Teslin Yukon to Monroe, WA
Day 49 July 17, 2012Teslin to Watson Lake Yukon
We had a sunset last night! The real deal that lit up the whole sky. I didn’t want to go out into the mosquitos so I took photos out the back window. At this point if I wake up at 2 am, it’s nearly dark. I can’t see Walter’s face at that time of night, but the sky is still light.
Last night the campground was nearly full with motorcycles and small rigs and a few really big ones too. A number of the motorcycle folks had trailers that they were pulling that converted into tents. Very cool, that way they don’t have to sleep on the ground. They were nearly all gone when we opened the blinds at 8:30. Obviously folks are into burning up the miles on this part of the Alaska Highway.
The sun was out when we woke up this morning. Hurray! It wasn’t really warm yet but sun is always welcome. We got things together and while I walked down to the lake to take photos Walter motored over to the dump station and started to dump. It’s a steep grade down to the lake but it was a pretty view and I got a photo of those nice mountains I saw yesterday but never had a turn out to take a photo. I suspect that they are called Dawson Peaks since that’s the name of the campground and they have a great view of them. On my hike back up the hill I got a nice shot of twin-flowers, the nifty little bells I saw for the first time back on the Kenai River.
We finished dumping and as we got ready to leave, three big fifth-wheel rigs drove up. I don’t know if they were stopping for a late breakfast or what since it was only 10:30. In any case, they were roaming around taking photos as we drove out the back drive and made our way east towards Watson Lake. This is a pretty section of the highway. The soil is much sandier so the trees do better and almost look normal. There are pines mixed in with the spruce now that we didn’t see in Alaska. The mountains that we could see from time to time were nice too.
We stopped for a break at Rancheria Falls and did the little 10-minute hike out to the falls. They really aren’t very big but they’re fun because the Rancheria River splits here and creates two small waterfalls as it drops from a rock shelf. The water is pretty clear but it’s that iced tea color that says there are peat bogs near. There were flowers along the trail—tons of bunchberry with small flowers. I’ve been seeing bunchberry in profusion since we hit Ketchikan 6 weeks ago! The lupine was just about done but there was Arnica in bloom along with lots of Twin-flowers. On the rocks overlooking the falls I saw some saxifrage and Mountain Goldenrod. The heather in the woods wasn’t in bloom yet. There was clubmoss though and tons and tons of lichens. I bet the caribou just love areas like this in the winter.
We hit the construction zone at exactly the point where we were supposed to change drivers so we switched while we waited for the timed signal to change. This is the place where the road washed out and closed the highway for a week back in June. They either had a flash flood or a culvert got blocked and the creek overflowed and washed out the road. They have a temporary fix in and are building a bridge as a long time fix. The signal changed every 200 seconds and you could watch it count down while you were waiting.
Not long after that we both noticed some folks pulled off of the road going west. Walter looked right and saw a moose in the pond on his side of the car. I stopped and hiked back to take photos. I thought it was a cow but it turns out to be a young buck with just two points on each side of his head so he kind of looks like he’s got 4 ears. He posed nicely as he ate grass from the bottom of the pond. Each time a car drove by he turned his head to see and that made for good photos.
A while later we stopped for lunch at a rest stop just about 10 miles outside of Watson Lake. There was nothing real exciting about the view but having just seen a moose made that okay. Just west of Watson Lake the Cassair Highway (Hwy 37) goes south to join the Yellowhead Highway. We’ll be heading that way tomorrow on our way to Hyder/Stewart to hopefully see the bears fishing in Fish Creek.
We drove into Watson Lake to see the Signpost Forest, a legend on the Alaskan Highway. It was way bigger than I expected. People have been putting up signs here for 70 years though most of them appear to be from the 1990’s and 2000’s and 2010’s. In 2004 they counted over 55,000 signs here! We wandered around looking at signs and found a Seattle one with “Go Huskies” on it and took photos of each other by it. Then we found a fun sign about “Damn right we saw something” that had a list of all the things that the folks had seen. I managed to take a picture of the both of us using the ‘long arm’ trick.
There are several unexciting RV parks in Watson Lake and after reading about them while we were getting gas we both agreed that the Provincial (or is it really Territorial) Yukon Parks campground just out of town would be a better bet than the gravel parking lots behind the gas stations that were available. So we motored back west of town and followed 3 miles of gravel road to an empty campground with lovely pull through campsites. We found one with some shade and a nice pine tree smell and set up camp. These Yukon Parks sites cost $12 a night and while they don’t have power and the water tends to be either a hike or non-existent they are great for a one-nighter when we don’t have anything that needs to be charged up.
Day 50 July 18, 2012
Watson Lake, YT to Iskut, BC
It rained much of the night and was still dripping when we woke up. Only one rig went out our campground loop road before we left at 10 am. Not exactly a full house when our loop had 35 spaces. The sun started to play peekaboo and was out the whole time I was outside doing my exercise band exercises and it looked like it would be a nice day.
We rolled out at 10 am and by the time we reached the turn-off for the Cassair (13 miles west) it was raining. The first hour of the road was really uneven and bumpy. It didn’t have pot holes or frost heaves it was just bumpy. It was also pretty narrow and didn’t have any lines at all—no double yellow, no dotted yellow, no verge markers, nothing. There were also no turn outs or rest stops for that first hour either. I was beginning to wonder how far either of us would be able to tolerate bumping along in one day when the road widened some and the surface evened out. Whew. The other thing that made the first hour hard was the rain and the fact that we drove through a HUGE burn—probably 50 miles worth. The first section probably burned last year or the year before because there were no grasses, only fireweed, but lots of it. The second section (which had a very small buffer of semi-burned trees before we reached it) was a little older. There was grass growing along with not as much fireweed.
Once the road evened out and the burn was over things were lush and lovely. We still had squalls of rain showers but it wasn’t very bad. We switched drivers after 2 hours and about then we moved from the Yukon Plateau to the beginning of the Cassair Mountains and things got very pretty. Yesterday we’d started to see pines and today the spruces got taller and there look to be firs added to the mix. There are still lots of aspens and Paperbark birches and alders mixed in. We also had wonderful big patches of orange Indian Paintbrush. At one point I stopped to take photos of them because there was a mix of yellow, peach and orange flowers right next to a turn out.
The scenery through the Cassiar Mountains is gorgeous. There are big lakes and lovely streams running through a very lush countryside with snow-capped mountains as the backdrop. We went by lots of watch for wildlife signs but didn’t see anything but a few birds—maybe a grouse along the side of the road and of course lots of squirrels scampering across the road.
We got to Mountain Shadow RV Park at about 3:45. We were the first rig in but there were 5 more big trailers (3 fifth wheels) that came in right after us. We got the pick of the litter and since we’re so small we got a site with a gorgeous view of the mountains with the lake in front of it. This place has water and power and free Wi-Fi along with showers. It’s very nicely laid out and we have a patch of grass next to us besides the view.
After we got set up and settled in some of the folks in the big trailers were sitting out having happy hour and looking at the lake. They spotted a moose so out I went with the camera. She was splashing around and having a great time but was really too far away to make a decent photo. We got our shoes on and went down to the lake but a mom with two teenagers and 2 dogs preceded us and by the time we got there the moose was gone. No doubt all those people and animal sounds and smells got her to run off. So now we have 2 moose in 2 days. Hurray. And we got a nice walk out of the deal too.
There was a nice meadow along the trail to the lake and there was some great Tall Larkspur in bloom along with some Norwegian Cinquefoil. There was also a very showy white plant that turns out to be Northern Bedstraw.
Tomorrow we have a 200 mile drive down to Stewart/Hyder. The forecast is for rain but it’s hard to believe it given how gorgeous it is out now. It’s 75 and sunny with white puffy clouds in a blue sky. We have the windows open (which I washed with squeegee to we could enjoy the view) and it’s nearly 8 pm.
Day 51 July 19, 2012
Iskut, BC to Hyder, Alaska
We had a sunset again last night. The mountains lit up with a nice pink color and the clouds to the northwest went orange. There was watery sunshine when we got up this morning and the weather held for about 2 ½ hours and then it began to rain. Since then we’ve had a steady light rain falling—Welcome back to the coastal area and Alaska!
Last night I put Hyder in as a destination in Carmine the Garmin and she insisted that we needed to drive back up to the Alaska Highway and over to Dawson Creek and down around and that it would take us 30 ours. The poor dear didn’t believe in the Cassair highway even though she had gotten us as far as Mountain Shadow RV Park without a problem. I put her on mute (so we didn’t have to listen to her protest) and let her recalculate each time we passed the point where she wanted us to turn around. It wasn’t until we’d gone over 120 miles that she relented and allowed as how we could continue on the Cassair (Hwy 37) and get to Hyder. Don’t you just love technology? The Cassair has been fully paved for over 5 years and the part she didn’t like is the part that is in much better shape and has lines and rest stops and turn out and all that other up-town stuff.
We had a few minutes to stop and talk with the owner of Mountain Shadow RV Park. He’s a nice fellow (as was his wife who we met the night before). He said business was down by about 30% from 3 years ago. They’ve been there 19 years and have listed the property for sale but are in no big hurry to sell. We topped off our water tank and then motored on down the road. We stopped and got gas in Iskut just to the south and paid $1.50 a liter for gas!
The mountain views along the lake were gorgeous and continued to be wonderful for much of the drive today. We spied a fox along the right-hand side of the road and as we slowed down he ran across the road and into the bushes. We could still see him even though he wasn’t in a place you could photograph him and it was clear he was chomping down on whatever he’d caught over there on the verge. I’d never seen a fox before. Very exciting.
Then wonders of wonders a doted white line appeared in the center of the road and then it became a double yellow line and we had white lines along the verge—just like a REAL highway. The surface was great, the view was great, we had wildlife…
The only hitch was that we began to see signs of an upcoming 40-50 kilometer construction zone. They were chip sealing the highway. First we got to wait at kilometer 0 (the little pink sign said 0) for a long time. I got out and took photos of the view and we watched the Flagwoman’s dogs chase the ravens—they were names Bonnie and Clyde. This was our first Flagperson with a dog. Then we got to follow a pilot car for 12 K over a very dusty gravel-strewn road. We figure they wanted to make sure everyone went slow so that the gravel got worked in well by the weight of the cars and as little as possible of it got tossed away. At the end of that section there were three street sweepers and a sprinkler truck cleaning up gravel. The good news is that the pilot car kept everyone under 25 MPH and there was little or no traffic coming the other way. When the pilot car released us there was still another 15 K of dust before the surface became normal again. Sheesh. We got popped by a rock by someone coming the other way but it didn’t do any new damage to the already cracked windshield.
And just when we thought we had made it out of all of the mess, we hit the next construction project—a power line right of way that was along the side of the road. They were logging a wide strip and had trucks and loggers and all sorts of folks who they had to protect with flaggers. The little pink numbers went up over 90 K before we hit the sign that said the project was over.
Meanwhile, it had started to rain but not too hard. The dust on the trailer didn’t turn to mud which is nice. But of course the windows which were so wonderfully clear and clean yesterday are once again dusty and water spotted. That’s life on the road.
We stopped at a rest stop just past Bell II (yes, there are towns with names like that in BC). There’s a fancy Lodge at Bell II (or so their ads say) and there were some big rigs in their parking lot getting gas. We went on by and had lunch next to lovely Mehan Lake—no moose even though there were nice water lilies to eat. We changed drivers here and not long afterward I saw what I thought was a sign with something draped on it. As we got closer Walter said, “That’s a bear!” I slowed to a stop and we were rewarded by a clear view of a brown (grizzly) bear as he turned to retreat back into the bushes.
The drive continued to be gorgeous even with the rain and then we turned onto 37A which goes out to Stewart/Hyder and it got even better. The road winds through a canyon with really high mountains on each side. There was still a lot of snow on them and so there were waterfalls cascading down their sides (and no turnouts so you could take photos). There are lots of avalanche chutes and they had tons of snow still piled at their bottoms. Then the first of 3 glaciers appeared. They were doing road work (it is a continuous thing it appears in the summer here) and we got to stop long enough for me to get photos of the first 2 which were hanging glaciers (ones that are perched up on a mountainside without reaching the valley floor or the ocean). Then we came around a bend and there was a nice wide turnout with a great view of a HUGE glacier with its toe in a little lake. I took photos and then we moved up a little so I could get a shot of the toe as it melted into the lake. It was a very blue glacier which is always nice. We believe that it is Bear Glacier, though there weren’t any signs identifying it. Bear River runs out of the lake so it seems reasonable that it is Bear Glacier and it seemed to be in about the right place along the road.
After this there was a WONDERFUL huge waterfall with multiple cascades on the right side of the road. And no place to stop. Maybe there will be no traffic when we drive back in a few days…
Since we were planning on staying in Hyder for at least 2 nights Walter decided it would be best to stop at the Municipal Dump Station in Stewart to dump the tanks. So we took a detour and found the Sani-Dump Station, as they Canadians call them, without hitch and did the deed. The good news is the rain pretty much stopped at about this point so we didn’t have to do it in the rain. Then we motored through Stewart and on to Hyder.
Stewart is the bigger of the two towns and is in British Columbia. There are stores and gas stations and RV parks and some small industry. Hyder is across the border in Alaska—there isn’t a border crossing INTO the US here but you do have to go through Canadian Customs on your way back. Hyder is a tiny little town with a couple of hotels and RV parks, a general store and a couple of places to eat. Its claim to fame is that it is the gateway to Misty Fiords National Monument (the only land entrance) and Fish Creek where bears come to fish for salmon in late July into September. You can also drive from here to Salmon Glacier.
We’re staying at Camp Run-A-Muck, a small RV park on the main drag (there really is only one street here) with hook ups and lots of trees. They are doing construction on the main drag (which is gravel) so we actually had to wait in traffic in Hyder, something that is unheard of according to the lady managing Camp Run-A-Muck. The construction crews are staying in the park so they are actually pretty busy.
Setting up the trailer was a bit frantic because the mosquitos are fierce. The manager said that they had just gotten bad in the last couple of weeks. It was in the high 50’s when we got here and that is all it takes to bring out the little whiners. For a while before dinner there were still lots of cars and trucks going by. There are RV’s going out to Fish Creek for evening viewing of bears (they hope) and construction guys. But now it is 8:15 and there hasn’t been a vehicle by in some time.
We asked about the bears and she said that the fish are only just starting to run—they have maybe 20 fish a day at this point. So the bears are not here in huge numbers. But they show up now and then to check on the fish situation and they amble through the campground too. In the last couple of days there was a bear that got into one of the construction guys’ trucks (he’d left the window open) to steal a package of sunflower seeds. She said they had wolves last week too. So while we may not get the signature ‘bear fishing picture’ we may see more wildlife yet.
Tomorrow we will go out to Fish Creek to see about bears and then drive up to Salmon Glacier—unless it’s foggy. The manager said not to bother when it’s foggy as you can’t see anything. But at the moment the mountains are clearly visible so maybe we’re going to win one with the weather gods.
The Wi-Fi here is satellite (as was last night’s) and slow. It reminds me of home. There’s no cell service here just as there was none in Iskut. The manger says there probably isn’t any until you get 150 miles up the road! She has a teen age son and there’s no cell service for texting—can you imagine?
Day 52 July 20, 2012
Hyder, AK
The mountains were visible—no fog! And it wasn’t raining this morning. Hurray for the weatherman being wrong. We had breakfast and decided to make a picnic lunch since we were going to Fish Creek and then up to Salmon Glacier. It’s only 3 miles out to Fish Creek but it’s another 25 miles out to Salmon Glacier on a dirt road. We figured we’d make a day of it.
It was a little after 10 when we set out. Construction was going full tilt right in front of the campground so getting out was a little interesting. Do you wait for the pilot car or just go? One of the construction folks waved us through and we were off like a herd of turtles.
The first parking area at Fish Creek was full but no worry they have additional parking a little further along. We parked and followed the gated boardwalk (protect the people from the bears and bears from the people) that took us to the entry. Walter’s Golden Age pass got us in for free. Otherwise it is $5 per person per day to get in to view the bears. We were told that a mama bear and 2 cubs had been in the creek. Mom had caught a fish and had retreated to the bushes to eat. The supposition was that since she’d caught something she’d be back. So out we went to watch and wait.
It’s a gorgeous setting. There’s the crystal clear creek, a small pond behind it with the mountains framing it. There are birds (warblers by the sound of them) singing in the bushes along the creek and we spotted a few salmon in the creek. We stood and watched the fish and then walked to the end of the viewing platform. We ended up talking with a couple from Wisconsin for quite a while. They were headed to Anchorage and had already been out to the Salmon Glacier and said the drive was totally worth it. After a while we gave up on the bears and headed out to the car.
The road is very bumpy and they were working on clearing the verges with heavy equipment. Past that we met a few very large semi’s taking equipment up the road to the mines (and coming back empty) that are at various points along the road. The road exists to serve the mines not to take tourists out to the Glacier so we need to be grateful to those mines and the trucks. Anyway they made driving that much more interesting when the road was only about 1 ½ lanes wide. We’d noticed that the river seemed to be really high. It had rained yesterday but we didn’t think it had rained that hard. We came to a wide spot in the road and a Forest Service guy told us that the ice dam holding Salmon Lake in place had broken last night (it does this every year in mid-July) and the river was way up. There was the potential for the river to flood the road and for us to not get back. Walter was ready to turn around. Then another guy who had been camping out past the glacier came up. He said not to worry. It wasn’t that far of a drive, the river wasn’t that high yet and it was worth the risk.
I found myself saying “Pleeeeease” like a little kid trying to get Walter to agree to go. Then I checked inside and found no indication that there was anything to worry about. And I told him that. He nodded and off we went. He wasn’t happy either with the condition of the road or the risk but he was willing to do it. In a little while he said, “Well, the worst thing that can happen is that we’ll have to sleep in the truck for a couple of days.” And I said, “And we’ll be a little hungry.”
The views were wonderful. We stopped a couple of times on the way up to take photos and I discovered that the view behind us was pretty fabulous too. You go by several working mines, including the Premier Mines which have been actively mined since 1910. They started underground mining in 1996 and it appears that they’re still at it. In any case, there were new buildings being constructed there.
Our first view of the glacier was wonderful. By now the sun was out and the glacier was a wonderful blue color filling the whole end of the valley. Shortly, the view included the toe of the glacier complete with ice caves. Then the road rose even more and the glacier turned a corner! It flows down one valley and then turns and flows down the next. There are several hanging glaciers along both valleys.
As we drove up the road the flowers kept changing. We were running backwards through the season, picking up goat’s beard and then the dwarf fireweed and finally heather and other alpine flowers. The snow began to make an appearance too; first in piles at the bottoms of avalanches chutes and then just more and more everywhere. There were many more waterfalls on both sides of the valley too.
Finally we got to the official overlook for the Salmon Glacier. The dirt road started back in Hyder, Alaska but about half way there we entered British Columbia so the glacier is in BC. The view is spectacular because it’s right at the junction where the glacier turns the corner. I took photos and was setting up the camera on a picnic table to take a photo of the both of us when a fellow came up and offered to take it for us. We said okay. He turned out to be Keith Scott, The Bear Man. He has DVD’s, post cards and a book he sells. We ended up buying his newest book called Coastal Bears which he autographed for us. He’s wonderful eccentric from New Brunswick who has traveled all over to watch and photograph bears. He spends June, July and August here and hikes the glacier (including under it) and then photographs the bears in August. He’s a happy man doing what his heart desires.
He talked some about the draining of Salmon Lake. He said he didn’t think that the river would flood like it did 4 years ago when it took out the road. When he pointed out where the lake had been it just looked like part of the glacier. He said it would take 4 days for it to drain.
We took our time driving back down the mountain, stopping to take more pictures and then to have lunch at a lovely turnout with a great view of the valley. We stopped and talked to the fellow who had encouraged us to go ahead and go and thanked him. He was waiting to photograph ice from the ice dam before going back up the mountain to camp. He was happy that a ‘big chunk’ had just gone by. We stopped around the bend and looked and it was a piece about the size of a spare tire bobbing along in the current.
Once we were down the mountain we stopped along the river to watch the debris flow by and to watch the blue water from one of the creeks flow into the chocolate brown water of the river. Then we went back to watch for bears at Fish Creek. There weren’t any bears but the fish were definitely running. We counted 25 in the creek that we could see. And they were spawning. You could watch the females use their tails to create the hole to lay their eggs in and you could see the males nudge her on the back and chase her some. I tried taking photos but the water makes it really interesting. I’ve got a couple of shots that you can tell they are fish but nothing with the clarity that you see them in person. We watched for a while and talked to some folks from Texas about their trip—he took 1100 photos on the Seward boat trip so I don’t have to feel so bad about my 668.
By 3:30 we were tired so we came back to the rig. Construction was in full swing with heavy equipment right in front of our rig. Walter still managed to take a nap but I didn’t bother to try. I downloaded the photos and checked email and the like. Then we took showers ($3 Canadian each for 8 minutes) with lots of hot water and a clean dry separate space to dress in. Just before we set out to take our showers another Casita come in and parked right across from us. They’re from Western New York and had seen tons of Casitas on their trip too.
After dinner we’ll take one more trip out to Fish Creek and see if the word has gotten out to the rest of the bears that the fish are running. Tomorrow we’ll start on our final phase of the trip towards home. The goal for the day: Smithers.
Day 53 July 21, 2012
Hyder, AK to Smithers, BC
Last night after dinner we went back to Fish Creek to watch for bears. We spent an hour kibitzing with folks there but no bears showed up. You could see the fish but without the brighter light they were hard to see and so not much fun to watch. At about 8:30 we packed it in as it started to rain. When we got back we discovered someone had parked their car right in front of our trailer where our pickup would need to be in the morning to hook up. It clearly was related to a pickup truck with an odd popup tent deal in its bed that was a bit in the way but not too bad. We could only hope that they would be gone by the time we were ready to go.
It rained all night and into the morning. The road crew started working well before 7 am and were spreading a new bed of gravel on the road right in front our Camp Run-a-Muck. When Walter went to take out the trash the folks in the pickup truck were just starting to stir and the car was still parked in the way. We went about the process of getting ready to go and when Walter released the real stabilizer jacks Rosita decided to take off and run off the booster crates on the driver’s side. Exciting to say the least. No damage done but it’s never what you want to have happen. By this point, the folks in the pickup were clearly up so Walter went and knocked on their door and asked about the car. The lady was very apologetic and said they’d be gone in 10 minutes. She moved the car and we got to watch them take the popup down and eventually they were gone. Then with a little jockeying we got Rosita hooked up alright and we went to wait in line for the Pilot Car to be led through the construction and out of Hyder.
We made it through Canadian Customs without a hitch. This was our 8th trip through Customs on this trip and we have one more passage back into the US just before we get home. By then it should be a real breeze because we won’t have much food left.
It was raining pretty hard again as we drove through Stewart and we decided to stop and get gas. That was a good thing because there wasn’t another gas station for miles and miles after that. The Bear River was running very high in fast. I guess the warm day yesterday followed by yet another night of rain has really got the snow melting. The waterfalls down the canyon walls were gushing. Once again no photos because today not only were there no turn outs but there was fog so it didn’t seem safe at all just to stop. We stopped and got a couple of more photos of Bear Glacier since one of the books said it was best to photograph it in morning light. God forbid I shouldn’t have all the right photos at this point.
We made the transition back onto the Cassair Highway without any problems and only had a bit of a challenge finding someplace to pull over and switch drivers. The Cassair doesn’t have a lot of rest stops or pull outs and they don’t give you a lot of warning ahead of time either. This makes using the Milepost to locate things like that even more important than usual. We tried to stop for lunch at a Rest Stop at a little after one but it was so muddy and so full of puddles I couldn’t find any place where we could both get out of the truck and get into the trailer without having to wade. So I gave up and drove on until I found a turn out with a trash bin that was pretty dry.
Shortly after lunch while we were still on the Cassiar we saw a fox trotting north in the northbound lane of the highway. I slowed down and he just trotted right on by and kept going up the center of the lane. He was much bigger than the one we saw a couple of days ago. That one was kind of red. This one was browner. A while later we saw a black bear cub walking across the highway. As I slowed down he took off at a run and disappeared into the bushes. I figure he was the last in line after mom and his sibling(s) and that’s why we didn’t see the rest of them. He was too little to be out on his own yet.
We’d planned on camping at a small Provincial Park a ways before you get to Hazelton. But when I slowed down for the turn off Walter said no because he couldn’t see the entry to the campground. By the time he’d found it we were well past the driveway so we just drove on. Reading the Milepost for the Yellowhead Highway was hard since you’re going backwards in the book and it took a while (and a bit of low level snarling between us) before we figured out that there was a perfectly fine RV park west of Smithers that would work. We need to do grocery shopping tomorrow and so I didn’t want to go past Smithers because I remembered that there was a nice Safeway there.
We’re camped tonight at Glacier View RV Campground. It’s about 8 km west of Smithers right off the highway. You can indeed see the Hudson Bay Glacier (in the notch next to Mt. Hudson Bay) and the waterfall that comes out of it. It’s a hanging glacier and I think it’s the southernmost glacier we’ve seen on the trip. The sun was beginning to come out by the time we arrived but there were still clouds dancing over the glacier. Now the sun is going down behind the mountains so I’ll hope that it is clearer in the morning.
The office manager was off in town so we picked a site and did self-registration. We’ve got power and water and free wi-fi for $22 a night. You can hear the traffic on the Yellowhead Highway but it’s nothing in comparison to construction in Hyder!
Tomorrow we’ll do our grocery shopping in Smithers and get gas and then drive to Prince George. It’s a 231 mile and 5 hour drive.
Day 54 July 22, 2012
Smithers, BC to Prince George, BC
We had a bit of a sunset last night with color in the sky all the way around. Then wonders of wonders it got DARK. It's been ages (as in over 7 weeks) since it's gotten dark at night. What a novel thing.
The sun was out when we got up but the mountains were entirely cloaked in clouds—no photo of the glacier this time. Ah well. It was in the 60’s so I did my exercise band exercises outside and there weren’t any mosquitos—heaven. We used the dump station at Glacier View RV Park on our way out and it worked fine. This was a good place to stay even though there were train tracks near-by and the trains were a bit of a surprise. The Wi-Fi was slow but hey, that’s satellite for you. It worked which is what’s important. There were nice flowers growing along the fence and many of the sites had hanging pots. The grass was well taken care of and it had a nice feel.
We stopped in downtown Smithers and did some grocery shopping at the Safeway. It was a nice Safeway but clearly foreign—deli and produce prices for metric weights and no sourdough bread except the bakery fresh that I had to ask to have sliced. But we found everything we needed—except wine. That you have to buy at the government liquor store or the cold wine and beer store. We’ll give that a try tomorrow at the local liquor store here in Prince George.
With the groceries loaded into the trailer we then went to get gas and both stations had huge lines. They’d been empty when we arrived and now there were big rigs all over the place. We tried one place and there were guys working on the fuses on a big rig. We gave up and went back across the street and found a place okay. When we left, the other station was now entirely empty. That’s life.
The drive was uneventful. No wildlife sightings. No problems. I had a bit of a problem figuring out how the distance markers worked in relation to the Milepost but after a while figured it out. The Yellowhead Highway gives you the distance from the ‘end’ in the direction you’re going. So when you’re going East (as we were today) they’re telling you how far you are from Prince Rupert. When you’re going West, they’re telling ou how far ou are from some place way to the east of Prince George. Each highway we’ve been on has worked a little differently.
In any case, we found a nice turn out to have lunch at that had a little pond and a marsh. Walter turned the trailer around so we could look out into the marsh while we ate—much better than watching the highway. Some folks came in with a big rig hauling a car and fiddled for a while with their inverter and cords. He was setting things up to charge the battery on his tow vehicle. They were headed home too but they have to go to Wisconsin. If we had that far to go we’d have to just find a nice quiet place for a day off and do nothing.
There were salsify seed heads at the rest stop. They are the biggest ‘dandelion puffs’ you’ll ever see. I remember the first time I saw one back in Western Massachusetts. I was so excited I picked it and took it to show Walter at his work. The seed heads hold together better than dandelions do but they do eventually let go and go poof.
By the time we arrived in Prince George we were both tired and punchy. We’re camping at Blue Cedars RV Park on the western edge of Prince George. We got a nice spot and there’s grass and trees between all the spaces but it’s pretty darned full and getting fuller by the moment. They have a swimming pool and the kids were out having a great time earlier but now the sun has gone away and the noise level has gone way down. The Wi-Fi is fast and they have free showers which we’ll use tomorrow before we take off. The power was just a regular plug but we really don’t need more than that anyway. It was $35 for that (it’s a pull through spot) so they’re pretty proud of the place. But then they have a pool and they’re in demand so they can charge it.
Tomorrow we’re driving to Lac La Hache Provincial Park in Lac La Hache. It’s 180 miles and should take about 4 hours. With rest stops and lunch that means about a 5 hour day for us. I’m ready for a quiet place but you never know with these things.
Day 55 July 23, 2012
Prince George to Lac La Hache
There were sun breaks this morning when we woke up but the sky was mostly cloudy. We’d had a little bit of a sunset last night and once it again it actually got dark. This will be a novelty for us for quite some time. We had breakfast and then went and had showers. The water was hot and plentiful on the ladies side but Walter said his was lukewarm but adequate. The shower areas were clean and the shower stall itself was in good shape with nice tile across the top. The only real hitch was that there was a very narrow dressing area with no place to sit down. I ended up putting on my sox and shoes leaning up against the wall. I’m happy to say I’ve recovered enough to be able to do that!
We motored out and stopped at the gas station where you turn to go up to the campground. We’d gotten gas there when we came through Prince George back June 1st and paid $1.339 per liter. Today it was $1.299 per liter. That’s not much of a reduction when prices at home have come down nearly a dollar a gallon I’ve heard. While Walter got gas I walked over to the Liquor Store to get a bottle of wine. What an interesting experience that was! It was a ‘cold wine and beer’ place that also carried hard liquor. There wasn’t a bottle of wine in the place with a cork. They had lovely stuff like Boone’s Farm and Gallo. I found a bottle of Sawmill Creek White Zinfandel for $9.40 that didn’t look too bad. We had it tonight and it mostly doesn’t taste like much, it’s just kind of thin. It’s not sour, or too sweet it just tastes kind of watery. The label says that it’s made from a blend of international and Canadian wines.
It rained lightly off and on most of the way. We’d have the sun out for a little while and then the clouds were back. We said goodbye to the last little bit of Taiga just south of Prince George and entered the rolling hills and forests of central BC. We got to drive through Quesnel proper this time (no big shakes) and saw the folks with the AMS oil sign on their rig parked at the Visitor’s Center there. We talked to him back at a rest stop north of Destruction Bay. Once again Carmine wanted us to do something that disagreed with the signs but I noted later that what she wanted us to do would have worked it just would have been a bit of a pain. There were other rigs changing lanes to get over suddenly in the same place so no doubt they had the same problem.
Early on in the day we saw a fox cross the road. He was a brownish one like the one we saw yesterday. In the afternoon while I was driving we saw something we’re not sure what it was. There were two of them along the right hand verge. One had been hit by a car or truck and the other started to come out into the road in front of me. I swerved a little and avoided him/her but I’m not sure it survived the semi that was behind me. The live one was as big as a porcupine and had short legs like that. It was light brown and variegated. It had a pointed nose which rules out the porcupine. We’ll look in our wildlife books when we get home and see what they were.
We were only driving 190 miles today so we had lunch after I’d driven half of my shift. It was a no big deal rest stop but it did the job. We’d driven by a couple of other possibilities that were full of rigs so I was just happy to find someplace to park and eat. The traffic on Highway 97 is much heavier than we’ve had the last few weeks. Lots of trucks and lots of cars and RVs going both directions. It is summer after all and there seem to be lots of folks out on vacation now.
It started to rain heavily and then pour so hard I couldn’t see the road just before we reached the campground. So I was not only dealing with the heavy rain I was looking for a left turn into the campground. It let up enough for me to read the sign and we made it into the Lac La Hache Provincial Campground without a problem. It’s a big campground on the hillside overlooking the highway and the lake below (with the train tracks across the lake). There is a row of campsites right next to the highway that we gave a pass to. We worked our way through the loops until we found one that looked like it wouldn’t be too hard to back into and Walter got it into the site without a problem.
It was still raining pretty hard so we just got things leveled with some crates and then ducked into the trailer to wait until the rain stopped. While we waited we planned our route for tomorrow. Instead of going down 97 to Hwy 1 and Skihist Provincial Park (the route we came up with all the tunnels) we’ll take the turnoff to go over to Hwy 5 (at Cache Creek to Kamloops) and on down to Merritt and stay at Kentucky-Alleyne Provincial Park on 5A. It gives us something new to look at and the highway looks like it may be better than that stretch of highway through the tunnels. The last day, we’ll either continue on down on 5A or backtrack back up to 5. In any case, we’ll be going through Hope and through the border to home.
We set up camp and then took a nice long nap. I woke up after a while and listened to Walter sleep and then wonders of wonders I turned over and went back to sleep and then he woke up and listened to me sleep and watched some new folks set up who are in the site behind us.
The rain had stopped entirely and the sun was out so we took a turn around part of the campground. The sites that are next to the highway have a great view of the lake—you just have to be deaf to enjoy them! There was a little trail through the grass out to the view and I saw some pink alliums in bloom along with some little short asters. The trees here are almost all Doug Firs. That wasn’t true last night but the trees in the rest stop where we switched drivers this morning were all Dougs too.
At about 7:30 the campground host came around and collected our money ($16). Usually they have you self-register but this place has a host come and get your money. It’s a very nice campground with good spacing between the sites and lots of trees and underbrush between them too. There are water faucets at regular intervals along with bear-proof trash cans.
After so many days in private campgrounds with everyone cheek by jowl it’s nice to be in a public campground again. We have the door open and you can hear the highway some but it’s not too bad and it’s a whole lot better than listening to the little kid in the motorized car with the Hot Wheels tires that we got to listen to last night.
Day 56 July 24, 2012
Lac La Hache to Merritt, BC
There were sun breaks when we first got up and big patches of blue. But by the time we’d had breakfast and broken camp there were only wisps of blue left and the sun had gone into hiding. We got some nice views of Lac La Hache as we drove into town and I snapped a quick picture as we drove by. It looks like a nice little lake-front town with some nice summer houses.
The day was a mixed bag of sun and clouds and temperatures from the 60's up to the 80's.
At one point in the morning a deer came bounding along from the right hand side of the car, bounced over the cattle fence and beat it across the road so quickly that by the time we came even to its passing it was out of sight. That was the wildlife sighting for the day.
We took Highway 97 east towards Kamloops and the terrain changed to something looking an awfully lot like the area near Alta Lake in eastern Washington. Instead of the Columbia we had the North Thompson flowing along. The farms had center-pivot irrigation and were growing hay and then alfalfa. We stopped for a rest stop and I took photos of the sage brush-covered hills and couple of wildflowers I didn’t recognize—I’ll have to use my books at home to ID them.
We stopped for lunch at a rest stop by Lake Kamloops. It made a nice cool view even with the temperature in the low 70’s. After the turn off south of Highway 5 near Kamloops the terrain changed back to mountains with pines. I personally prefer it and the temperature dropped back down into the 60’s.
Along about here we started talking about whether we actually wanted to make the 24 mile detour down to the Provincial Park we’d picked out last night. Walter got the books out and decided that there were two RV parks in or near Merritt that would mean no detour. We opted for the one that was nearest to town and that Carmine had listed.
There’s a long descent out of the mountains just before you get to Merritt and the terrain returns to high desert again. Merritt has fashioned itself to be the Country Western Center of BC (or maybe it was Canada, I don’t remember). They have murals all over town with the faces of country western singers. We got to see all this as we wound through town to the Clay Banks RV Park which is owned by the city of Merritt. It’s an okay RV Park with Wi-Fi and power and water hookups (I’m sure there’s sewer too we just didn’t’ need it). We got a spot at the back of the park which is a mixed blessing. It’s out of the way from the rest of the campers but across the fence there’s some sort of gravel pit or dirt pile with heavy equipment scraping and backing up and going bing bing bing.
It was over 80 when we got here and we have all the windows open. There have been clouds off and on to cool things off but right now the sun is out and it’s raining! It’s 82 outside and 80 inside. I will not complain. At least we are getting a little bit of summer on this trip.
Tomorrow we drive the 230 miles home. It should take about 4 ½ hours. It’s been a great trip and it’s good that we’re near the end. The shorter driving days the last few days have helped us both rest up some so we’re not dead on our feet like we were a few days ago. But we are both looking forward to getting home.
Day 57 July 25, 2012
Merritt, BC to Monroe, WA
Walter woke up early which is no surprise on our last day on the road. It was a noisy night. Whatever operation it was that was next door continued to make noise all night. The truck backup warning bells stopped at about 10 pm but started up again at about 5 am. There were still bells and what sounded like conveyor belts going all night. The trailer park behind us was pretty lively until 10 pm but then they quieted down. Our neighbors in the RV park started departing at 7 am and we finally gave up and got up at about 8 am. Because of the noise here, I wouldn't recommend this campground to anyone.
We hit the road a little after 9. It was sunny but a little hazy with thunderheads along the mountain tops. We took Hwy 5 south to Hwy 1. It winds up through the mountains and over a pass that is 2,000 meters –that’s over 6,000 feet. There was still a bit of snow on some of the peaks and I took one last photo just to show there are pretty mountains in BC too.
There are exits and rest stops all along Hwy 5 with very erudite names like Othello, Romeo, Portia, Shylock and Lear. Many of these are identified in small wooden signs that have a locomotive on them. Now that we are home, I have done a bit of research and discovered that these names came from Andrew McCulloch, the engineer who designed the tunnels and bridges for the railway that ran along this route from 1915 to 1989. His portion ran through the Coquihalla Canyon north of Hope and that’s where we saw these signs. It was highly amusing after having spent so much time in Alaska, Yukon and northern BC where things have names like 100 mile house, or 1 mile lake.
We stopped and switched drivers in a Sears parking lot at the turn off from Hwy 1 to Abbotsford, BC and the border crossing into the US at Sumas, WA. I took a moment to eat the last of the cherries I’d bought in Smithers since I didn’t think they’d let me take them back into WA.
The signs said the wait at the border crossing would be 10 minutes but it was closer to 20. In any case it was the longest wait at a crossing for the whole trip. This was our 9th crossing for the trip and once again we had no problems since all we had were bananas, carrots and lettuce. We had a nice border guard and he welcomed us home.
We stopped for lunch at the first rest stop south of Bellingham. It was crowded when we got there and full when we left. There were lots of trucks and lots of RV’s. The traffic on I-5 was heavy and just kept getting heavier the further south we got. We stopped at the Smokey Point Rest Area to do our final dump station visit and at least didn’t have to wait to do that.
Traffic was nearly stop and go northbound as we approached Everett but it all moved along fine in our direction. I was grateful that we didn’t have to take 405 down through Bellevue after 2 months of having nearly no traffic to deal with.
We were home by a little after three. The grass growing down the middle of the driveway was high but not awful. The house was fine and after some inspection it became clear that someone had mowed a good portion of the lawn for us not too long ago. Hurray! It almost looks civilized. The garden looks great—though there are plenty of weeds to pull and many pruning chores to look forward to.
We unloaded the trailer and put all the food away and then went and parked the trailer in its spot at the back gate. When we came back I went to the bathroom and had the strange experience of having water pouring out of the junction between the tank and the body of the toilet and down on the floor. I turned the water off in a hurry was mystified as to how this could have happened. Then a while later Walter used the other toilet and it did it too—though not with as much flow. It appears that the seal between the tank and the body of the toilet (I didn’t even know there was one) has dried out over the 2 months we were gone. Given that the toilets are over 30 years old and one needs to be replaced anyway, we may have them both replaced. Meanwhile, we’re flushing with a bucket.
Of all the things that could have gone wrong while we were gone, this was not what we expected. It’s minor in comparison to many other dire things that could have happened so we are content.
I made the calls required to get our Satellite Internet back up and running, Walter turned the hot water heater back on and we put the filter back in at the pump house. When I loaded the food back into the refrigerator I was overwhelmed with how HUGE it is in comparison to the little one in the trailer. Tonight when I made dinner, I felt like I needed roller skates to deal with how big the kitchen is and how far it is from the stove to the dinner table.
I took the final reading on the odometer for the trip. We drove 6,474.2 miles over 57 days. Add to it the ferry distances and you’ve got nearly 7,500 miles. Whew. I also took 4,293 photos! Needless to say it will take a while to process all of them and write the commentary to go with them.
It was a wonderful trip. I'd advise anyone who has any desire to visit Alaska to do it. Just don't expect sun or warm weather and you'll be fine. It's a long way and a lot of driving but it's worth it.