend in the van until we had been on the road for about 70 days and were hurrying home in the US on the interstates.

Before our trip, Shawn Wright who lives on Vancouver Island, provided a lot of advice on things to see and do on the island. Paul Guzyk's emails, trip report and pictures of his travels in British Columbia inspired us --thanks again Shawn and Paul!. Because of their advice and that of numerous helpful people along the way, we went to China Beach, Mystic Beach, and Long Beach. We rode a working boat out of Port Alberni, a float plane trip out of Tofino, and a whale watching boat out of Telegraph cove before we got on a ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and then a ferry up to Skagway.

Several years before our trip, Paul Guzyk posted pictures of Atlin, BC and his pictures enticed me to make the detour (and it is a detour) to Altin, BC. It is one georgeous place. My wife and I happened to be in town when they were having an annual fund raiser tea for a old boat (Tarahne) and my wife rented period clothes at a local store/shop/something and we attended a tea on the boat and sat at a table with some fascinating people. Whether on purpose or not, I don't remember, but it also happened that a caravan of old restored vehicles from Anchorage were in town that day. What a memorable couple of days.

After Atlin, we headed north to Dawson City before heading back down to BC to Liard River, Fort Nelson, Prince George, and Jasper. We hiked in Mount Robson Provincial Park, Jasper National Park, Yoho NP, Kootney NP, Glacier and Mt. Revelstock NP. If you are a hiker, you must hike in the Lake O’Hara area of Yoho, NP and Jades Pass in Mt. Revelstock NP --incredibly beautiful hikes.

People along the way couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. At each campsite and on our hikes, people gave us recommendations and we sifted through all the advice and made decisions on where to head next. Frankly, we never intended to go into the Yukon, but on the ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert where we planned to start our exploration of BC, people on the ferry convinced us to take the ferry from Prince Rupert to Skagway and continue north to Dawson City. The ferry ride itself was unbelievably beautiful. In Skagway, AK we bought a copy of “*The Milepost*” which provides invaluable information about roads, things along the way, etc. We typically spent only one night at a place and that evening or in the morning, we would look at "*The Milepost*" and decide where we might stop along the next day's drive. Without the Milepost, we would have "never" stopped at places like the fascinating "George Johnston Museum" in Teslin, southeast of Whitehourse.

While we thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Dawson City and the Yukon, there is more than enough to do in BC to take up all of your time. We returned to BC in the summer of 2008 and if our plans don’t change, we will go to Alberta and BC in the summer of 2011.

We camped mostly in State Parks, National Parks, and Provincial parks and we never made a reservation. In the most popular parks, the trick is to get there early in the day, however we only found about 3 that were really crowded and most of the Provincial parks were surprisingly empty. In only a few cases, we stayed at commercial campgrounds--in Dawson City and at Watson Lake we stayed at ones that provided wireless Internet service so we could send email and check on family members.

I can't imagine having nearly as much fun and freedom in any other type of vehicle.

I have posted more than enough pictures to bore even the most energetic person. There was just so much to see that I didn’t know where to quit posting. I wish I were a photographer instead of a "point & shoot" guy with a "point & shoot" camera so I could do the beauty of BC and the Yukon justice.

Link to Pictures: " https://picasaweb.google.com/teerhb/BritishColumbiaAndYukonTripIn2005?feat=directlink "

Ask if you have questions.

Harold and Faye ___ Harold Teer 1991 Westy (Vangaux) Harrisonburg, VA


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