Liard to Watson Lake

Jon and I like to explore back roads and off the beaten path sites.  So off we went in search of excitement.  First thing we found was a dirt road that led us to the old highway, it went on for about 2 1/2 to 3 miles before joining the main road again.  Unfortunately the sky was very overcast so we didn't take any photos.  We also found the air strip  and a road, more like a 4-wheel drive path, that led to a river overlook.  Turning back toward camp we came across Teeter Creek, named for one of the surveyors.  A footpath led us beside the creek to some beautiful falls.

 This, believe it or not, is a mushroom.  Almost looks like a frog, doesn't it?

 Lots of wildflowers are just starting to bloom.
On the drive today to Watson Lake, we found a turnoff with a small gravel parking area that led us to "Mountain Portage Rapids" just above Whirlpool Canyon.  The photos just don't do it justice!  They were spectacular!

 Our group is now at Downtown Campground in Watson Lake.  After dinner this evening Jon and I and a couple others went to the Northern Lights Centre for a 1/2 hour show about the stars, planets and how BIG is BIG with regards to the universe.  It was followed by a 1/2 hour show on the Aurora.  They are only visible in the winter months, the show, by the way, was fantastic!  Filming the lights was something else again, photographers had to endure temperatures as low as 50 below 0 and that was on the Celsius scale!

Tomorrow we will hang our sign and then move to the provincial park up the road. Once again we will be without internet service for a while.
Stay tuned for more!

On to Liard Hot Springs

After a very restful night we headed on toward Liard Hot Springs.  Passing thru Toad River, over many small creeks, some named for the men who help to build the road and some for those that helped the men that built the road.  At Strawberry Flat Provincial Park, we caught up with our group, but only stopped long enough to say "morning!".  First thing we saw when we pulled out on the highway again was this little guy.

 That's a porcupine walking down the middle of the road!  It finally turned off in front of us heading to the side of the road.

 Then we spied Buffalo or Bison as they are called up here. 

 As you can see, the road is great, some traffic, but spaced apart so you feel like you are the only one on it sometimes. 

Here's our campsite at the Liard River Hot Springs Lodge.  We needed power because the battery on the trailer is not charging when we drive.  Jon has checked everything he knows to check and can't seem to find the problem.  The rest of our group is across the road at the Provincial Park, no hookups.

More later.

Prophet River to Racing River Bridge

After two relaxing days and laughing at jokes by night, we left Prophet River heading for Liard River Hot Springs, however, with all the stops we made along the way, it was after 4p when we passed the Racing River Bridge and spied a nice place to stay the night.  Here's some sights we saw along the way.

These are just two of the more than a dozen black bears we saw.  Because spring was 2 weeks late this year, they are just now coming out of hibernation, and they are hungry too.  All that we saw were eating Dandelions and seemed to be really enjoying them.  .

 Not sure where this was, but I think it was near one of the summits.  The mountain on the left is supposed to be of an Indian in profile, not sure what the other is named.

 Mark N with one of the famous cinnamon rolls at Tetsa River Services and Campground.  We got one too and they were scrumptious!

This is Tetsa Lake, still frozen the end of May! 

We rounded a corner and saw this pair of Caribu munching on the grass beside the road.  Another turn in the road revealed some Stone Sheep.

 Here's our campsite in a clearing beside the Racing River, not to far from Muncho Lake where the rest of the group spent the night in provincial park.  The bridge over the river has metal decking, we didn't hear much traffic during the night.

 Here's what we saw when we walked over to view the River.

 Today's drive was very pleasant, good roads all the way, some mountains to climb over but the truck had no problem either going up or down.  Fuel mileage is averaging 12.5MPG.  The cost of diesel has been running in the $1.46 to $1.99 per liter.
Next stop will be Liard Hot Springs.

Dawson Creek to Prophet River

We left Dawson Creek the morning of May 24th, heading out on the Alaska Highway.  Our destination for the evening was an abandoned Provincial Park on the Prophet River. Here's some sights along the way.

 We took a short side trip over the old road to the "Historic Kiskatinaw River Bridge which is a 531 foot structure and is the only original timber bridge built along the highway that is still in use today". Quote directly from the Milepost.

 Did I mention that the bridge is curved?

This is the peace river bridge, a cantilever and truss with a metal decking that was completed in 1960 replacing the original suspension bridge started in Dec 1942 with a completion in July 1943.

 Jon and I were the last to arrive at the campsite, but they saved a nice spot for us!  Right across from the main gathering area.

Several of us went for a walk/hike, first to the spring.  That water was very cold! Then we found the trail to a river overlook.

That fire was kept going for the two days we were there.  It sure felt good in the evenings.  Mark N smoked some meat loaf for dinner, the rest of us brought sides to share.  After dinner Carol brought the fixin's for S'mores.  Haven't had those in years, boy oh boy it was good!

 Here's looking down the line of rigs, we filled up half the park. 

 More later, 
See ya down the road!

Our last day in Dawson Creek

What a beautiful morning today!  Sunny and not too windy, yet.  Carol, Nancy and I got our line dance fix in early.

 This is a new dance for us and we just love it!  It's called "Wagon Wheel", here we are making the wheel.  So much fun!
Then the group, all 27 of us, headed into town for a group picture at the big Alaska Adventure sign.

 
Our new friend from the Visitor Center was kind enough to snap photos with all of our cameras, I think there were 10 in all.  Course we were cutting up and having fun while this was going on.  That's an old grain elevator in the background, now a 3 story art gallery, well worth the visit.  The visitor center is just beyond that with a great movie about the building of the highway.

Our good friend Mark had this sign made to post at the Sign Forest which we will get to later on.  He's the only single in our group, and he brought his smoker along on the back of his small motor home.  He'll be making smoked meatloaf for us very soon.
Tomorrow we leave Dawson Creek, there will be no internet for the next week or so.  There will also be no hookups for the next week.  This will be a real challenge for Jon and I in our small (24 ft) trailer.  Oh we've dry camped, also know as boon docking, lots of times, but we had a 33 ft 5th wheel with big holding tanks!  Not sure how big the tanks are on this rig, we bought it used, no book came with it, darn!  Oh well, we will just have to learn to be frugal.
Stay tuned!
See ya down the road.

Dawson Creek, day 2

Woke to overcast skies this morning and wind.  Carol and I decided to do some line dancing in the community room here at the park.  The floor is wonderful!  We danced for a little over an hour.  Great exercise.  A little later Jon and I went into Dawson Creek to the quilt shop in Downtown.  They are having a 25% off sale on panels.  I picked out one with tree animals and another is a packet of typical British Columbia scenes.  Talked to the lady there for a while, she enjoyed hearing about our trip and we loved hearing about her living in Dawson.  We read about another quilt shop in Alberta, out Highway 49 about 20 minutes so off we went.  Only problem is that the owner has decided to be open by appointment only now and since our phones are turned off, we couldn't make an appointment.  We did see their exotic animals and the drive was lovely.

On the way back to Dawson we saw this strange looking truck.  

It's not like a typical 18 wheeler!  
In the center of Dawson Creek is the Mile 0 post with the 3 flags on top; Canada, British Columbia and Dawson Creek.  The post is in the middle of an intersection.

Back at the campground, our group gathered to hear a talk by the Visitor Center.  She gave us some interesting facts about the building of the Alaska Highway.  It was started just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and completed in only 8 months!  The original road was 1523 miles from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks with 133 bridges and over 8000 culverts.  The road was built by 11,000 us troops and 16,000 American and Canadian civilians using 7,000 pieces of equipment.  And not your modern day equipment either!

In the early afternoon some of the guys did guy things, while others stood around holding up a truck.

See ya down the road.