29 National Park Update – WE’RE HALFWAY THERE! (Alaska Highway, Alaska, Washington, and more)
… well almost. We officially checked off National Park #29 of the year on our journey to visit all 63 US National Parks! While 29 is technically not half, it is our halfway point! It is also the perfect time to give you all an update on our journey, tell you what’s in store for us as we close in on the end of 2023, and share some of our plans for 2024.
Where have we been since our last check-in?
We’ve covered 8,000 more miles in Clifford the big red van, traveled to Alaska… twice, and visited 11 more National Parks!
Dawson Creek, BC and the Alaska Highway
Our last update ended with us in Dawson Creek, BC getting ready to start our drive up the Alaska Highway (also known as the ALCAN Highway) and eventually on to Anchorage, AK. The Alaska Highway is a 1,387 mile stretch of road connecting Dawson Creek, BC, to Delta Junction, AK. While the road is paved, the conditions of it range from poor to excellent. We experienced the whole range, but I won’t get too ahead of myself. It is also extremely remote. You can go days driving without cell reception and hundreds of miles of driving between any services. Dawson Creek is home to Mile 0 and is the last “big” town before starting on the Alaska Highway.
The wildfire season in BC this summer was one of the most destructive on record. On our first day in Dawson Creek, we woke up to thick smoke. Up to this point, our drive through Canada had been filled with great weather, blue skies, and only occasional smoke. We knew there were fires burning all around BC, but these conditions were new.
This day was concerning. The air was so thick you couldn’t see clearly down the street. We were about to drive up an extremely remote road with hundreds of miles of gaps between any services and now there was so much smoke that there was legitimate worry that we were making a huge mistake.
We went to the visitor and information center for the Alaska Highway to find out about fire conditions along the route. Even though we had big plans in Alaska, we were prepared to be told the road was closed as active fires burned in nearby areas. Fortunately, we were told that as of that moment, the road was open and there weren’t immediate safety concerns or evacuation orders.
We knew we’d be in smoke for the first few hundred miles, but it was forecast to be clear about a day’s drive north. The next morning, after stoking up on groceries, gas, and sending out our last texts and emails, we hit the road! We had planned a handful of excursions for the first day of the drive, but the smoke was nearly intolerable. We wore masks in the car in an effort to protect our lungs. Our goal was to drive as far as we could that first day and hope we’d clear the smoke.
By the evening, we had made it far enough for clear air. We’d driven so far north that even at 9pm the sky was still bright. We pulled off the road and camped at a small lake. The blue sky was such a contrast to how we started the day. We spent some time on a random dock and celebrated a successful first day on the Alaska Highway.
The next day was jam packed with excitement. We had planned to do some hiking, but decided against it. Neither of us felt comfortable hiking in such a remote location and after seeing 19 bears in the span of a few hours, we felt better about that choice. Even without hiking, we still did a ton of adventuring. We went swimming in some hot springs, met a cat named Joe, tried a famous cinnamon roll, and took in some of the most incredible scenery in the world. It was a full 12 hours on the road and by the end of the day, we’d left British Colombia behind and crossed into the Yukon. We treated ourselves to soft serve ice cream and called it a night.
Day 3 on the Alaska Highway took us to the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon. We spent hours wandering through the Sign Post Forest taking close looks at all of the different signs and finding places we knew and even signs from people we follow on social media! What originally started with a homesick soldier adding his home town to a sign post he was tasked to repair, has over the years turned into a beloved tradition for people driving the Alaska Highway. Today there are over 100,000 signs… including our own Katie and Joe On The Go sign we made in the information center using a cookie sheet from the convenience store.
We ended up spending a lot more time than we expected in the Sign Post Forest, so by the time we got back on the road it was already mid afternoon. On the drive that day, we took a brief detour to visit the Carcross Desert and then stopped for the night just outside of Whitehorse. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon and the first major city we’d seen since Dawson Creek. We spent 2 days in Whitehorse making the most of the cell service and internet access.
Back on the road, we visited our very first Canadian National Park and became Parks Canada Xplorers (their version of the Junior Ranger Program we have in the US). It was also this day that we crossed the border into Alaska!
We made it to Alaska!
We drove well into the evening pulling into Tok, Alaska at 9:30pm officially ending our journey on the Alaska Highway and just in time to order some pizza before the restaurant closed.
At this point we were now so far north that we were experiencing nearly 24 hours of daylight. When we woke up the next morning at our campsite in Tok to 100% charge on our house batteries, we assumed it was because our solar was cranking all night. When we went to leave, the van wouldn’t start and we realized we’d left our DC to DC running and drained our van batteries. Luckily the campsite owner was around and able to jump start the van. We were so thankful that this happened while we were in a campground and not off dispersed camping in a remote location.
Back up and running, we turned off the Alaska Highway and started on towards Anchorage. It was on this stretch of the drive that we were stopped in our tracks by the sheer beauty of Alaska. We literally pulled off the road in awe of the views.
We spent the night in a campground just outside of Anchorage. We made the most of the 4 days we had before our flight to our first Alaska National Park by doing laundry, cleaning, and last minute errands.
Katmai National Park
We went so fast up the Alaska Highway because we absolutely needed to be in Anchorage for our scheduled flight into Katmai National Park. We had reservations to tent camp at Brooks Camp that we booked nearly 6 months prior. These tent permits are so hard to come by and we didn’t want to risk not getting there in time. Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park is home to one of the greatest seasonal concentrations of brown bears anywhere on earth. Over 100 brown bears can be seen roaming the area during peak salmon season! This location has been a dream for Katie for years.
To get to Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park we flew from Anchorage to King Salmon where we hopped on a float plane to get us the rest of the way. This was our first time on a float plane and it was a really cool experience. The first thing you do when you arrive at Brooks Camp is attend bear school. You are taught all about bear safety and the regulations at the park. After bear school we set up out tent. No more than 10 minutes later, we saw our first brown bear walking just a few yards in front of us through the trees.
Over the next 3 days we spent time exploring the famous Brooks Falls and the area surrounding Brooks Camp. We were a bit early for the Salmon run (or the Salmon were running late), so we were able to see the iconic sight of tens of brown bears catching fish on the falls. We did see a handful of Brown Bears and lots of little cubs.
Our time in Katmai came to an end and we boarded our float plane back to King Salmon. We are already dreaming of a trip back to Brooks Camp during peak salmon run. Alaska Nation Park 1 of 8 was in the books.
Once back in Anchorage, we reunited with Clifford and then made our way north to Denali National Park.
Denali National Park
Denali National Park is located between Anchorage and Fairbanks and is home to the highest mountain peak in North America. Denali’s summit has an elevation of over 20,000ft above sea level. It is said that only 30% of all visitors to Denali National Park actually see Denali. It took us 3 days of being at the park to finally get a clear look at the mountain. The first few days were cloudy and conditions were constantly shifting. It was so funny because we didn’t realize that we were looking in entirely the wrong direction the whole time and way too high. I don’t know why we expected the mountain to be towering over us 70+ miles from the base, but when we finally got that clear day it wasn’t as high in the sky as we’d thought. Seeing Denali and joining the 30% club was still a thrilling experience. It glistens bright white in the distance. Two Alaska National Parks down, 6 to go!
Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Park
From Denali we headed north to Fairbanks. Our hope was that we’d be able to find a bush pilot to take us above the Arctic Circle to Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Parks. They are two of least visited and most remote National Parks in the US and only accessible by plane or walking in. There are no roads and no trails in these parks. Flightseeing is the most popular way to visit and there are many towns you can fly out of including Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Coldfoot, Bettles and Kotzebue. Fairbanks was the closest and easiest to get to so we took our chances there. After extensive research, countless emails, and dozens of phone calls, we were able to charter a small plane to take us from Fairbanks to both parks with a landing in each park. That way we could spend a little time on the ground taking it all in. Once in these parks, you will find over 10 million acres of vast and essentially untouched wilderness where you can camp, kayak, hike, or spend just a little time on the ground with a pilot.
On the 4th of July, we squeezed into the smallest plane we’ve flown on and we were off. A 2.5 hr flight to Kobuk Valley was occasionally bumpy but otherwise fun. We even spotted bears and moose along the way. Our first stop was the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes- the largest active sand dunes in the Arctic.
After some time walking around the dunes we got back in the plane for an hour and a half flight to Gates of the Arctic. This may be the most beautiful place in the world. The scenery flying in was breathtaking. Our pilot landed the plane on a rocky river bank and the landing was smoother than some commercial flights! The time we spent at Gates felt like we transported into another world. It is hard to put into words the way this place made us feel. We were in awe. Sound is different in Gates of the Arctic. There is an indescribable silence.
After a short time taking everything in, we were back in the air. We made a quick stop in the tiny town of Bettles to refuel (and also stamp our National Park passport books). After a full 8 hour day we landed back in Fairbanks. Alaska National Parks 3 and 4 were unforgettable.
Lake Clark National Park
With 4 National Parks to go in Alaska, we hopped back in the van and drove back to Anchorage. We knew we needed to either fly into Lake Clark National Park or take a boat. We decided to make Anchorage our home base while we called around to find the best/most cost effective route. Alaska had already been so expensive with needing to fly to 3 of the 4 parks so far plus all the gas from driving around. Clifford is quite thirsty. We ultimately decided to fly into Port Alsworth in Lake Clark National Park. There is a visitor center there and we wanted our photo with the sign. The flight to Port Alsworth was memorable to say the least.
We flew through snow capped mountain ranges so close you could see every detail. After having a blast in the bush plane just a few days before, we didn’t expect this flight to be any less enjoyable… especially since this was a jet with comfy seats and a pressurized cabin. Well, things went very different. On the flight in, the plane’s safety features started sounding alarms. It was a bit unsettling to hear “Caution Terrain” over and over again as we were bouncing around in turbulence. Grateful to be safe on the ground we spent the day exploring Port Alsworth, hiked a few miles to a waterfall, and had a delicious meal complete with a visit from a cute dog.
Our visit to Lake Clark was a fly in and out one-day experience. We had about 12 hours in the park. At the end of the day we boarded the plane back to Anchorage. The flight back was just as terrifying. Alarms went off and we got rocked by some turbulence. Not sure if we were ever truly in danger, but we were VERY thankful to reunite with Clifford and not have to fly for awhile after that trip. That being said, the views on both flights were the most memorable and enjoyable takeaway we have from our visit to Lake Clark National Park. The mountain range, glaciers, every view from the flight was unbelievable. 5 Alaska National Parks down, 3 to go!
Kenai Fjords National Park
Next up was Kenai Fjords National Park located near the town of Seward on the Kenai Penninsula about 3 hrs drive from Anchorage. On our way, we stopped in Whittier, AK. The town is famously known for having a residential building where nearly the whole city’s population resides. It was a fun little detour. We spent a few days visiting Kenai Fjords doing a variety of activities. We took a 7.5 hour cruise exploring the park via the water. The route took us to two active tidewater glaciers with wildlife viewing along the way! It was very rainy on the day we did the cruise but the poor weather didn’t prevent us from seeing an abundance of wildlife- We saw eagles, otters, puffins, orcas, seals, sea lions, a mountain goat, and even humpback whales bubble-net feeding!
That was all before we made it to the main attractions- glaciers. We witnessed the glaciers calving multiple times. The sound of a calving glacier is wild. On the way back to Seward, we got to hold a chunk of of glacier ice that the crew pulled out of the water and then enjoyed a glacier ice margarita! By the time we returned to port, we were soaking wet and freezing, but all smiles. This tour was one of the best things we’ve done in a National Park so far.
While in Kenai Fjords we also hiked to the Harding Icefield- the largest icefield wholly contained within the United States- as well at the Exit Glacier. We got a later than usual start to the hike because a moose was wandering the parking lot and rangers corralled all the visitors to the side. We watched the moose for like an hour. The hike itself was one of the more beautiful we’ve done. It was also a very emotional experience seeing how far the glacier has retreated in just the last couple of years. We loved the time we spent in Seward and Kenai Fjords but we were on a timeline and had to say goodbye. Alaska National Park 6 of 8 was one of our absolute favorites!
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is America’s largest National Park at 13.2 million acres of protected land. It is also a designated World Heritage Site and together with Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, the Canadian neighbors Kluane National Park & Reserve and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park they make up the world’s largest internationally protected area on Earth.
Because Wrangell-St. Elias is so large we knew we’d have to be selective in what to do there, AND because we weren’t quite ready to hop back in a small plane after our Lake Clark experience, we decided to drive the infamous McCarthy Road into the town of McCarthy, AK. It originated in 1909 as a railway for the Kennecott Copper Mines, but mining eventually ended and eventually the rail bed was covered with gravel, creating today’s surface of the McCarthy Road. It is 60 miles and takes an average of 3 hrs to drive it one-way. The road conditions are rough at times and potholes are common. Remnants of railroad ties pop up to the surface along with the occasional spike, creating unexpected hazards. We saw a few vehicles with tire blow outs while driving the road.
Visitors cannot drive their cars into the town of McCarthy. Instead cars must be parked on the other side of the river and you can walk across a pedestrian bridge and then on into the town. It was a pleasant walk apart from the mosquitos. From the town there are shuttles that will take you 5 miles further into the old mill town of Kennecott.
We did a tour of the Kennecott Mill. It was wild that we were allowed to go through the building, which is literally being held together with ropes. While sketchy, getting to descend 14 stories through the mill was incredibly fun. From Kennecott we hiked on to the Root Glacier. We actually walked on the glacier which was both scary and fascinating! After a long drive back on the McCarthy Road, a night camping near the main visitor’s center, and a morning of park sign photos and Junior Ranger pledges we officially checked off our 7th Alaska National Park.
Glacier Bay National Park
This was where we had to start making some big decisions. It was now July 16th, we’d only done 7 of the 8 National Parks in Alaska, and Katie needed to be in Seattle by July 30th to catch her flight to go work the CrossFit Games.
We knew getting to Glacier Bay National Park was tricky. You can fly in but the way flights are scheduled, you’d have to get a hotel for a few nights to be able to go to the park. The thought went through our minds to drive to Skagway and then utilize the Alaska Marine Highway to get to Gustavus (the closest town to the Glacier Bay National Park visitor’s center) but the way the boat schedules were, we’d need to get a hotel in Juneau on the way to GBNP and also on the way back. Everything we looked at would be a multi day trip and we didn’t have a whole lot of days to spare while still needing to drive all the way down to Seattle.
We decided we’d start the drive back on the Alaska Highway and make a last minute decision on if we’d veer off to go to Skagway and catch a “flightseeing” plane that would fly all over GBNP. We had found a pilot that offered such an experience, but was very upfront with us that if the weather was poor, the flight would go over glaciers closer to Skagway and not into Glacier Bay.
On the drive we kept a close eye on the upcoming weather. By the time we got to Whitehorse in the Yukon, the weather for the upcoming week in Glacier Bay was not looking promising. We ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the money/extra time to do the detour. Turns out that was the right choice because the plane company told us after the fact that the flight we were going to do ended up not going to GB because of poor weather.
Whitehorse, Yukon
Sitting in a coffee shop in Whitehorse, we accepted that we’d left Alaska incomplete. BUT we discovered that taking an Alaska cruise to Glacier Bay would actually cost less that the flights + hotels + tour. We made a very fast decision to book an Alaska cruise with my parents for October. This choice gave us a few extra days to get back to Washington and do the 3 parks there.
So with a plan in place, we drove down the rest of the Alaska Highway. We stopped at a few of the places we’d enjoyed on the way up including checking in on our sign in the Sign Post Forest (it was still there and looked great!) along the way.
While it was technically summer, it was definitely becoming fall up north. The colors had changed dramatically in the 6 weeks we’d been in Alaska. AND for the first time in nearly 2 months, we experienced darkness. While we definitely slept better with the darkness, it was kind of a jarring change. We had to go back to being aware of when the sun would go down to avoid driving in the dark and walking to the bathroom in bear country in the dark is a bit unsettling.
It wouldn’t be a true tale of our time in Alaska and Canada if we didn’t talk about mosquitos. They are not like the mosquitos in the lower 48. They are AGGRESSIVE and they seemed to love Clifford’s red exterior. Any time we got in the van we’d have to spend a few minutes squishing all the mosquitos that rushed in. Our walls are now a nice shade of polar white with a hint of mosquito guts. It only took a few days for us to go full protection mode- wearing mosquito nets on our heads, coating ourselves in deet, and tracking down a Thermacell. Screw looking cute.
Washington State
We made it back to the United States with enough days to try to explore the 3 National Parks in Washington.
North Cascades National Park
We started in North Cascades National Park. We’d heard that this was more of a backpackers park, so we were really curious about how much we’d be able to see. Now North Cascades is always near the top of lists of least visited national parks, so we were caught very off guard by how crazy busy the park was! Trailhead parking lots were completely full and trails themselves were a constant flow of people. The designation of least visited may be because the actual park boundary is further away from the road system, but don’t let that fool you into thinking you won’t have to deal with crowds. In North Cascades we did a long hike recommended to us by a park ranger at the visitor information center and drove the scenic highway 2 times pulling off to do smaller hikes near the road.
At this point on our journey, we were tired. The driving had taken a lot out of us and there was now a “finish line” on the horizon. We knew we were going to be taking a few weeks off from van life to be home for Joey’s sister’s wedding and we were definitely ready to slow down and get some much needed rest. Together we decided we’d experience the last 2 parks in a more leisurely fashion than what we’d been doing up to that point.
Olympic National Park
Our next stop was Olympic National Park. As you’ve read in a previous blog, we visited Olympic on our way north and met up with Joey’s mom. Since we’d already explored the coastal park of Olympic, we prioritized the Crescent Lake, Hurricane Ridge, and Hoh Rainforest sections of the park.
Olympic National Park is one of the most diverse National Parks. It is home to several distinctly different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline. We pulled into our campsite at Crescent lake in the early afternoon. It was pouring down rain. Instead of spending the day sitting in the van, we decided to drive to Cape Flattery- the Northwest most point on the contiguous United States. There was no rain when we got there and we enjoyed a nice hike to the overlook. There we watched the sun start to go down and then drove back to our campsite.
The next day we visited Hurricane Ridge. The NPS controls how many vehicles are allowed up the road and we were told that by 9am on most days, the lot at the top is full and cars aren’t allowed up. We just made the cut off and spent half a day hiking the trails on the ridge. In the afternoon we did a hike to the Sol Duc Falls. This was one of our favorites in the park. It reminded us a lot of Redwood National Park and the waterfall at the end of the trail was quite impressive.
The following day we did a hike on Rialto Beach to the Hole-in-the-Wall and went and saw the Tree of Life further down the coast.
We’d secured a camping site in the Hoh Rainforest, so in the afternoon, we made the drive to the campground. We’d been warned that visiting the Hoh Rainforest can be traffic nightmare. The parking lot is quite small so cars will queue up for miles waiting for a spot to open up. We felt very fortunate to have a campsite.
We explored the Hoh Rainforest as the last activity in Olympic National Park. Since we camped we were able to get on the trails pretty early. We had some of the really magical location to ourselves for awhile that morning.
Overall we were really impressed with Olympic National Park. Our journey in Washington wasn’t complete though. We drove out to Mount Rainier to wrap up this whirlwind adventure.
Mount Rainier National Park
We secured a campsite in a campground just below Paradise in the park and we stayed there for a few days. It was nice to have a place to come “home” to every night and not have to worry about finding somewhere to sleep. The stress of finding a safe place to park the van each night is one thing no one can really prepare you for when transitioning to van life.
At Mount Rainier National Park we did 2 hikes and visited 2 sections of the park- Paradise and Sunrise. We hiked to Reflection Lakes the first day and then to Panorama Point on our second day. The hike to Panorama point was one of our favorites of any park. We were treated to great weather and sweeping mountain views (even saw Mount Saint Helens in the distance). After visiting the Sunrise Visitor Center, we went to a pizza place recommended to us just outside of the National Park to celebrate.
This road trip has been about accomplishing the goal of seeing every US National Park, but it has also been an opportunity for us to reconnect with friends and loved ones who are scattered all over the country. On this leg we were able to connect with one of Katie’s friends from high school. They let us park Clifford in their driveway while we were in the Seattle area and treated us to an evening of card games and pinball before Joey dropped Katie off at the Seattle airport to fly to Wisconsin for the CrossFit Games. He then did the solo drive back to Colorado.
The first half of this road trip had a handful of hard dates that we were constantly trying to keep up with. The first was our reservation to camp on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park, then it was our camping reservations at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park, and last was the combo of Katie working the 2023 CrossFit Games and (probably the biggest of them all) Joey’s sister’s wedding date. This meant we were moving VERY fast over the last few months. While we don’t feel like we really missed out on anything because of the speed, we know that if we hadn’t had such tight deadlines we would’ve spent more time in each location. All in all it was a huge win to be able to visit all the Washington Parks on the back end of our journey in Alaska since it saved us from having to backtrack all the way to the northwest. One day we might do this whole trip again. America’s public lands are an absolute treasure and we have so many reasons to return.
Joey’s Sister’s Wedding
Joey’s sister’s wedding was a beautiful celebration and even included a beverage burro (pictured). It was great to spend the week surrounded by extended family.
After the wedding we got right back to work organizing the tens of thousands of photos and videos we took on the first half of the road trip. In the middle of all of that, we flew to Michigan for another wedding. It was our first time back since selling the house there in 2022.
We’ve also been taking the time to really focus on our business. Now that we have more time, we’re working to put together guides, videos, and blogs that will both help and inspire you to plan your own National Park trip!
Arby’s Burger Mountain
One of the coolest things we’ve done since returning back in Colorado was being talent on a production with Arby’s. We hiked to the top of “Burger Mountain” to try their all new Big Game Burger. It was a really fun experience. You can see us make our debut on Arby’s social media here. And check out our video here.
Glacier Bay National Park
If you’ve made it this far then you know that during our summer in Alaska, we were unable to make it to the 8th and final Alaska National Park. We spent days trying to figure out the logistics of getting there in July, but nothing would work with our timeline and budget. At the end of September we flew back to Seattle where we boarded a cruise ship that took us to Glacier Bay National Park. Never did we expect to have the privilege of visiting Alaska 2 times in 1 year! We had a fantastic time with Katie’s parents on the Norwegian Encore. There were go karts, incredible port excursions, and a full day spent in Glacier Bay National Park!
That gets us to present day.
After over 6 months living full-time in the van, 3 countries, 2 trips to Alaska, and 29 National Parks visited, we are ending the year in Colorado spending time with family, friends, and enjoying a little more square footage to stretch out.. plus a real bathroom.
One more HUGE project in NYC
We have one more HUGE project coming up at the end of the month in NYC. Keep an eye out on our social media channels to see what we’re up to…. It’s going to be pretty special!
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