We leave the Ford Camp and begin our journey to the East. The objective of this trip is to visit friends, celebrate my Aunt’s 100th birthday and to hike the long trail. We plan to drive fairly straight to Pennsylvania, just taking breaks to stretch, exercise and of course spend some hours sleeping. As we head up the Glenn Highway we pull in the rest stop to check out the magnificent Matanuska Glacier.
We first saw this glacier in 1989 when we first arrived to Alaska. It has retreated quite a lot since then, but it is still quite impressive.
By the next afternoon we have crossed the border into Canada. There is quite the haze in the sky which is indicative of a fire. We are hoping that the fire is not too near the highway. We soon find out that it is quite close and the border guard tells us that we may not be able to go past Beaver Creek. This is confirmed when we see the road closed sign. We are told that we should just go park and wait it out. That made our decision easy. We head back to the closest rest area, pull out the cribbage board and start a game. We had’t been there long when we heard a knock on the door. We were informed that if we could leave promptly they were going to escort a group of cars thru the area. It didn’t take us long to be part of the group.
We were thankful that we weren’t on motorcycles like the group in front of us. One could really smell the smoke in the air.
The fire was burning on both sides of the road. We were glad that there wasn’t any wind. Once we got past where the fire was burning, the pilot car pulled off and let us pass through. We decided we were going to keep driving as long as we had day light. Being close to solstice the day was quite long.
There was lots of smoke in the air.
We usually go down the Cassier and miss the town of Watson Lake. This trip we will be taking the Alaskan Highway and soon see all the signs that make this town famous.
We take a walk thru the signpost forest and check out places we have been.
There have been a lot of new additions since we first saw this place inn 1989.
Wildlife on the Canadian Highways never disappoint.
Bison
Black Bear
Wolf
The hot dry section that we experienced earlier has been traded for severe rain.
We hope that where the fires are burning will also get some of this moisture.
We pull into a rest area for some exercises and lunch. A ground squirrel keeps us entertained.
Ground Squirrel
We take a short visit in the town of WaWa made famous by the Canada goose. Several large replicas of the geese are at the entrance to the town. An informative visitor center is located here.
We looked forward to crossing the Mackinaw bridge in the summer. Last time we were here it was 15 below and the winds were howling. Now it is just a beautiful summer day.
What a difference seasons make!
We stop in Ohio to check in with a Friend, Brad, who we worked with close to 10 years ago. He show us a project that he is doing.
He is growing a wheat called Turkey Red. He intends to harvest and eventually turn the grain into flour. Turkey Red is the name of our favorite restaurant in Palmer.
Farmer Brad
We made it to Pennsylvania to help and celebrate my Aunt’s 100th birthday.
Aunt Grace turns 100
Fun to sit down with my brother and his family.
We checked out my nieces Bagel Store and of course got to taste some of the delicious Bagel sandwiches.
Jessica, our niece and owner of the Bagel Store
In 1977 Don and I were married at this old grist mill. It is one of my favorite places in the town of Portersville.
McConnells Mill
Near the mill is my cousin’s barn which is used for Halloween and Wedding Events.
The Amish build the main building and my cousins have put on several additions.
Leaving my home town of Portersville, we head to visit some other friends, Cindy and Marc, about an hour to the north. We spend several days here, cooking some meals for our hike and taking a bike ride.
The ride turned out to be a good mushroom event.
A tasty mushroom called Chicken of the Woods was soon prepared to eat.
Another mushroom that we found was called the Oyster Mushroom
Also quite tasty
Marc is raising monarch butterflies and showed us the colorful caterpillar stage. We plan to stop here on the way back and may get to see some butterflies emerge from a chrysalis.
The monarch caterpillar.
We leave Pennsylvania and start our journey to the Vermont to do the Long Trail. First though we are dropping some resupply boxes off to our friends. They have offered to bring us our rations at a trailhead when we arrive there. Our friends at the first stop are gone, but have left directions of where to leave our boxes.Next stop is Stowe, Vermont.
Terry and Milford are friends from many years ago. We will be getting our last resupply box from them.
Terry and Mildford
Their house which we have visited in the past has recently been sold. The new owners are quite fortunate to be the new owners of this house.
We have one more friend to visit in the area. It is Siren who we met while we were hiking the Pacific Coast Trail who now works for the Green Mountain Club. She had encouraged us to do the Long Trail.
Siren and Jerimy
And of course we had to make a stop at Ben and Jerry's to try their latest flavor
And then it was time to get serious about the trail we were planning to hike. We stopped at the Green Mountain Club to check it out and see if there were any updates about the trail conditions.
Outside was a map of the trail we are going to hike. The excitement builds! It is time to put on the hiking shoes.