Roberta and I spent June 5th sightseeing around Dawson Creek, BC. I especially enjoyed the museum in the old railroad station as well as the nearby art gallery. The museum had a movie about the construction of the Alaska Highway which certainly gave us a better appreciation of the road we will be driving on for the next 1500 miles! The road was “built” ("roughed out" would probably be more accurate) in 8 months during 1942-43; however, it has been shortened (straightened) and reconstructed over the years since. We walked around downtown Dawson Creek and took pictures at Milepost “0” as well as other signs around town relating to the highway. There are many murals of historic Dawson Creek painted on buildings downtown—all were very well done and gave one a feeling of what it must have been like. The town is obviously proud of its history and heritage.
The following day we drove to Fort Nelson, BC. Trees have become noticeably shorter and we drove past the first black spruce we had seen. These trees are quite small with small branches and are very hardy survivors. We didn’t see any wildlife on the 282 mile drive which, for us, is quite unusual. Fort Nelson is quite small and its major industries are gas exploration and drilling, lumber, and traffic/tourists on the Alaska Highway. They like their fuel here—I paid $4.80 Canadian for the equivalent of a US gallon of diesel fuel. This was the highest price I’ve seen so far on the trip. Roberta and I had already decided to slow to 55 mph earlier today to conserve fuel and have more time to observe the countryside. Good decision!!!
June 7th marked one month on the road for Roberta and me. By the end of the day we had driven 2990 miles in the RVs and several hundred more miles in each of our tow cars sightseeing. On the drive to Muncho Lake, BC, we tested more cinnamon rolls—we’ve been running “taste tests” along the way—and found the best ones yet at a remote stop called the Tetsa River Services & Camp Ground. Their rolls were really good!!! We also stopped at the Toad River Lodge and left hats to be hung—another tradition along the Highway. (Mine is number 7141.) They have hats from all over hanging from ceilings, walls, etc., in several rooms and hallways. Two bear and five stone sheep were spotted on the drive. This was our first spotting of stone sheep.
We arrived early in a Provincial Park campground at Muncho Lake and found a perfect spot for the two of us to park in. Spent the afternoon enjoying the view of the mountains and the lake; however, the fee collector came around at 8:30 p.m. and said we couldn’t camp there. It seems that in Canada a sign with a tent on it and a red line through the tent doesn’t mean “no tents”—it means no camping! This was a day-use picnic site—but was also a perfect “pull-through” for our RVs. Oh, well, live and learn. We moved to “overflow” and parked next to the trash receptacle.
Sign at each end of Fort Nelson, BC: “ALL THOSE WHO HATE SPEEDING TICKETS—RAISE YOUR RIGHT FOOT”
June 8th we drove about 35 miles to Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park—a short drive to an obligatory stop along the Highway. The spring water was the hottest I’ve been in, but it sure felt good! I ran into a couple from ABQ that are in the same WIT (Winnebago-Itasca Travelers) club I belong to, Ski and Mary Kozloski. We had a nice visit and I am sure our paths will cross again on the trip. We are like a “wave” of RVs heading north and we recognize RVs from campgrounds and stops along the way as we all move north.
The following day we drove to Fort Nelson, BC. Trees have become noticeably shorter and we drove past the first black spruce we had seen. These trees are quite small with small branches and are very hardy survivors. We didn’t see any wildlife on the 282 mile drive which, for us, is quite unusual. Fort Nelson is quite small and its major industries are gas exploration and drilling, lumber, and traffic/tourists on the Alaska Highway. They like their fuel here—I paid $4.80 Canadian for the equivalent of a US gallon of diesel fuel. This was the highest price I’ve seen so far on the trip. Roberta and I had already decided to slow to 55 mph earlier today to conserve fuel and have more time to observe the countryside. Good decision!!!
June 7th marked one month on the road for Roberta and me. By the end of the day we had driven 2990 miles in the RVs and several hundred more miles in each of our tow cars sightseeing. On the drive to Muncho Lake, BC, we tested more cinnamon rolls—we’ve been running “taste tests” along the way—and found the best ones yet at a remote stop called the Tetsa River Services & Camp Ground. Their rolls were really good!!! We also stopped at the Toad River Lodge and left hats to be hung—another tradition along the Highway. (Mine is number 7141.) They have hats from all over hanging from ceilings, walls, etc., in several rooms and hallways. Two bear and five stone sheep were spotted on the drive. This was our first spotting of stone sheep.We arrived early in a Provincial Park campground at Muncho Lake and found a perfect spot for the two of us to park in. Spent the afternoon enjoying the view of the mountains and the lake; however, the fee collector came around at 8:30 p.m. and said we couldn’t camp there. It seems that in Canada a sign with a tent on it and a red line through the tent doesn’t mean “no tents”—it means no camping! This was a day-use picnic site—but was also a perfect “pull-through” for our RVs. Oh, well, live and learn. We moved to “overflow” and parked next to the trash receptacle.
Sign at each end of Fort Nelson, BC: “ALL THOSE WHO HATE SPEEDING TICKETS—RAISE YOUR RIGHT FOOT”
June 8th we drove about 35 miles to Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park—a short drive to an obligatory stop along the Highway. The spring water was the hottest I’ve been in, but it sure felt good! I ran into a couple from ABQ that are in the same WIT (Winnebago-Itasca Travelers) club I belong to, Ski and Mary Kozloski. We had a nice visit and I am sure our paths will cross again on the trip. We are like a “wave” of RVs heading north and we recognize RVs from campgrounds and stops along the way as we all move north.The next day found us on the road to Watson Lake and it was good wildlife viewing along the way with 5 bear, 3 mule deer, 3 bison, and 1 red fox spotted. We left the rugged Canadian .JPG)
Rockies and drove into more rolling, forested country. Rivers were running bank full and over the bank in some places from snow runoff and recent rains. We crossed into Yukon Territory outside of Watson Lake. The afternoon was spent walking through the famous Sign Post Forest where we hung the sign my brother, Steve, made for us. Roberta also hung one of her old California license plates for her tow car (toad). The tradition of placing a sign in the “forest” began in 1942 during construction of the Highway and by 1990 there were 10,000 signs. Over 61,000 signs are in the forest now! The city maintains the site—they know a good thing when they have it. I went to the airport to see the last remaining hanger from the WWII era “staging route” used to ferry planes from Great Falls, MT, to Alaska and later to Russia under the Lend Lease program. There is an interesting display at the airport relating events along the route during those years and I was pleased to see that the contributions of WASPS were noted. The evening was spent at the Northern Lights Centre where excellent films on deep space exploration and the aurora borealis were shown--both were well done and very interesting.
Rockies and drove into more rolling, forested country. Rivers were running bank full and over the bank in some places from snow runoff and recent rains. We crossed into Yukon Territory outside of Watson Lake. The afternoon was spent walking through the famous Sign Post Forest where we hung the sign my brother, Steve, made for us. Roberta also hung one of her old California license plates for her tow car (toad). The tradition of placing a sign in the “forest” began in 1942 during construction of the Highway and by 1990 there were 10,000 signs. Over 61,000 signs are in the forest now! The city maintains the site—they know a good thing when they have it. I went to the airport to see the last remaining hanger from the WWII era “staging route” used to ferry planes from Great Falls, MT, to Alaska and later to Russia under the Lend Lease program. There is an interesting display at the airport relating events along the route during those years and I was pleased to see that the contributions of WASPS were noted. The evening was spent at the Northern Lights Centre where excellent films on deep space exploration and the aurora borealis were shown--both were well done and very interesting.
Roberta & Carol at the Sign Post Forest, Watson Lake, YT
