(Don’t forget that you can click on the photos to get a larger view)
During the COVID pandemic of 2020, I decided that this would be a good time to disappear into the wilderness of Alaska to do some white water rafting with my rafting partner Tim.
The plan was that I would drive out (from Florida) with all the gear, and meet him in Alaska. We then would do the rafting trip and I would drive back. The only problem was getting through Canadian border. I planned to travel north and west to California, get some upgrades done to my van and then go north to the border and finally to Alaska. I would time this such that I would arrive at the border just as the US and Canada would be re-opening the border to casual travelers (near the beginning of August).
But, as everyone now knows, the closing was extended for many, many months beyond this grand re-opening. Fortunately, I was able to get through the border, provided that I followed very strict rules with a punishment of a million dollar fine and up to 10 years in a Canadian jail.
And, getting back was even worse. The border patrol treated me as if I lied to get through originally, and was going to kill all of their residents. Fortunately, they finally relented, let me through, and doubled down on the punishments and guidelines. Fortunately, all went well and I am not a million dollars poorer or in a Canadian jail.
What follows is a summary of the stops along the way out and back. Not all of the stops, just the ones that have at least decent photos.
Out to Alaska
The first thing I have to say about the trip is that due to the fact that there weren’t very many people around, there was an abundance of wild life. They were walking on the road or fairly close to it.
Saguaro, Death Valley, and dunes
I stopped at a number of locations out to California (San Diego). Here is a quick overview of some of the interesting sights.
Heading North to the Border (Craters, Lava, and Mountains)
After taking care of business on the van, I started to time my arrival at the border. So, I made a number of stops. I biked, hiked, an trail ran a number of locations.
Alaska and White Water
What follows are just a few of the places I stayed along the way and on the rafting trip. Alaska is so photogenic that I could post many more photos, but that would be boring.
The rivers we rafted were nearly 100 miles on the Chulitna river and about 40 miles on the Nenana river.
We did end up flipping the raft in some major class 4 water, but after about 15 minutes of harrowing work (swimming and struggling) in almost freezing water, we were able to get the raft to shore, we were able flip it back over and finish our trip - without loss of anything in the raft! Definitely a story for around the camp fire.
I must repeat that there was really no one there and animals abounded. COVID made this trip much more fun and exciting.
The Way Back
On the way back, I picked up my wife in Utah and we worked our way back to Florida. The only place of note to take photos was Bryce Canyon.
