13 Return Roads

Trip Start May 09, 2011

Trip End Oct 15, 2011

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Flag of United States Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, North Dakota
Saturday, September 24, 2011

The first hurdle was completing the Cassiar Highway, which had a twenty+ kilometre stretch under repair after four creeks had wiped out the roads in different places between Bob Quinn's airstrip and Bell 2; we waited nearly two hours to join a twin pilot car procession. I felt sorry for a Hawaiian couple who's dog wandered off at the campsite fairly close to where I saw a Wolverine demolish a larger dog a few years earlier; hopefully the dog returned safely sometime during the next couple of days after we left.

From the Cassiar we headed past St George on Hwy 16 (the Yellowhead) to wind down Hwy #5 toward Hope BC where we stayed at the Sasquatch Provincial Park. It was too bad that it rained the entire day on this beautiful road. Headed for Vancouver where we visited my nephew Peter and his wife Mona for a couple hours; their newly renovated house in the downtown area is awesome

01 Cassiar closing

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Crossed the border twice south of Abbotsford when I had to walk back to Canada with an armload of firewood that I forgot was in the truck. Summer returned on our way through southern BC and Washington. The Cascades National Park provided some nice campsites and was a great transition into Montana which takes quite a few hours to traverse.

Stayed one night in Roosevelt National Park which has some really neat rock formations and also a Bison herd. Cheated a couple of nights by using motels – Bogie loves them since he always takes advantage of the second bed.

Finally arrived back in Wisconsin, unscathed; although Storm and Slider sure need some cleaning up both inside and out. Since leaving Toronto in May, I've travelled 47,000 kilometres (29,350 miles) and utilized eighty-one different campsites. The best roads were the Dalton highway to Deadhorse Alaska, the Cassiar highway in British Columbia, the Demster highway
to the Tombstone Mountains and finally, the Nabesna road in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park in Alaska where an overnight rain storm stranded us for three days due to washouts

02 Cassiar closing

. Besides the wonderful scenery (my camera never does real justice to this part of the trip), the animal and bird life has been awesome; especially having morning coffee viewing a Muskox in the Arctic tundra.

Roads travelled:

BC 37 Cassiar, 16, 5, 7, 1, 11.
WA 9, 20, 153, 97,17, 174, 2, 90.
ID 90.
MT 90, 200.
ND 200.
MN 200, 2.
WI 2, 8.
MI 2, 64.

Tidbits:

When crossing the country quickly, a motel shower has alluring qualities.
The next trip will include Storm wearing LT245/70R17 paws after having seven flats, tossing away three tires and a rim due to really rough roads and trails on this trip.
Least visited National Parks in USA: Isle Royal, Cascades then Dry Tortugas

03 Kinaskan Lake campsite 75

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Migrating Sandhill Cranes are an awesome sight and sound.
Most expensive gas: Deadhorse Alaska and Dawson Yukon.

Medora hotels Slideshow

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04 Cassiar cavelcade	05 Creek cleanup	06 Tyhee Lake BC campsite 76	07 Purdon Lake BC campsite 77
08 Roadblock	09 Gopher sign	10 Sasquatch BC campsite 78	11 Rasar WA campsite 79
12 Devil Lake Cascade NP	13 Cascades NP view	14 Cascades NP road	15 Cascades NP view
16 Porcupine Bay WA campsite 80	17 Franklin River	18 Roosevelt NP sign	19 Slump meaning
20 Slumps	21 Cannon Ball meaning	22 Cannon Ball	23 Cannon Ball
24 Roosevelt NP campsite 81	25 Terrain	26 Bogie herding Bison	27 Bogie & Clifford
28 Wisconsin wildlife