Day 5 Life's Journey and the Alaska Highway

MacDonald River? Huge alluvial fan

(Stay tuned for more and hopefully photos to fill up the other posts. Wifi in Toad River is $1CDN and too slow for downloading photos plus I only get the secret code for 1 device (the young woman was so afraid I would see her put it in she kinda hid my keyboard-weird). Well Wifi at this RV park also can't seem to handle photo upload. Damn.)

254 miles today (ran out of time due to all of the cool critter sightings and scenic drive)- Tetsa River RV Park to Downtown RV Park/Watson Lake.

Stone Mountain Provincial Park

Traveling the Alaska Highway is an adventure in all of its aspects but it’s also a journey. It’s a journey metaphor (or is that simile?) for life. Some died building the highway so that others could enjoy it. New generations change it, maybe improve some places and worsen others. Every corner and every hill and dip bring some new experience (good? bad?) and scenic view. You keep an eye on what’s behind you, always at the moment, watching the road ahead. You observe things you love and that pain you to see. You find yourself, your confidence in driving difficult roads and long days, and you lose yourself and become a part of the landscape.  After all, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.

Stone Mountain- appropriate name

The tough part of being a naturalist and towing a trailer is the inability to stop quickly for the action and finding a place to stop. I again saw so many incredible places to stop but nowhere safe to do it. The new parts of the highway allow for more opportunities to pull over. I may have stopped in the middle of the road a few times this morning (LOL) but there are very few folks on the road. According to the RV park folks last night this is an excellent time to travel because there are less people on the road.

MacDonald River

Gail the co-owner of the Tetsa RV Park was delight to talk to. We have much in common. Apparently, when her mother died she left behind 6 large garbage bags of unopened shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Many were high priced brands. Gail donated them to the local women’s shelter. So Gail and I work hard to declutter and not let it get past the pack rat point! 

I thank my paternal grandma and mom for the gift of talk. My word for the year is “connection” and hanging and talking to people and making those connections- person to person- is an important part of this trip. Besides, talking to the dog all day gets a little old (and odd).

The really hot pool. The background shrubs is where the bear showed up.

Warm for the feet, too hot for me.

Lovely wet areas along the walk.

Black bear chowing down.

I’m past the halfway point now! It was a long wonderful experience today. The scenery was just amazing. Stone Mountain is big and wild and barren. It’s a big giant stone that seems to jut from behind the forest. Around one corner this morning a stone sheep ram feeding on the shoulder. They are relatives of bighorn sheep and indigenous to northern B.C. and southern Yukon. Around another a woodland caribou traipsing down the side of the road!  I'm glad I'm the only one on the road so I can slow for them. 

A walk to the Liard Hot Springs brings another black bear above the hot springs. That may not end well as I don’t think the park has any patience for black bears near people there since one killed two people a few years ago. This one was gorging on berries and leaves and ignoring the humans gawking at it. I only waded in the hot springs, partly because of the bear partly because they were hot. I missed the mama bear and cubs on the boardwalk to the hot springs. The park rangers were working on scaring them back into the woods. I did a lot of clapping when walking alone back to the truck. Total today- I saw 6 bears including two babies.

Templeton didn't bark!

The threatened wood bison made a showing along the road.  I was wondering if they would since I’ve seen many a warning sign to watch for them. Those moments observing them reminded me of being in Yellowstone. These may be cousins but they act the same- I own the road, I grunt, I wander and graze, I roll in the dust, I have cute kids. They were reintroduced to the area in the 1990s and seem to be making a good comeback.

A vehicle got too close.

Unfortunately, I also saw a dead bison, porcupine, and raven (never assume birds are going to fly up when you’re driving towards them).

Stone sheep

Woodland caribou

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of life and death as I believe a sharp-shinned hawk was right on a small bird. Pretty cool couple of seconds. Sometimes that’s all you get!

Vast views along this part of the highway

Downtown RV Park Watson Lake Yukon

Ahhh more massive road construction

Wildlife seen- sharp-shinned hawk, black bears, stone sheep, woodland caribou, wood bison.

Lesson #5 Never eat guacamole after it’s been in an ice chest for 5 days- not even two bites (enough said).

Day 4 Gettin' in the Groove

Quite the colors when the camera is set incorrectly.

Today was 303.9 miles- Charlie Lake Provincial Park to Testa River RV Park where the “cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster” is located (yes I’m violating my diet in the morning). Tetsa is located at Historical mile 375 and is run by the third generation of owners. It’s a funky place with haphazard spots in the trees and a shower, bathroom, and laundry room that appear to be in a converted freezer trailer. The rustic gift shop, bakery, and office are likely the original buildings. There are still vehicle remnants from the army engineers who camped here while building the highway. The RV park is a bit pricey but they have a giant generator that runs all night long to provide us all with electricity which likely cost a bunch. It's worth the cost. The ad in the Alaska Milepost said that wifi was available, no more. One has to remember that by the time the Milepost comes out it’s a year old and mine is 2015. Oh well, when on a long journey you learn to go with the flow. 

My Tetsa River RV Park spot.

The long white structure is the laundry, washroom, and shower facility. It had large freezer-like outside door handles. 

The office, bakery, and gift shop at Tetsa River Lodge.

This has been a long day yet a more relaxed one even with the small calamities- truck canopy latch not working (yay for duct tape), trailer screen door latch snap breaking (yay for small bungee cords and industrial Velcro), wheel bearing cap throwing grease (figured out in Fort nelson, found Dalex Auto, and they replaced the cap for $10CDN in about 15 minutes!), and now the trailer door has decided it doesn’t want to stay closed while driving (still trying to figure it out. I always travel with it held in place with a bungee cord). There was a lot of rattling road plus, I’m over 1,000 miles into the trip so it’s no surprise things are starting to be challenging. Although the wheel bearings were greased and new hubs put on not too long ago which means the cap they put back on was a piece of crap and it appears they over greased it. Thank you AGAIN Marysville Les Schwab for being incompetent.

The auto shop in Fort Nelson

The weather was lovely so the only challenges to driving were the typical 7-9% grades with plenty of curves. Soooo steep.

Another long straight stretch

British Columbia is a province of natural resource dependence. Up until Fort Nelson it’s ag land (hay and wheat were obvious), forestry everywhere (same destruction different country), and energy (oil and gas). It’s a bit disturbing to see large swaths of boreal forest cut for the giant powerline towers and maybe gas lines. You can’t look over the forest without seeing some sort of use. It finally dissipates north of Fort Nelson and you really feel like you’re in the wilderness. 

Gas station

First view of the Alaska pipeline

Wildlife sightings: black bear, 1 deer, red tail hawks, sharp-shinned hawk, kestrels, northern harrier, chickadees, and some small birds that love to hang out on the shoulders and in the road trying to be roadkill. I haven’t looked them up yet but they are extremely common. Butterflies included mourning cloak, painted lady, sulphur, and fritillary all mudding at a random litter bin pull out at Historic Milepost 234. Apparently the old highway came out here but they realigned it in 1992 and eliminated 132 curves. While there I took Templeton for a potty walk and attempted photos of the butterflies. At one point I turned around and saw a large black critter ambling down the old road right toward us so I tossed Templeton in the truck and grabbed my camera. Black bear! I watched it disappear and just as I was getting ready to leave it popped out in front of the truck in the bushes and wandered over to the roadside where it chowed down on greenery. The only time it darted away from the road was when a semi-truck roared past.

Now you see nothing on the old highway

Moments later

Roadkill was mostly butterflies today but then I had the sad sighting of a freshly killed black bear cub at Andy Bailey Provincial Park. That was a tough sight to see. Saw a roadkill raven later. I wonder about all of the widening of the highway going on sometimes right where a moose crossing sign has been placed and there is no accommodation for the critters. As most of you know safe passage for wildlife across roads is a passion of mine, bolstered by the number of roadkill I see around home. As these highways are widened and straightened here in B.C. more wildlife will eventually die.

live Mourning cloak

Lesson #4 It takes four days for the fears and mind-critics to start quieting down.

Day 3 Land of the Raven

Mile 0 Alaska Highway

345 miles today- Woodpecker Rest Area to Charlie Lake Provincial Park. Better but the sad thing is all of the really cool places I don’t have time to stop at and enjoy. I realize that this journey is worthy of a couple of months with no job that one has to return to by a certain date. It is a bit frustrating however, I stay in the day and enjoy the time I have exploring.

Got an earlier start this morning since I actually slept last night. I talked to a woman who cleans the Woodpecker rest area bathrooms. Her opinion is that the human race is doomed based on the amount of shit (literally) they smear in the pit toilets. She might have a point.

The original Milepost 0 is in the middle of an intersection!

Only brief stops here and there today. Dawson Creek for the Alaska House and photo op at the Mile 0 pole. Plus viewing the Alaska Highway museum. 

Road trip

More road tripping

Boreal forest and muskeg and all of the amazing plants are all along the drive from Prince George to Fort St. John. No surprise since the boreal forest covers 60% of Canada's land area. Spruces- black and white- stunted from growing in such a harsh climate, many ancient. Jack pine, balsam fir, and tamarack are also found here. Many aspen groves, poplar, and other deciduous shrubs round out the ecosystem.

I heard the delightful calls of loons at a lake near my Windy Point gas stop on Hwy 97. 

Ahhh road construction

I enjoyed my construction stop today because I was able to stop and look around a bit. All these amazing lakes, ponds, and bogs (muskeg) and no place to pull over and explore.  Once the pilot car rolled around I decided that the muddy fine gravel might be a challenge so I put the truck in 4 wheel drive which was a good call.

The drive today had some pretty hairy moments with blinding rain and winds. A later construction area was damn scary. An 8% (at least) grade at 50km/hr with sharp curves and a sheriff following behind me. I couldn’t gear down low enough! Whew! But then it’s onto a mile-long metal grated bridge! I could feel every groove in the grates. I swear the trailer and truck were driving on their own. At least it wasn’t wet!

Near the Dawson Creek visitor center

Dawson Creek- Milepost 0 for the Alaska Highway. I was unable to spend much time there, just enough to learn that men died to build this crazy highway in 9 months in 1942. So far I’ve learned that a total of 30 men died. Some froze to death (-70 degrees Celsius) and 12 drowned in Charlie Lake when their raft sunk in a sudden storm. Even horses died from too many mosquito bites. The highway has been moved and straightened (shortening it) and most of the bridges have been replaced but some of it is still true to the original alignment. It makes the trip a little somber knowing that men died building this highway to protect Alaska from the Japanese after they bombed Pearl Harbor. The whole thing seems sad.

A link to the PBS documentary- 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/alaska/

Side trip just north of Dawson Creek to one of the original Alaska Highway trestle bridges still intact.

Wooden deck

Tonight I am at Charlie Lake Provincial Park just north of Fort St. John. There’s a bird peeping outside my trailer that I don’t recognize. Of course it’s twilight so I won’t be able to see it. There was a time I'd spend hours chasing that call down to identify it. These days I just enjoy listening. This campground is entirely aspen, cottonwood, serviceberry and I have no idea what all of the other shrubs are; all deciduous. Apparently it’s known for its unique diversity of plants. I’m a bit out of my league with identifying the trees and shrubs here.

My campsite tonight

Wildlife sightings: swans sleeping in a pond, beaver lodges, golden eagles, more kestrels, and red-tail hawks. Every day is a raven day with crows only near towns.

Lesson #3 Don’t turn back no matter what the critics in your mind might say. This is an adventure; life is an adventure.

Day 2 Long Days

One of sooo many lakes along the way.

264 miles today- Red Hill Rest Area to Woodpecker Rest Area/Hixon; this is not enough to make it 2,234 in 7 days!  I got a late start due to very limited sleep last night. It was just too hot. A cloud cover has tempered the heat so it’s quite pleasant today.

Did you know that I am the worst when it comes to the metric system? As one can imagine this trip is one hell of a math challenge! It does keep me occupied trying to figure out the conversion. I give up on the whole temperature thing but mileage is better- I just look in the Alaska Milepost. Of course I was wondering why the 1,148 elevation seemed so difficult to maneuver because that’s such a low number. LOL

This highway has abundant pullouts with litter bins and lots of well-placed rest areas with clean pit toilets. Maybe that’s why I’ve seen no litter. I’ve also only seen 2 little critters of some sort as roadkill. Considering the number of deer, elk, badger, and moose warning signs you’d think they were everywhere. I’ve seen one deer today and a coyote at Chasm Provincial Park. Maybe the signs work- doubtful as people drive much faster than the posted 100km hour.

Chasm Provincial Park is just that, a big vegetated chasm. The park preserves ponderosa pines at their northern range limit and the unique geological formations both glacial and volcanic. There's just a parking lot and short trail to view down into it. There are old roads used as trails now, although I didn't see them.

I had a random white pelican fly over the truck north of 70 Mile and a pair of sandhill cranes a few miles north of that. Many towns and areas are referred to by the mileage (70 Mile, 100 Mile, etc.) along the Old Cariboo Trail beginning in Lillooet. These areas often marked where a roadhouse was located to serve travelers along the trail in the 1800s.

I hit one hell of a wind, rain, and lightning storm near Lac le Hache. I had to slow waaay down due to the near zero visibility. I really have to pay attention to my driving while pulling this trailer. It doesn’t stop well in the rain. That’s another reason I think I need to add electric brakes. The trailer has brakes I just need to have the system connected.

Wildlife Corridor warning sign

Another camp spot in a large rest area. It was much cooler today so I slept under the covers and added the wool blanket for a perfect temperature. Tomorrow will be an easier day.

Woodpecker Rest Area near Hixon

Wildlife seen: white pelican, sandhill cranes, miscellaneous ducks

Lesson #2 Don’t believe the highway signs that make it seem like wildlife are crossing everywhere. It’s all a matter of timing.