Watson Lake in the Yukon

We stayed 2 days in Fort Nelson and moved on to Watson Lake. We left early again and hit some very heavy fog about 20 miles out of town. It was really bad on one of the steep grades and we inched down the road at about 20 mph. We stopped at Testa River Outfitters for a cinnamon bun, our new camping friend Larry told us they were good and YES they are. The first 200 miles were rough and lots of steep grades. We followed the Muncho Lake for several miles and were taken back by the beautiful blue water. We did see some buffalo and their young along the road which always makes the drive interesting. Welcome to the Yukon as we left behind British Columbia. We never saw the sun and it rained off and on for most of the drive.

Great Cinnamon Buns!!

Driving to Fort Nelson, BC

Left for our drive to Fort Nelson at 8 in the morning as we had an almost 300 mile trip. The fog was thick in some areas in the early morning but cleared up making for a nice drive. We stayed at the Triple “G” Hideway campground which is a nice and has a restaurant. The Fort Nelson Heritage Museum is right next door and has some neat items from the making of the Alaskan Highway. I also saw a metropolitan (car) and the plate was TOMS 57. I enjoyed my Father's Day eating at Boston Pizza. All in all a very good day!!

9,10,11,12

Visiting the Kiskatinaw Curved Bridge

While staying Dawson Creek Mile”0” of the Alaskan Highway we went to see the Historic Kiskatinaw Curved Bridge. This is the only wooden bridge remaining from the original Alaskan Highway built in 1942 located at mile 21. It is a 3 span timber truss structure built 100 ft above the stream. You have to get off the main road to see this bridge, so while camping in Dawson Creek drive out and see this fabulous bridge.

Took a ride over to Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd on 6/16/2011

Took a rather long drive to Tumbler Ridge the Waterfall Capital of the North. The weather was not the best, fog and some rain plus there were no other hikers anywhere to be seen. So we decided against heading off into the forest by ourselves and running into a bear. So we went into town to see the sites. We did not see any old buildings, it appears they are building a new city. There are a lot of people living in town but you don't see where they could be working and the nearest town is 80k away.  They have a dinosaur museum because they have found trackways, fossils and skeletons in the area.

Chetwynd hosts the International Chainsaw Carving Championship Invitational  every June(we just missed it as it was last weekend) where the winner goes to the Chainsaw Carving Series Championship in Albuquerque. There are over 60 chainsaw sculptures all over the city. On the way from Tumbler Ridge to Chetwynd we saw a moose in a field. We pulled over and watched  the moose walk into the woods. It was neat to see one in the wild. Overall a nice day!

1st place for 2011

Making it to Mile"0" of the Alaska Highway

Had a short drive to Dawson Creek, Mile"0" of the Alaska Highway. Got to see the Big Beaver in the town of Beaverlodge. I think most people stop to take a picture of the Beaver. It was nice to arrive before noon at the campground and have the afternoon to explore the city. Went to the visitor center and got some information on things to see and took our picture at the Mile"0" sign. There are 2 Mile"0" signs with the official one being downtown.  We walked around downtown, looked in some stores and visited Walmart. There is a 12% sales tax in BC, 5% in Alberta and gas prices are 15 to 18 cents higher per liter than Alberta. We are staying at the Mile"0" RV Park, which seems to be the nicer of the campgrounds in town.  Getting close to Alaska and  people still say "The best is yet to come."



Visiting the Grande Prairie area!

We had an off day with not much to do. Suzanne and I decided to visit Sexsmith, a little town that has the flair of 1920 and 1930 buildings. There really wasn't much there and Suzanne said I just wanted to visit the town because of the name! Well after 10 minutes and some pictures we headed back to Grande Prairie to do some shopping. We found the mall, which had a lot of stores and gave us a nice afternoon. We are staying at the Country Roads RV Park which has nice large pull-thru sites and full hook-ups. We are finding that most campgrounds say they have WiFi, which they do, but there is a charge for it. We are looking forward to our short ride to Dawson Creek and mile "0" of the Alaskan Highway. Getting closer to ALASKA!

Going to Grande Prairie!!

The drive to Grande Prairie was very nice. The steep grades on HWY 40 made the Chevy diesel work, but she handled it very well. We saw numerous deer, elk and mountain sheep on the road. We also saw an accident where a mini-van had hit an elk. You need to drive slow on the road as the animals seem to have no fear of your vehicle. We stopped for fuel in Grande Cache and who showed up but the people we had met on the internet rv forum. They had left Jasper before us and had visited the town of Hinton so we caught up with them. Funny thing, we saw them again at the Walmart in Grande Prairie, where they planned to spend the night. In Grande Cache at the tourist information center they had a display of old cabins that had been used by the forest rangers as homes when they were watching the forest for any fires. We were happy to see the Walmart so we could get our staple food items much cheaper than Jasper. Also trying to find the internet for free has become a challenge, but Thank You, McDonalds for being there for us! We were able to talk with David on facebook today. He is doing great and was a tourist in Bagdad as they had some free time. What an adventure the three of us are having!!

At the entrance to Whistlers Campground in Jasper