Born In The U.S.A.

Monday morning we made pancakes and went into Kenai Fjords. We hiked to the Exit Glacier and took pictures. We were not able to hike up to the ice fields above the glacier because of the rain. Even on our short hike to the glacier it was pouring so hard that we were soaked when we got back to the car. This particular glacier was amazing to see because of how close you could get to it and because the park service had marked the glacier's retreat starting in the 1800s. As we drove out of the park, parts of the road were flooding because of the rising water. That evening we headed towards Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and we saw some extraordinary scenery along the way. We made dinner and camped in the Jeep in a pullout on the side of the highway.

Wrangell-St. Elias was a huge disappointment. Not because the park itself disappointed us but because our timing was not very good and the information we received from the Park Rangers was misleading. After we visited the Information Center we began driving the remaining 90 miles towards the end of the park road. According to the park service, the last town with gas was Chitina, before we entered the National Park. Oops! The town had NO gas, so we had to turn around and drive 40 miles back to Glennallen to get gas. Then we turned around and after driving 2 hours into the heart of the park, we discovered to our dismay that in order to do any hiking we would have to pay $20 for a 5 minute shuttle over the last 5 miles! We left. We drove out of the park after we realized that in order to really see the park we would either need to do a lengthy backpacking journey or get on a plane. Plus the weather was not cooperating; as if it ever does during Autumn in Alaska! We hope to see Wrangell-St. Elias again! It is a huge park the size of switzerland with much larger mountains (9 of the 15 tallest mountains in N. America), a glacier the size of Connecticut, the highest coastal range in the world (they can get up to 60 feet of snow in a winter), and some of the fiercest weather in the world! After we drove out we camped again in a pullout on the side of the highway.

The next day we drove to the border of Alaska and Yukon. There we finally found the sign welcoming us to Alaska! We must have driven right by it on the way into Alaska.

We continued driving into Yukon until we came to a gas station. Ever since we drove up to Prudhoe Bay the Jeep started to have problems turning on, and it was shaking a lot whenever we drove over 55 mph. We thought the problems were related and were convinced that we had overfilled the tank and soaked the charcoal in the vapor chamber. When we parked at the gas station, we turned off the Jeep. It would not start when we tried to turn it on, the engine wouldn't even turn over. A man from Kentucky tried to jump our battery, convinced it was dead. Soon a man from Yukon joined him and tried repeatedly to jump our battery for about 15 minutes (for the record, that was his because of his insistence, we both knew it wasn't the battery). Finally Chris asked him to help us push start the Jeep. He towed us a little way in the parking lot with our tow strap until we got the Jeep running again. After about 45 minutes at the gas station we were on our way, with a new resolution to not turn off the Jeep until we reached Prince George in British Columbia. Unfortunately, instinct trumped our resolution. Even after we had just looked at each other and repeatedly reminded ourselves that we would not turn off the Jeep, Chris turned it off at the next gas station. We pushed it up and down the small hill in the parking lot four times, but were never able to build enough speed to get it running. It was super frustrating! We were even doing this right in front of a couple with an F150 and they never even offered to help us (although we didn't ask them to either)! We spent the night in the gas station parking lot, trying to sleep on our climbing pad. It was very cold, and we woke up early with a sheet of ice covering the Jeep. In the morning we waited for the gas station to open (24hr convenience stores do not exist in Yukon) and spoke with the station attendant about our issues. He gave us a battery to try. We put it in the Jeep and tried to start it...nothing happened! All we heard was the clicking noise. At this point another man who was extremely jolly and friendly helped us out. He helped us figure out that it was our starter that wasn't working. He said that it was probably because some water or oil and dirt had gotten in the starter and was blocking the connection. It made plenty of sense since it was the original starter from 20 years ago! "Now this is a Yukon vehicle, you'll fit right in here!" he told us. He gave us a tow and got our Jeep started. We scraped some mud out of the rims on the back tires to solve the shaking problem! Lauren stalled it at the next station, and a man there helped us push start it and get back on the road. From there on, we placed a piece of duct tape over the keys to insure no one would turn it off. All in all, we drove from 9:00 am to 6:00 am the next morning before we turned off the Jeep. It was extremely exhausting. From Haines Junction, Yukon to Prince George, British Columbia, a distance of 1100 miles! Once in Prince George we parked the Jeep on a steep hill, got two hours of sleep. Then we drove to one mechanic after another until we found one that had time to work on the Jeep. We dropped it off around 8:30. The owner was super nice, she came and picked us up at Starbucks and drove us back to the shop! The mechanic confirmed that it was our starter, replaced it and had us back on the road by 1:00 that afternoon. 

From Prince George we drove until we reached Whistler. There we stayed two days. On both days we mountain biked. The trails in Whistler were incredible. Flowing, technical, and beautiful! All of the trails we did were under large moss covered trees. There were many man made features and bridges to ride over! We both had a great time, and it was nice to be out of the car and active again. We had spent so many days in cramped or uncomfortable sleeping and driving conditions, so the biking was a welcome relief! After both days we did our best to bathe in the Lake. On the second day we swam for about an hour in the cold mountain water. It was very refreshing, and the closest thing to a bath that we had had in over a month! We left Whistler at about 1:00 after we bought lunch in the ski resort town and searched for a sticker to put on the Yakima! 

 Making good time through southern B.C., we reached Vancouver, and there became entangled in traffic for 3 hours! It seemed that we hit every red light, and there were A LOT of red lights, as well as several construction detours! Finally we reached the border, and crossed back into the good ol' USA! Everything went smoothly at the border, except that the border patrol confiscated our kiwis, and destroyed them! Poor kiwis! After the border we began our drive to North Cascades National Park.