Driving back to Ohio from the Crater of Diamond State Park we spent New Years eve at a rest stop. Had a nice nights stay/celebration before heading out the next morning.

With the van remodel almost complete decided to spend the afternoon of May 4th walking around Cuyahoga National Park. It has been a couple years since we were here and made sure to take at least one picture this time. All in all it is a nice park with plenty of walking/hiking trails and place we will stop by again when we are in the area.

We have been heading west for a few days, arrived in Wall late on June 26th and stayed in the Wall Drug parking lot. But tonight we are staying on some BLM land just outside of the Badlands National Park, and it has a great view!

We drove through here on June 30th and did stop for a bit to get the pic shown here along with some others, it was too foggy when we were higher up to get any good pictures of the mountains. Unfortunately we could not stay as long as we planned due to no cell signal and too much tree coverage for Starlink, so we had to move on in order to work the next day. Outside of that it has gorgeous views and will have to come back when work is not an issue.

History: Mount Rainier became the nation's fifth national park in 1899. The mountain itself began forming around 500,000 years ago and stands 14,410 feet tall — the tallest peak in the Cascade Range and the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48.

Ended up stopping here on the night of June 30th, and working during July 1st.  Decided to stay a couple more night after a drive up to Port Angeles.  This is a first come first serve campground in Olympic National Park for $20 a night ($10 with an Annual Pass), has bathrooms with running water, dumpsters, no dump station or water fill. Check in at the bulletin board and pay by QR code or credit card, no cash.

I will definitely need to come back here when I have a week to just hike, unfortunately I am still working this week before heading north for the next month.

History: The area's conservation began as the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897, became Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909, and was finally designated Olympic National Park in 1938 under President Franklin Roosevelt. It preserves one of the wettest temperate rainforests in the world alongside glacier-capped peaks and rugged coastline.

We spent July 4th here, were not able to hike the dog friendly trail but did get to see some amazing views. There is a water fill and dump station by the exit of the visitor center and a campground by there too. All the campgrounds were filled which makes sense being a holiday weekend so we headed north towards the border for the night.

History: On October 2, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill creating North Cascades National Park. The park still holds around 300 glaciers — the largest concentration of any national park outside Alaska.

We made it to Dawson Creek on July 6th and stayed for the night. Early on the 7th we started the Alcan which ends in Tok, Alaska. Made a stop in Prince George for a much needed shower, do some laundry and fill up on gas.

History: Construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway began on March 9, 1942, driven by wartime urgency after Japan invaded Alaska's Aleutian Islands that June. Crews working from both directions met at Contact Creek on September 15, 1942, and the highway was officially dedicated that November — an extraordinary feat given it was built through nearly 1,500 miles of wilderness in under a year.

We stayed just about 4 minutes away from the hotsprings on the night of the 7th. First thing on the 8th was a trip to the hotsprings to soak for about 30 minutes before driving on. The hotsprings were great, not many people there that morning and it was refreshing after the drive.

History: Liard River Hot Springs was discovered by highway construction crews during the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942, and quickly became one of the most beloved stops along the route for exhausted workers.

If you stop by here look for the small Adventures with Bryce sign! Right next door is a rec center that will cost $6 for a shower, and there is also a small display section with gift shop and free book rack.

History: The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake began in 1942 when a homesick GI, recovering from an injury during highway construction, put up a signpost pointing toward his hometown of Danville, Illinois, 2,835 miles away. Travelers have been adding their own signs ever since — the collection now numbers over 100,000.

Made it to Tok on July 10th, took 2 days to drive the Alcan and 5 after crossing the boarder.

Made it here on July 11th with a quick stop to the visitors center, then started to head to McCarthy until I got to a long single lane wood bridge that I really didn't want to cross and probably was lower on gas than I should have been. May try again on my way out of Alaska.

History: Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest national park in the United States at over 13 million acres — roughly six Yellowstones — and was established on December 2, 1980. The Kennecott mines here pulled 536,000 metric tons of copper from the mountains between 1911 and 1938 before the operation was abandoned.

We stopped by Denali twice, on the way it was very cloudy with on and off rain and could not see anything. On the way back we did not get a perfect view of Mount McKinley, but did get a view worth seeing!

History: Originally established as Mount McKinley National Park in 1917, the park was championed by naturalist Charles Sheldon, who lobbied Congress after growing alarmed by unregulated hunting of Dall sheep in the area. The mountain itself was renamed Denali in 2015, restoring its traditional Koyukon Athabascan name.

The speed limit on the Dalton Highway is 50 MPH — you will not see it posted more than once, and trucks have the right of way! Started this drive on July 14th and the road is rough!

History: The Dalton Highway was built in 1974 as a supply road to support construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System after the massive Prudhoe Bay oil discovery in 1968. Originally called the North Slope Haul Road, it didn't open to the public until 1994.

On the way to Coldfoot is the Arctic Circle Crossing, which we stayed at a campground a 1/2 mile down the road on the way up and back down. Camping was $13 a night and a pretty nice place to stay.

History: The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can remain continuously above or below the horizon for a full 24 hours — around the summer solstice, the sun never fully sets here.

The evening of July 15th we made it to Prudhoe Bay! When here at this time of year there is 24 hours of daylight, this year's header picture is where we stayed the night here and shows how muddy the van got driving here.

History: Oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and it remains by far the largest oil field ever found in the U.S. and North America, estimated at more than 25 billion barrels.

While we did have a nice hike here on July 20th we did not go on the longer one due to not feeling too good. Stayed the prior night in Seward at a city campground which was just a big gravel area, first come first serve, no amenities beside a dumpster for $45 a night.

History: Kenai Fjords was designated a national monument by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and became a full national park on December 2, 1980, protecting the Harding Icefield and nearly forty glaciers flowing from it.

Leaving Alaska into Canada we drove the Top of the World Highway, and the views were amazing!

History: The highway's eastern terminus is Dawson City, once the heart of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush — at its peak the town swelled to over 40,000 people chasing gold before the boom went bust.

Driving the Dempster was easier than the Dalton. The road conditions were a lot better, but ended up filling the van with dust (a lot of dust). There are a few ferry crossings so make sure to plan for them, and get gas when you can.

History: Construction began in 1959 but stalled for years after an oil discovery at Eagle Plains proved commercially unviable. Work resumed in 1970 as Canada sought to assert Arctic sovereignty amid American oil development at Prudhoe Bay, and the highway was finally completed in 1978. It's named for Corporal William Dempster of the North-West Mounted Police, who located the frozen bodies of a lost patrol in 1911.

Had a nice night's stay on the Arctic. It took me longer to get here than I was thinking but it definitely was worth it. Inside of the van got covered in dust somehow so had a bit of cleaning to do before laying down.

Headed into the ocean and was surprised as I thought it would have been colder. Bugs were pretty bad walking around, one gas station in town, be sure to fill up before leaving.

History: Tuktoyaktuk grew after the decline of whaling at nearby Herschel Island, as more Inuvialuit families moved from seasonal camps into a permanent community. The all-weather road connecting it to Inuvik wasn't completed until 2017, finally linking the community to Canada's highway system year-round for the first time.

Could not pass it up when I saw it so there is a new build starting! I am also going to be doing a refresh of Talyn before selling.