Haines to Fairbanks | Lost & Found EP.04
Hello everyone! Here we are once again with Episode 4!
We start our journey off as we arrive in Haines, Alaska after spending a week in Juneau. Our goal was to take the ferry all the way to the northern part of Alaska, but due to COVID and Canadian Border closures there was an influx of people relying on the ferry to get north. By the time we booked our trip they were booked and as far north we could make it to Haines.
The view from Delta Junction, AK
Thankfully Haines has a connecting road to the interior of Alaska, but it required us to cross through the Yukon to get there, which was closed at the time. Thankfully, we did have work permits that, in theory, would grant us access to the Yukon to drive the rest of the way.
The adorable Welcome to Haines sign
Roxanne in Haines
Before all of that we planned to spend a few days enjoying Haines.
View from Haines
Haines really impressed us with its wildlife. In our time in the area we saw tons of Bald Eagles and even spent nearly an hour watching a Coastal Brown Bear and her cubs feed in the tidal flats. One of her cubs was diligently looking for food, and the other spent its time instigating wrestling matches, rolling in the water and chasing ravens around. It was absolutely adorable.
We managed to get one hike in despite the volume of work we were trying to juggle before crossing the border into Canada.
When the time came for us to cross the border we were anxious as we’d heard countless stories about people trying to cross with work permits. Some were successful and some weren’t. If we were not able to cross we likely would have had to head back to the lower 48 on the ferry and our summer would come to a premature end.
Costal Brown Bear sow and her cubs
Hanging glacier across the Chilkoot Inlet
But thankfully we didn’t have to do that because after a pleasant border experience and bonding with the agent over a mutual love of hummingbirds we were sent on our way through the Yukon.
MAK with the permit to cross through the Yukon
The crossing guidelines were strict and only allowed us to stop for necessities and we had to be out of the country by the end of the day. Because of the express trip we didn’t get any pictures in Canada but thankfully we got plenty of shaky footage from the moving car that is in the video ;) The Yukon was beautiful and we look forward to a time where we can spend more time getting to know it’s remote reaches.
Owen with the Alaska sign as we crossed into the interior of Alaska
Once back in Alaska we pressed on to Fairbanks which also happens to be where my brother, Erick and his wife Julie live.
In our time in Fairbanks we spent a lot of time catching up with Erick and Julie as we have not had a lot of time together in the recent past due to COVID and their military careers. It was a joy to live together for 16 days and find a rhythm all together. We made a lot of delicious food, played a lot of Catan, and shared a lot of laughs.
Owen with the movie replica of the bug from Into the Wild
MAK with the movie replica of the bug from Into the Wild
This episode is dedicated to my Grandmother who unexpectedly passed away while we were in Fairbanks. She was one of my favorite people on this planet and I miss her so much.
Erick, Timber, Julie & Zeus
Also a big thank you to Erick & Julie for taking care of us for so long. You are so generous and we had the best time staying with you all <3
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through Alaska and turn it into this series. Without their support none of this could happen. We are forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! It took an incredible amount of power to create this series, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
We’ve now been living out of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 3 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable on everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you anywhere you want to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip!
