Day 5 Whiskers Point to Dawson Creek

Day 5 Whiskers Point to Dawson Creek

Rain. Rain, rain, rain. The clouds were so low that sometimes we were driving in them. If we hadn't driven this road before, we would have had no idea that there are spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies to be seen. All we saw was clouds. The road work turned out to be a non-event. As we rolled up to the one lane section, Gerry tried to stop for the flagger but he kept waving us over into the through lane, so we just rolled through like there was nothing there. And on through the rain and clouds we went. The Pine River, which we crossed several times, was high and rushing and fierce.

We camped at Mile 0 RV park in Dawson Creek. It was slightly less of a mud hole than the other parks we passed looked like. Since it was still cold and rainy, we toured the Alaska Highway House, a small museum about building the highway. I knew it had to have been hard, but I had no idea how impossible the conditions were. Mud, mosquitoes, permafrost, bitter cold and hot dust – they had it all in a trackless, densely forested wilderness. It was an amazing accomplishment.

We got the mandatory photos at the original Mile 0 monument even though it was still grey and spitting rain. After dinner the sun made an appearance so we dashed over to the large monument and got photos there.

We are off on the official Alaskan Highway on Monday. I suspect we will be out of cell service for a couple of days.

Day 4 Quesnel – Prince George – Whiskers Point Provencial Park

Day 4: Quesnel – Prince George – Whiskers Point Provencial Park

Quesnel

has a Saturday farmers' market, so we started our morning there. There wasn't much farming going on this early in the year, but we found wonderful pottery and pie, and did our part to help the local economy. We drove up to Prince George, and after a slightly adventurous detour, found the big Tourist Information office, which wasn't nearly as big and comprehensive as Pam and I remembered from years past. The most worthwhile thing we learned there was that the road to Dawson Creek had a landslide and was closed south of Chetwynd. 

 So we have stopped short of there at Whiskers Point, where we are camping in the deep, dark woods. I think there may be trolls or bigfoots (bigfeet?) wandering through the forest. Hopefully the road will be open tomorrow.

Wild columbine

Lake McLeod by the camp

Deep, dark woods

Days 2 and 3 - Lytton to Williams Lake to Quesnel

Yesterday we traveled from Lytton, through 100 Mile House to Williams Lake.  At the100 Mile House stop we enjoyed some bird watching at the nature preserve beside the Tourist Information center.  The town got its name during the Cariboo gold rush in the 1860’s.  A wagon road carried the gold seekers and all the provisions to the gold fields, with stage stops along the way, cleverly named 50 Mile House, 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House and so forth.

We have caught up with Spring as we travel north.  There are lilacs and wild roses blooming all along the highway.

We stayed at the rodeo grounds in Williams Lake.  It’s the home of the Williams Lake Stampede and feels very much like any western town that emphasizes the cowboy lifestyle.

Today we drove all the way to the town of Queznel (pronounced Kew-nel), all of 74 miles.  Our first stop was to find Ken, a guy that that Gerry and Dave had met last winter in Yuma while they were all soaking in the hot tub of the RV park.  He made the mistake of telling them we should stop in and say “hi” when we came through Quesnel.  We took him up on his offer and after a nice visit with him, we left our RVs at his business and drove to the historical park of Barkersville.  On the way there, we saw our first moose of the trip.  She was near the road, wading in a bog and eating water weeds.

Barkersville was founded during the gold rush of 1862 by a gold miner named Billy Barker.  In its heyday, Barkersville was said to be the largest city west of Chicago and north of San Francisco.  Those glory days lasted until the gold ran out and a fire destroyed most of the town.  Now it’s a restored Heritage Site with all kinds of displays, shops, and activities, including a cast of characters representing people who lived and worked in Barkersville over the course of years.















Here we are, ready to start our adventures in Barkersville.
Some of the other visitors on a tour got into the spirit of things and donned period costumes.

We might have stayed longer except it was cold, grey and muddy.  We felt like we got a good sense of what it was like to live in a mining town where spring comes late and unwilllingly.  So we headed back to Quesnel, and on the way we met our first bear of the trip.  He was a little black bear, munching on flowers and grass beside the road.  I think I have a picture of his relative from the last trip up here.  The bear then had that same expression:  “What?  I’m eating here.  Quit bothering me.”

Tonight we’re staying at the Airport Motel and RV park.  There’s an airport?

Day 1 - The Border to Lytton

We fretted about all the things the border guard might take exception to - citrus, fresh vegetables, meat that wasn't sealed in commercial packaging.  The only things he asked about were guns and alcohol.  Our two bottles of wine were safe, so through we went, and almost immediately the road turned from flat farmland to scenery.

Our first stop was the town of Hope to visit the Visitor Center and check out the Frasier River and some chainsaw carvings.  Have you heard the saying, "Don't poke the bear"?  I don't these guys know that one.

Then we went on up the road to Hell's Gate, a narrow, ferocious part of the Frasier, and took the tram down so Mark and Judy could have the Hell's Gate experience.

We are spending the night at one of BC's lovely provincial parks.

Members of the Wagon Train

Here are our intrepid explorers:

                       Dave and Pam Tooker, Mark and Judy Nelson, and Theta and Gerry Brentnall.

                                              On the road tomorrow!!!

Ready to Launch

We are in Bellingham, WA today, getting ourselves ready to cross into Canada tomorrow on our way to Alaska.  We had a fun couple of weeks babysitting Jax and Evie as our start to the summer.  Here they are at the zoo.









After we left the kids, we went up to Seattle to visit with Gerry's cousin, Burden Brentnall, and his new wife, Mary.  We had a delightful visit with them and it was so nice to see the two of them so happy together.


We also caught a glimpse of Mt. Ranier.

Now we are at our jumping off point, where we can see the San Juan Islands, and where the spring flowers are in full bloom.

Local Wildlife

We are getting everything ready for the summer trip.  I've been playing with my camera with some successes, and some failures.  The local wildlife are my models.  I went down to the pond hoping to catch some photos of turtles or frogs, but I found ducklings instead.

Then I went over to the round pen where the silly killdeer have built a nest right in the middle, which makes it difficult for the lady who rents our pasture to work her horse in the pen.  The horse appreciates the break, I'm sure.  So, the killdeer yelled at me for a while and then tried to convince me that she was a poor, wounded, pathetic, helpless creature who would be easy prey for mean old me.  I let her indulge in drama for a few minutes and then backed off to let her get back to the nest.