Thursday, May 7, 2009

Elaborated Itinerary

Saturday 5/16
On the road between 6 and 8 am!
8 hours, 20 minutes to Grand Teton National Park
Hiking:Inspiration Point (2.2 mi from the shuttle) Shuttle boat for $10
Phelps Lake Overlook (1.8 mi)
Leigh Lake (2 mi) - might be a frontrunner because it's so easy. Tomorrow's hike is of moderate difficulty so we may need to keep it easy today.
Camping at Jenny Lake Campground

Sunday 5/17
Drive to Old Faithful - 1 hour 10 mins

Yay Old Faithful!
Hiking: Mystic Falls (2.5 mi, plus a short hike to get to the trailhead) This one might be a stretch, so we'll see how I feel, but we missed it last time and I really don't want to miss it again.
Leave Yellowstone through the Roosevelt Arch and keep driving to Glacier National Park. The drive will be one hour to the Arch, then 6 hours to the east side of the park, a bit longer if we decide to check out the west side of the park.
The only campground is St. Mary, so I guess we'll be staying there!

Monday 5/18
Updated Glacier Snow Plowing
Glacier Trail Status
I have no idea where to start picking a hike here, maybe we'll just ask the Rangers for advice, they've never steered us wrong before!
Also, I've been told the Canadian side of this park is better than our side, so we should stop at Waterton Lakes National Park.

Why is it that Canadian National Parks all have some unbelievable perfect lodge sitting just right, looking like a castle? We hide our buildings, they make castles. I'm not saying one is better than the other, I'm just happy to experience them both!
We need to get up to Banff or just outside it this night. We haven't decided where to stay yet, we though we wanted to camp in the park but no soft-sided camping is allowed after the bears wake up! So we'll either stay outside the park (do the bears know to stay INSIDE the park?) or find a hotel. Drive time: 5 hours 25 minutes

Tuesday 5/19
Let's enjoy Banff!
Maybe hike to Stewart Canyon:

1.4 km one way

Maybe we should do Bow River:

It's gorgeous! And 5k is 3.1 miles, since this has very little elevation loss or gain, I'm thinking it might be doable!

Johnston Canyon Lower Falls:

1 hour roundtrip, 1.1 km one way

Johnston Canyon Upper Falls:

2.7 km one way

Silverton Falls

.7 km one way

Fairview Lookout

1km one way

Banff is going to be AWESOME!

We should make it to Jasper tonight: 3 hrs, 30 mins
Not sure where we're staying yet. We'll get back to you.

Wednesday 5/20
Jasper National Park!
I'm still looking for recommendations about what to see.

Tonight, we drive to Grande Prairie: 4 hrs, 30 mins
We're staying in a hotel this night, so I can work on Thursday and not take any time off (aren't we crafty!).

Thursday 5/21
Grande Prairie to Fort Nelson: 7hrs
Today's the day we officially begin driving on the Alaska Highway!



I'm not sure there's a whole lot to see here, I'll have to check the Milepost to be sure, but it looks like a nice day of rest and work.

We have our hotel room reserved for tonight.

Friday 5/22
Fort Nelson to Whitehorse: 11 hrs
Long day.
But we'll start the day with Laird Hot Springs and end the day with Takhini Hot Springs! Apparently, Takhini's hot pools are odorless, no sulphur smell. That sounds good to this pregnant nose.

We have a hotel reserved for this night as well. Still working!

Saturday 5/23
Whitehorse to Fairbanks!: 11 hours
We have a tent site reserved at a hostel in Fairbanks so we can camp while we find an apartment, look for jobs, etc. And since so many people in Fairbanks live in dry cabins, there are lots of places to shower, etc. And the hostel even has wireless internet. What a place.

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