The 035-350 Alaska and Canada trip early summer 2016
We flew to Vancouver where we went aboard the Holland America cruise ship for a 7 night inside passage to Alaska / Glacier bay.
The inside passage from Vancouver to Juno has some spectacular views.
11 June 2016
Juneau
No roads lead to Juneau, which gives the Alaskan capital a misty inscrutability. You need to come by air or water, but when you arrive, the place will delight you with its bounty of water, forests, and mountains.
This is our cruise ship seen from the top of the cable car.
The first patchwork fabric shop Jenni went to on this trip in the main street in Juneau.
From Juneau we sailed on to Skagway
11 June 2016
Skagway
Some of the aspiring Klondike gold rushers who made it to Skagway took a look at the 500-mile journey that still lay ahead of them and decided a change of profession was in order. So many of them set up shop as provisioners that Skagway was the largest city in Alaska by the end of the 19th century.
Looking at the size of the snow plough I guess it snows a lot here!!
The footpath from the dock, which was quite a steep climb to Lower Dewey Lake, was worth the climb.
This is a Stella’s Jay on the rocks at Lower Dewey Lake.
From Skagway we sailed on to Glacier bay.
Our first view of the Glacier.
The noise of lumps falling off the Glacier is spectacular as are the colours (unfortunately the sound does not show in the pictures)
From Glacier Bay we stopped at Ketchikan
13 June 2016
Ketchikan
Totem Bight State Park Ketchikan
On the ship back to Vancouver, we met up with all the others on the tour.
Worldwide Motor Home escorted holidays
We had two days in Vancouver where we had a guided tour of the city. Then a group dinner at the top of Vancouver restaurant
Our tour route
The following day we went to Capitano suspension bridgeton the local bus.
The bridge is 650ft long and takes you to Treetops adventure park
There are lots of walkways in the park, this was one of the more spectacular.
In the evening we went down town to see the famous Steam clock.
18 June 2016
Collected our motor homes and headed to Tsawwassen to get the ferry for Victoria on Vancouver island.
Our first camp site at Westbay Marina village RV Victoria.
These are the water taxis that take you around Victoria harbour.
The harbour seals know where the tourists are, anything for a free meal.
From the camp site in Victoria we went out whale watching.
The sun was shining but at 20 knots it was cool on deck.
We saw quite a few whales but mostly a long way off.
From Victoria we traveled to Nanaimo.
On they way to Nanaimo we stopped off at Chemainus, which is an outdoor art gallery renowned for its giant murals.
The whole town is covered with these murals, you just have to follow the yellow line to see them all.
We carried on to Nanaimo to get the ferry back to the mainland stopping overnight at Whistler.
There were lots of lakes along the way.
At Hat Creek Ranch campsite, we set the motor homes in the traditional circle.
Jenni stood as near as she dared to the edge of Helmcken fall which is the fourth highest water fall in Canada.
Helmcken falls viewed from the other side.
Helmcken falls.
Dawson falls.
Our first bear on the side of the road to Clearwater.
Myanth falls.
Marcus Falls.
We stopped at Blue river and went on a boat trip with the hope of seeing some bears.
From the boat we saw bears along the side of the river.
We crossed the river and landed next to this water fall where we climbed up a footpath beside the falls.
Mount Robson Provinicial Park
Mount Robson at 3954m the highest peak in the BC Rockies. Viewed from the entrance of the camp site.
This is our motor home at the Robson Meadows campground.
On our way to Jasper we found this small lake with the mirror image. after I took this picture the wind picked up and the mirror image was gone.
Views around the lake were spectacular.
Train tracks in Jasper, the trains are very long and travel at low speed.
We took the Tramway cable car up Whistlers mountain with stunning views.
I walked all the way to the top of the maintain, it was a hard climb.
This is the very highest point of the mountain.
The views from the top were breathtaking.
Icefield Parkway, we stopped at the Athabasca Glacier.
The Athabasca Glacier
These are the groves cut into the rock as the glacier moves over the underlying rock.
The wall of the valley after the glacier recedes.
Peyto Lake fed by meltwater from the Peyto glacier giving the lake this magnificent blue colour.
Bow river at Banff with the Hoodoos (the tall rock formations).
From Banff we headed back to the motor home depot at Calgary, then to the airport and home.