Mile 0 to Mile 612 of the Alaskan Highway

Day 34 – June 3 we have as our destination Dawson Creek which is better known as the official start of the Alaskan Highway!  It was a good 4 hour drive from Whiskers Point Provincial Park.  We made a stop at Chetwynd which is known as “a community carved by success.”  This town is full of beautiful and creative chainsaw sculptures.  This coming weekend is their annual chainsaw carving competition. This is how the town collects so many carvings to display everywhere.  They also have a good visitor center.  Here are a few of the outstanding carvings we saw.

Now on down the road to Dawson Creek.  We picked Mile 0 Campground. It isn’t a pretty campground, but it’s a place to plug in and wash a little laundry and go snap some of those souvenir pictures of the Alaskan Highway!  The plus is on the drive up, we had a black bear to cross in front of us.  The down is that we got a crack in our windshield, but Donna and Greg ended up with a big old hole in their windshield.  Dawson Creek is not at all what I had pictured in my mind.  It’s very industrial, the wind was blowing a lot of sand and dirt, and I struggled to find “pretty” here.  We visited the Alaska Highway House where we learned a lot about the reasoning and building behind the highway.  I guess growing up and working around the petrochemical industry, I had made an assumption the road was built for oil and gas.  Wrong…..it was built during World War II and it ended up changing the North forever.  These Army Corp of Engineer folks were given the task to build a road from Dawson Creek up into Alaska in a year.  Most of the time they had no idea what they were doing. Needless to say, we are impressed and honored to be traveling this highway during it’s 75^th anniversary!

So excited to finally be here!!!

The Koether's and the Gregurek's at Mile 0!!!!

No definite plans for our destination tomorrow, other than start getting into some of that dramatic Alaskan Highway scenery!

Day 35 – June 4 was a long, sometimes rough drive. We only made it as far as Ft. Nelson. We did make a stop at Kiskatinaw Provincial Park which has two pluses. (1) You are actually driving on the original Alaskan Highway and (2) this is the only still standing curved wooden bridge. Very, very pretty.

We are staying tonight at Triple G Hideaway in Ft. Nelson. It’s $42 CD for full hookup.  Nothing to write home about except we made our signs for the signpost forest at Watson Lake. And we moved our lawn chairs to the front of the campers in hopes of better conversation opportunities with folks in the park (it worked).  The majority of the people here are on the same road trip as we are.

Day 36 – June 5 we feel like saying, “Finally!  Here’s the scenery we have been waiting for!”  And right off the bat is a big black bear waiting for us to take his photo!

We stopped at a lookout for Steamboat Mountain Summit – it’s only 3,500’. But the Canadian Rockies are absolutely beautiful! They are still snow topped!

The next stop was for the famous cinnamon rolls found at Tetsa River Campground!  They were almost as good as mine! 

We had more photo ops with the turquoise Toad River, the alluvial fans and the Centennial Falls. We have also seen a lot of Stone Sheep.

Nothing like driving down that Alaska Highway!

This is what they mean by an alluvial fan. 

Centennial Falls - not usually visible in the summertime.

We landed tonight at Muncho Lake Provincial Park, McDonald Campground. This is a beautiful, beautiful turquoise lake. Sites here run you $20 CD a night. We unloaded the canoe and went for a paddle. Just beautiful! We did put up our canopy with screen shelter. If these are mosquitoes, for the most part they are quite harmless, just a nuisance.  I have probably only been bit by one but there are LOTS of them! We put our propane fireplace in the middle and it made for a very nice cozy fire.

The turquoise waters of Muncho Lake.

Hey I see some folks in a canoe way out there!  It was a lot further to the other side than what it appears!

Hey Susan!  Here's your information board!

So peaceful in a canoe, even if the lake started getting a little choppy.

What a reflection in this awesome water!

Beautiful sunset!

Yep - having a good time paddling!

Day 37 – June 6 has us still here at Muncho Lake.  After sleeping in and having coffee with the firepit going, we decided a lake that looked like glass needed folks in a canoe on it.  Had another awesome time, this time paddling up to another campground north of us.  Talked with folks that were fishing. You have to use barbless lures, of which we have none.  Oh well……. When we got back, we made an awesome brunch. Then Donna and Greg launched their inflatable kayak and I am so glad to report that it worked quite well for them!  We did another paddling up the lake.  It has been one of those really great slow, resting days that give us all a chance to enjoy what we have driven so far to see!

 

Donna and Greg in their inflatable canoe.

Day 38 - June 7 is a lazy morning as we are only going as for as Liard Hot Springs today.  This is such a pretty place!  We have found all of the British Columbia Provincial Parks to be so clean and well cared for.  And these are roomy sites with plenty of privacy, and pretty level.  We were in site 25.  Now I must say that the road construction getting here made our black truck look an awful gray.  We saw black bear and bison getting here. And the hot springs are the best!  A gravel bottom makes your feet feel so good! Dang.....a lot of old retirees here!  LOL!

Geese in the swamp

Donna and Greg in the hot springs.

Greg and Donna using the floating logs.

Bailey is determined to tree a squirrel.

Day 39 - June 8 finds us heading toward Watson Lake today.  We need some supplies, get back on the grid to make sure the family is OK and get some laundry done.  We are staying at the Downtown RV Park and I don't have much to say about this place, except the owner is very nice.  It's a gravel parking lot, they have really high winds today so it's just not pleasant.  But we got laundry done. Have an AC. And have really strong Verizon and ATT signal so I can get this post written, along with FaceTime opps with grandkids and kids!

There are 2 must sees here.  One is the Sign Post Forest and the other is the Northern Lights Centre. Being the organized folks we are (ha!) we had picked up wood back in Oregon, I think. Finally painted them a few nights back so we were ready to hang our signs in the forest.  Now......to locate some real estate for that sign!  The Northern Lights Centre was very informative about the northern lights.  Quite amusing when they lost electricity, but loved the auditorium. You feel like you are sitting in recliners watching everything in the sky. Would love to think we would see these before we leave, but kind of doubt it.

Hope you enjoy the sign post pictures. Until the next post.....

Good history on the Sign Post Forest

There's some bears!

Another big friend we made.

Never been to the Yukon Territory before!

Ron is hanging our sign in the forest!

There it is!

Gregurek sign

Wonder how old this Austin city limit sign is.....