Ready to know our stats, our favorites, the craziest encounters with bears, our top 5 and our difficulties? 8 months ago, our lives changed. We left our comfortable apartment in Montreal and quit our jobs to hit the road and live our dreams. Live our dreams. 8 months on the road later, it's been a success! We fulfilled lot of our dreams, experienced things we could never have dreamed of and discovered places and landscapes we had no idea about. We now start a whole new trip in Mexico and it's time to recap these first 8 months on the road.
8 months on the road : key figures
Commençons par quelques chiffres clés de ces 8 mois sur la route.
Key dates
May 15, 2022 – Leaving Montreal
July 17, 2022 – Entering Alaska
August 7, 2022 – Back in Canada
September 1st, 2022 – Entering the US
January 6, 2023 – Leaving the US, entering Mexico
Number of days
Canada – 87 days
United States – 149 days
Total – 236 days
Kilometers
Total – 45 989 kilometers
Gas
Total – 6 760 liters
States
8 Canadian States – Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Nord-West Territories, British-Columbia
12 American States – Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, California
Breakdowns, issues and routine maintenance on the Jeep
Transfer Case Seal was leaking - It was fixed in a garage in Calgary, Alberta
JP doesn't start because the systeme doesn't recognize the ignition key anymore, in Kanab, Arizona - We were advised by our preparer in Montreal to reboot the system. 10 minutes later, the problem was fixed!
A nail was stucked in a front tire. The tire was slowly deflating, fortunately we had the compressor to re-inflate it from time to time - It was fixed for free in Las Vegas, Nevada
Brake pad and caliper replacement and brake disc resurfacing in San Francisco, California
3 tire rotations and 4 oil changes
Nights in campgrounds
The few times we had to pay for a campground was in the National Parks. Some of them are so vast that it's quite tricky to get out of them to find a free bivouac.
1 night in Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario
2 nights in Jasper National Park, Alberta
1 night in Glacier National Park, Montana
1 night in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
1 night in the garden of an AirB&B, in front of Monument Valley, Arizona
1 night in Canyonlands National Park, on the White Rim
Nights in an hotel/motel
1 night in Moab, Utah, because of storms and inondations
2 nights in Las Vegas, Nevada. 4 nights in Las Vegas for Nat only when Rémi was rapatriated to France. And then 1 more night in Las Vegas when we came back from France.
1 night in Albuquerque, New Mexico
1 night in San Francisco, California
1 night in Los Angeles, California, on the New Year Eve, because of an inondation alert
Bears
We saw 65 bears!! 43 bears in Canada, in the Rockies and along the Alaska Highway (British Columbia and Yukon), 20 bears in Alaska and 2 bears in the continental US. We saw our first three bears in Waterton-Lakes National Park and our last bear on a road in Montana, south of Glacier National Park. We saw 9 grizzlies, including 4 cubs (7 grizzlies in Banff National Park and 2 grizzlies in Denali National Park). Then we mainly saw black bears and also lot of brown bears. Our record is 13 black/brown bears in 5 hours of driving on the Alaska Highway!
Our craziest encounters with bears
Bear encounters are the highlight of many days in the Canadian Rockies, the Yukon, British Columbia and Alaska. Seeing black and grizzly bears in their natural environment is an immense privilege and each encounter is intense and magical. But some are more intense than others! Three encounters will remain particularly engraved in our memories.
We first encountered a grizzly bear on a hiking trail in Lake Louise, Banff National Park. It was a female and she was with her three cubs, just 1 month old. Staying at a safe and respectful distance, we had the great privilege to observe them during more than 30 minutes. We even saw her breastfeeding her three cubs a few meters away from us. Incredible!
In the same place, but a few days later, we had the great thrill of any hiker: a face to face with a grizzly bear and her cub on a hiking trail. She was less than 10 meters away from us and walking right towards us! The best reaction in this case is to back up without turning the back or making any sudden moves. Fortunately, she was not at all aggressive and turned off the trail after a few meters, leaving us a bit restless.
Our third crazy encounter was with a black bear in Whittier, on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. We were sleeping inside the Jeep when it suddenly started swinging. And it wasn't the wind, for once! A black bear was standing on its hind legs against the car! A simply unforgettable memory.
Our favorites ❤️
This should have been "our favorite". But we were unable to choose only ONE! Canada and the United States are incredibly beautiful and diverse countries and we had the best experiences there. We have therefore selected 5 favorites.
The Yukon and the Dempster Highway
Un jour, au parc national de Banff, dans les Rocheuses canadiennes, nous avons croisé un motard qui revenait du Yukon. Il nous a dit : « Vous allez adorer le Yukon, c’est beau et sauvage ». À ce moment-là, nous étions très étonnés, même un peu sceptiques. Nous étions à Banff. Y a-t-il un endroit sur terre plus beau que Banff ? 🤔 Et pourtant… Que dire du Yukon ? C’est là-bas, au Nord du Canada, que l’expression « grands espaces » prend tout son sens. C’est une immensité si vaste que nous avons eu peine à la concevoir, nous qui n’en avons finalement parcouru qu’une petite partie. Là-bas, la nature est reine, à la fois si sauvage, hostile et imprévisible. Nous avons adoré chaque minute passée au Yukon et chacune d’entre elle a amené son lot de rencontres sauvages, d’émerveillement, d’étonnement et d’aventure. Bien sûr, la cerise sur le Sunday de nos deux semaines au Yukon, c’est la Dempster Highway, cette piste qui mène à Tuktoyaktuk, au bord de l’océan arctique, dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest. En 5 jours sur cette route mythique, nous avons franchi le cercle polaire, admiré le soleil de minuit, roulé 800 kilomètres dans la poussière et enfin mis la main dans l’océan arctique. Jamais nous n’aurions rêvé vivre des moments pareils ensemble et atteindre un jour l’The Arctic Ocean!. Ce fut une aventure exceptionnelle que nous n’oublierons jamais et qui a fait de notre escapade au Yukon un moment si magique, intense et inoubliable.
The Wave, Arizona
It's THE most surreal landscape we have admired throughout these 8 months of travel. The Wave, it's a beauty of Nature. Its curves, its colors, its lines seem to come straight out of an artist's brush and yet... only nature has shaped it for thousands of years. The Wave is a fragile miracle and only a few privileged people can be drawned to enjoy it. We were incredibly lucky. ❤️
Hiking to Exit Glacier, Alaska
It might as well be Alaska. Alaska and its enormous glaciers, its incredible wildlife and its fishing bears, its beautiful Denali, its grandiose landscapes, its straight roads, its hostile and preserved wilderness. There is no doubt that Alaska is and will remain the highlight of our trip. But Alaska is so vast! So we chose our favorite in Alaska, and it's the hike to Exit Glacier (Harding Icefield Trail), on the Kenai Peninsula. The beauty of the landscape, the glacier and the icefield, the magnificent day we enjoyed, the picnic at the top of the mountain facing a breathtaking view, the effort we made to be rewarded of it. In short, we experience strong emotions when we think about it and therefore it's an undeniable favorite.
The White Rim, Utah
The White Rim is the reason why we travel with a Jeep. It's not the most comfortable vehicle, but it's the one that allows us to travel without limits. And that's why we chose it over a van. The Jeep is the perfect vehicle to live extraordinary experiences. The White Rim is a technical trail that winds through the canyon of Canyonlands National Park. It was an incredible, intense and magnificent experience, with breathtaking landscapes and the most beautiful bivouac of these 8 months of travel. In short, we will never forget these two days of trail on the White Rim.
The Canadian Rockies
We can't close our favorites without mentioning the Canadian Rockies. It's there that we saw the most beautiful landscapes of these 8 months. The bright colors of the lakes, the forests, the snowy peaks, the wildlife, the beautiful roads, the waterfalls. For us, these landscapes are the most beautiful and the most touching, even more than the red and arid landscapes of West United States. There is no doubt that the landscapes of the Canadian Rockies will remain engraved in our hearts and memories.
Our top 5 of the Canadian National Parks
This ranking is subjective. We based ourselves on the beauty of the landscapes we saw, but also and especially on the experiences we had and on the emotions they aroused and still arouse when we remember them. We didn't include the national parks we visited in Quebec before our trip.
N°5 – Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario
Bruce Peninsula National Park was our first big favorite of the trip. We had no idea that there could be such heavenly beaches and turquoise waters in Canada, on the shores of Lake Huron. It was truly paradisiacal.
#4 - Kootenay National Park, British Columbia
Near the immense Banff National Park, it's easy to forget Kootenay National Park during a roadtrip in Western Canada. And yet, it's well worth the detour! With icy rivers, magnificent glaciers, emerald canyon and impressive waterfalls, it offers typical landscapes of the Canadian Rockies. When we visited it, we were just discovering the Rockies, and we were amazed.
N°3 – Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
We will always remember Waterton Lakes National Park as the first park in the Canadian Rockies we discovered. Of course, it was bound to leave a strong impression on us. When we arrived, we looked at the snow-capped mountains of the Rocky Mountains in the distance for the first time and felt a thrill. We had no idea of the adventures we were about to live in these mountains. Of course, if we came back to Waterton Lakes today after seeing all the other parks in the Rockies, we would probably be less amazed. It was also in this park that we encounter our first bears of the trip, a mother and her two playful cubs!
N°2 – Yoho National Park, Alberta
We spent 4 days in Yoho and it was the incredible Yoho Valley that literally dazzled us with its beauty. It represents everything we imagined the Rockies to be: gigantic pine forests, rivers with clear and icy water, beautiful wooden bridges, high snowy peaks, incredible waterfalls. A magnificent valley.
N°1 – Banff National Park, Alberta
Is this a surprise? Banff National Park is world famous, and we now know that its reputation is well deserved. We spent more than two weeks in Banff that we will never forgett. The landscapes of the Canadian Rockies that we admired there are among the most beautiful that we had the chance to see so far. We did many hikes and saw our first grizzly bears, sometimes very, very close. In short, Banff it's incredible memories and a first place well deserved!
Our most beautiful bivouac in Canada
It's not that easy to camp for free in Canada, especially near the Rockies. So it doesn't come as a surprise to know that our most beautiful camp in Canada was in the Northern part of British-Columbia, on the Alaska Highway. After a rocky trail, we ended up near a river and set up the camp at the edge of the water. The mountain view was breathtaking!
Our top 5 of the American National Parks
We have been to more than 35 National Parks and Monuments in the United States. Our two favorites are obvious. For the others, it took us some time to come up with a ranking. Most of the American National Parks are incredible and offer varied and exceptional landscapes. So it's not easy to choose the best one. Here is our totally subjective ranking of our favorite parks.
#5 – Sequoia National Park, California
We were impressed by the giant trees in Sequoia National Park. There's something mesmerizing about them. When we think that some specimens are 2,000 years old, we feel even smaller!
#4 – Arches National Park, Utah
Arches National Park was our first park in the West. We had here our first immersion into the Far West, the reddish rock, the thousand-year-old arches, the unlikely rock formations, the arid, desert-like landscape. We were really impressed by this park, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in Utah!
#3 – Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
It's one of the most famous parks in the United States and we were looking forward to it. Despite the crowd, yes, Yellowstone is worth the visit! We were amazed by the simmering, bubbling nature of the park, which manifests itself in different forms: geysers, hot springs, boiling mud, fumaroles, etc. Yellowstone Park is a natural beauty. We also enjoyed the bisons, sometimes walking alone on the road, sometimes in a herd on the plains.
#2 – Canyonlands National Park, Utah
There is no doubt! Canyonlands is by far our favorite park in the Western US. It offers all of the most beautiful landscapes of Utah and Arizona. We were speechless and amazed when we discovered its canyon for the first time, more than when we faced the Grand Canyon (yes, yes). We also saw there the most beautiful sunrise of these 8 months on the road, under Mesa Arch. And of course the 4×4 roads of the park allow us to live amazing adventures: the Shafer Trail and its vertiginous road down in the canyon, the Potash Road and its breathtaking views on the Colorado River and the White Rim, our favorite trail of all time. There is no doubt that Canyonlands National Park made a strong impression on us and gave us lasting memories.
#1 – Denali National Park, Alaska
When we think about Denali National Park very strong images, sensations and emotions comes back to us. And that's why it's undoubtedly our favorite of all the American National Parks we have visited. Denali is Alaska in all its splendor. A wild and hostile wilderness that attracts us and scares us at the same time. Grizzly bears, caribou, moose that we can see at any moment. And in the background, the highest peak in North America: the Denali. We only saw it briefly and yet it left us an incredible memory. No doubt about it, Denali Park is engraved in our ❤️.
All National Parks in the US are beautiful and it's difficult to name them all. We loved all of them and took great pleasure to discover what they had to offer. Death Valley, White Sands, Zion, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier and many others have also left us wonderful images and memories. There are also all those incredible sites we visited and that aren't National Parks: Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, The Wave. To make it short: the United States are wonderful!
Our most beautiful bivouac in the United States
We couldn't chose so we have two! The first one is in Alaska. It's the easiest State for boondocking, we've never paid a single night up there! A riverbed, a campfire, a salmon offered by some locals, a nice weather, a spectacular landscape: we don't need anything else to elect this place the most beautiful bivouac in the US!
Our second favorite bivouac is in Utah, in Canyonlands National Park. When we drove the White Rim Trail, we slept mid-way in the canyon (a night we previously booked and paid for). We were all alone, far away from anyone or anything else and the place was breathtaking!
"Worse trouble"
A trip wouldn't be a trip without everyday difficulties. And yet, we had to think really hard to find a difficulty worth mentioning here! In 8 months traveling, we've never met the wrong kind of person, we've never been woken up in the middle of the night by the police, we've never felt insecure, neither in front of humans, nor in front of bears! So our worst troubles are related to the weather. Because living in a Jeep or sleeping in a tent, the weather really is important. We particularly witnessed that in Utah, when a violent storm burst during the night, whereas we were sleeping in the tent and my mom inside the Jeep! At 3 am a strong wind and violent thunder woke us up. We had to quickly fold the tent away under a heavy rain and big gusts of wind! We all end up sleeping inside the cars!
Plus and minus
Plus
●L’immense facilité pour faire du camping sauvage dans l’Ouest américain (hors Californie !)
● The beauty and diversity of the Canadian and US parks. We've never been disappointed!
● Protection and preservation of nature and wildlife in the parks
● Encounters with wildlife
● The diversity of the landscapes we saw these past 8 months
● Cleanliness and respect for nature in both countries (with the exception of the southern United States, near the Mexican border)
Minus
● American, but also Canadian, are so impatient and non courteous on the road.
● Campgrounds in the US are very expensive, even for campground without services
● We almost always need to pay to access Nature (viewpoints, waterfalls, nice hike, etc.)
We are sad to leave the United States, almost as sad as when we left Canada, our country of adoption. We have experienced and discovered so many beautiful things in these two countries that it's now difficult to go on to discover other things and live new adventures. We feel like we could have spent 8 more months there! But well, it's just the beginning of our trip! And for sure we are about to live crazy adventures elsewhere! Keep in touch for our new adventure in Mexico!
9 commentaires
Bravo ! Très intéressant ce récapitulatif qui nous remet en mémoire les plus belles choses.
Bien venudo a Mexico muchachos !!!!
Bisous.
Mamie – 8 janvier 2023 à 10h.25
On s’est régalé de le rédiger, ça nous a aussi rappelé de super souvenirs ! Le Mexique, on se régale déjà, il fait tellement beau et chaud !!! À bientôt !
Super résumé ! J’attends la suite avec impatience. Bonne continuation, merci de nous faire rêver 😀
Bonne année ! Encore merci de nous suivre dans nos aventures 🙂 C’est toujours un régal de les partager !
Bonne année ! Encore merci de nous suivre dans nos aventures, c’est toujours un régal de les partager !
Epatant ce résumé !! Des chiffres carburant et kilométrique impressionnant.
Je suis extrêmement heureuse d’avoir partagé un bout de ce voyage dans l’ouest américain. C’était un rêve, merci à vous de m’avoir permis de le réaliser, le programme était génialissime, diversifié et avec 2 tirages au sort favorables pour découvrir des pépites de la nature. Je mets ce voyage en Top 1 de toutes mes destinations déjà vécues.
A bientôt de vous lire avec impatience pour de prochaines aventures.
Bisous
Top 1 de tous tes voyages ! Eh ben !! Belle réussite ! J’espère qu’on pourra faire le Top 2 bientôt :p On se régale déjà au Mexique, enfin un peu de chaleur et des plages paradisiaques !! Bisous !
Cc ma cousine c est vraiment trop génial ce que vous faites avec ton compagnon. Les photos sont splendides et tes commentaires nous font rêver. Vous avez eu vraiment du courage de tout quitter pour réaliser votre rêve. Profitez en bien tant que vous êtes jeunes. Je vous fais de gros bisous 💋💋 prennez soin de vous quand même, faites très attention à vous. Et j attends avec impatience des nouvelles et des photos sur le Mexique. Gros gros bisous à vous deux 💋❤️ envoyé
Hi Sylvie! Merci pour ton joli commentaire 🙂 C’est toujours un immense plaisir de partager nos aventures avec nos proches ! On prend du bon temps au Mexique mais on trouvera un peu de réseau pour poster des nouvelles très bientôt ! Gros bisous à tout le monde 🙂