First off an up date, if you read a previous post you might remember that we do rove though some snow, in June! It turns out we got through the area just in time! The storm dumped over 36 inches of snow!! Dodged a bullet there!
Anyway we got a great start on the Alaskan Highway, passed a Mule Deer. It was crazy, he was chasing a fox though a field right along the highway, we were able to get a picture of the deer, no fox, he was really hustling and made it to the tree line.
So, the Alaskan Highway is a two-lane road that sometimes resembles a regular highway, sometimes it resembles an oil & chat road, and then sometimes is a dusty rocky road. It is constantly changing, winding, steep upgrades steep downgrades. Tree lined with mountains surrounding you on both sides. It’s absolutely beautiful.
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| Ok a good start! |
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| A couple of curves |
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| Another curve |
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| Another curve? |
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| Starting to se a serious trend here. But the road is pretty nice. |
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| Let the bouncy gravel roads begin! |
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| Pretty rough, doing about 15 mph. DUSTY! |
So, enough road pictures, you get the idea, there aren’t many straight aways. Always up & down, so far top speed was 55 mph, slowest about 15 mph.
So, as you drive, you’re either driving up & over the mountains or driving between them. When you’re driving in the valleys, you’re generally driving along either rivers or lakes. I couldn’t pass up the chance to find a pull out (small gravel parking spots along the road). I figured soaking my tired feet in an ice-cold mountain river would be invigorating.
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| Nice quiet shady spot. |
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| Aahhh! |
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| The river was cold, the lake was 1/2 a degree warmer. Brrrrr |
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| Mica telling me to take the dang picture so she can get out. But she did go pretty far out, 5 more feet & it’s a sheer drop. |
And the animals! We saw dozens of bears, buffalo, caribou, elk and a rabbit. Here’s some pictures.
So, when we left Dawson Creek driving 280 miles to Fort Nelson. In between, NO towns. Just a couple of outposts of one or two buildings. And NO CELL SERVICE, just ask Mica. And talk about desolate. Fort Nelson is a small little town with not much there, on to Liard Hot Springs for the night, 189 miles no towns. Still no cell service or internet. Just a small campground & park with hot springs.
We hiked to the hot springs, where there is a confluence of a hot spring & a creek. The creek is cold water, so you find a spot between the two, that’s a comfortable temperature for & just relax. It was nice, bit of a sulfur smell, but enjoyable.
We drove on the next day to Watson Lake and our official entry into the Yukon Territory. We sort of crossed back and forth six times between BC & YT, but now we’re here for a while. It was only 129 miles to Watson Lake, so we took our time.
Once we got to Watson Lake we went to the famous “Signpost Forest”. It was started by some soldiers during WWII that were building the Alaskan Highway just to acknowledge their hometowns & how far they were from home. Now it is a park full of signs of all sorts, over 10,000 of them some homemade, some professionally made, some last-minute improvised and of course some stolen.
There are hundreds or maybe thousands of government signs, usually city limit signs but all kinds. From the US, Canada, all over Europe and all over the world. It is the largest, unprosecuted, collection of stolen property in the world. It is amazing. It’s a maze of 10-foot-high signposts. There are signs attached to every post & tree around. Our caravan added one with all our signatures. A couple of our group added their own. Since Mica has been painting rocks, we added our rock to the park.
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| Anybody know these people from Collinsville? |
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| By the way, Mica’s a Sax for the trip, the caravan made a mistake on her name tag & we just kept it. Plus, it fit on the rock….. |
This is the last of a couple of one-night stands. We’re off to Whitehorse, YT for three nights. Some sightseeing, rest & housekeeping. On a side note, the days are really getting longer. Sunrise is 4:29am & sunset is 11:35pm. Here’s a picture out my bedroom window at 10pm.
I told Mica, “lights out, it’s bed time” then realized we didn’t have any lights on cause it’s freaking daylight outside. Pretty soon it will be basically daylight all day & night.
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