Central and Western Canada, and Alaska road trip Summer 2024

We have three-four months for 12k-mile road trip across central and western Canada, and all the way north to Alaska (our longest so far). The trip will take us across six provinces (ON, MB, SK, AB, BC, YT) and eight states (IL, WI, MN, WA, ID, MT, ND, AK). We are looking at some 20 major parks as our main destinations. Many very popular, but still of great interest as it is our first trip in this direction. We cannot see them all, but will make final decisions on the go. Same goes for camp sites, guest houses/motels, trails and alternate roads.

We have made quite a few improvements to our ☞ Subaru camper to make it more streamlined and comfortable on longer trip. We will gear-up for a couple of short multi-day hikes. So it will be a combination of car camping, tenting and from time to time resting under a roof. Packing the right stuff is critical. Minimalist is the description – it all worked quite well on our prior long road trips.

To get started we are looking for the first 3-4 overnight spots: in central Wisconsin (near Eau Claire), north Minnesota (Superior National Forest/Voyager National Park area) and after crossing the border in Internationl Falls somewhere along Trans Canada Hwy near the border between Ontario and Manitoba. The first leg of the trip is 1800 miles from Chicago past Calgary to Canadian Rockies.

We plan to publish short posts on-the-go on our companion Facebook page: ☞ The Wandering Spot and full report on our website after we come back.

Considering these main destinations
      Day Main destination    
June     1 Chicago  IL  
        Banff AB  
        Kootenay BC  
        Yoho BC  
        Jasper AB  
        Glacier BC  
        Kluane YT  
        Denali AK  
        Chugach AK  
        Wrangell St Elias AK  
        Kenai AK  
        Glacier Bay AK  
        Wells Gray BC  
        Garibaldi BC  
        Vancouver Island BC  
        Olympic WA  
        North Cascades WA  
        Waterton-Glacier AB/MT  
        Theodore Roosevelt ND  
September     100 Chicago IL   

Time Machine: mountain hiking in Poland 1963-1976

Sorting through family documents I came across old hiking log-books (Książeczki GOT PTTK): twelve  multi-day mountain treks in southern Poland and one in Slovakia from 1963 to 1976, and a series of day-hikes in Tatra Mountains in 1964 and 1970. Over 1500km and many major mountain peaks hiked. The map traces roughly connect 30-50 waypoints recorded for each set/trek. We mostly followed established hiking trails and used public transportation only occasionally.  Many local roads were still quite walkable, some  were not even built yet. I remember quite a few names on the map, some viewes and events, but it is all very fuzzy.

Recommended resource: ☞ trail map for mountains in Poland and Slovakia (Mapa Turystyczna)

List of summer treks and day-hikes 1963-1976
Year   Start End      
1963 Bieszczady Lesko Komańcza      
1964 Tatry  Zakopane  day-hikes       
  Tatry Wysokie Tatrzanska Lomnica Stary Smokovec      
  Pogórze Przedtatrzanskie-Pieniny Chochołów Sromowce Niżne      
1965 Beskidy Ptaszkowa Ustrzyki Górne      
1966 Gorce Zabrzeż Rabka Zaryte      
1967 Pieniny Krościenko Tylicz      
1968 Beskid Mały  Skawce  Czernichów       
  Beskid Żywiecki Rycerka Dolna Ujsoły      
1969 Bieszczady-Beskid Ślaski Lutowiska Grybów      
1970 Tatry Zakopane day-hikes      
1971 Beskid Wyspowy-Beskid Mały-Pogórze Roznowskie Wapiennica Cieżkowice      
1973 Góry Izerskie-Karkonosze-Góry Wałbrzyskie-Kotlina Kłodzka-Góry Bystrzyckie Świeradow Zdroó Bystrzyca Kłdzka      
1976 Beskid Żywiecki Zwardoń  Ujsoły      
1976 Gorce-Beskid Sądecki Nowy Targ Rytro      

Polska 2024: Zakopane-Zakliczyn

It was family visit, but also remembering hikes in Tatra Mountains some 40-50 years ago. The rocks remain the same making it all look familiar despite big changes in villages and valleys below. I wish I had more time for longer walks (perhaps next time), but in some ways, not surprisingly, I like remembering the way everything was back then.

Zakopane has great location as hiking base and immediate great views of the mountains. Many places to stay and eat. Overdeveloped in my opinion (rentals and restaurants). The weather was good, even if cloudy the first couple of days. We did driving tour on the first day just to look around: Zakopane and Krupówki (main=touristy street), town cemetery, Kościelisko (late lunch=dinner by polish clock at ☞ Gazdówka pod Lasem), Jaszczórowka, Cyrhla, Bukowina Tatrzańska, Murzasichle, Olcza.

Next day was all talking, but we managed short local sunset walk on OlczaÅ„ski Wierch. The following couple of days we did two short and very popular walks: to Dolina BiaÅ‚ego and Dolina Strążyska. We stopped at Villa Astoria (family history), continued up the BiaÅ‚y stream to Sarni Wodospad (waterfall), stopped for late lunch/dinner ☞ Karczma BiaÅ‚y Potok) and ended the day on Gubałówka. Gubałówka may be over commercialized, but so what – the panoramic view of Tatra Mountains is great. The following day we walked up to Siklawica (waterfall) at the end of Strążyski stream valley, just against north face of Giewont. The weather was great for hiking and the crowd was thin (by Zakopane’s standard). More Polish food at ☞ Javorina.


View from Gobałówka

Now we are heading to Zakliczyn via scenic, winding road along Dunajec (River) Valley. Panoramic views from the road of Tatry Bielskie and Tatry Wysokie (Slovakia). The river, lakes/reservoirs (Lake Czorsztyn, Lake Rożnow), castles (Czorsztyn, Melsztyn) and small towns (Stary Sacz, Zakliczyn). Some remnants of the past Małopolska atmosfere still left. Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music and Lusławice house were shut closed = disappointment.

Some of the (Polish) food we tried. Yes, we ended at ☞ Golonkowo in Biskupice Wlkp.

Subaru life – part 2 (more improvements)

After initial design and multiple prototypes of our Forester minimalistic camper described in ☞ part 1, and testing on the road we are introducing additional improvements before heading west and north to Canada and Alaska on our longest road trip yet.

  • Quick set-up side-awning. Two telescoping poles and two brackets are attached along and at the ends  of cross-bars. Tarp packed in bag travels in roof box. Two webbing straps with grommets were added to off-the-shelf tarp. 1/4 in fiberglass poles are inserted into tarp channels on each side of the straps to keep the tarp stretched. Machine sawing was necessary. Car-side-end (top in the photo) hooks on pins on top of the brackets, side straps with buckles attach short flap to the poles and car roof rail. At the other end, grommets are hooked on metal tips of the poles which are extended to span the tarp. Short side-straps with grommets at this end can be used for additional vertical poles and/or cords to secure awning to the ground. No light-weight awning would work in strong wind.

 

  • New removable/washable cases for mattress and pilows. All foam pieces are  enclosed in additional inner cases. Comforter(s) is rolled-up with the mattress and pillows are bagged during travel (sometimes loaded in roof-top-box).
  • What goes into the roof-top-box (we could not do without it): folding table, two telescoping poles for awnings, our side-awning tarp, Hasika awning and its “vertical” poles, shovel, tarp and towel (wrapping and silencing), two folding chairs, rakes. We always keep walking poles in the box. Our stove packs in the box as well as recovery traction boards and backpacks with camping gear. Not everything goes on every trip.
  • Roll of plastic tablecloth and cutting board (in dedicated bags) travel on the back shelf. The board serves also as a temporary side-table supported by armrest and plastic strip with a pin attached to dashboard, in case we need mealtime shelter from rain or biting insects.
  • Two short rails were added on top of the back shelf (both sides) for extra attachment points for “stuff” and corner brackets were added to strenghten the shelf/drawer box.
  • Reading lamp is clamped on side-rail above the shelve and hooked-up to power bank. Baskets for small frequently used items are attached to the rails as well – pieces of bungee cord weaved through basket walls hold items down.
  • Three straps attach to buckles mounted on the shelf plus a piece of carpet  wrap around and hold rolled-up mattress.

 

  • The two plastic containers described in part 1, are now used one for kitchen items and one for food storage. All personal belongings are now packed using multiple organizers in easily accessible large duffel bag  sitting on the platform and on driver’s seat at night.

The improvements eliminate/streamline some packing-unpacking and moving stuff around.

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