Liard Hot Springs to Whitehorse

We left Liard this morning after another wet night and a quick feet soak in the hot springs. We pressed on towards Watson Lake our last camping stop for the next couple of weeks. Yay! We saw many a black bear and buffalo along our drive. I had only half a tank of gas and even though the drive was just over 200km I wanted to stop at one of the few gas stations along the way. Now I use the term gas station very loosely as they are little more than small log shacks with one and if you are lucky two dilapidated pumps attached. Now one would expect the gas to be a little more expensive at these stops as they are 100’s of km apart and there is nothing else around. Well the one I stopped at today and drove right out of was $1.439 a litre, now this is not the most expensive we have seen. The last travelling day one gas stop was $1.839 a litre! Needless to say I risked it and continued to drive. We crossed the boarder into the Yukon and reached Watson Lake around 1230 and discovered, as we expected, there was very little there. We went to the sign post forest and posted our amazing sign painted by Bev and Erin prior to our departure, I can say without a doubt it was the nicest sign there! The sign post forest was pretty epic with thousands of signs from all around the world, we even found another one from Abbotsford. When we decided we were all done there the sky had again turned black and was threatening rain. Now I hate camping at the best of times and after spending the last two days camping in the rain I was pretty motivated not to camp. As we drove to our campground which turned out to be way outside of Watson Lake I managed to convince Devon that he really didn’t want to camp and instead drive another 400 odd km to Whitehorse and get a hotel room there a day earlier than planned. Success I convinced him with my uncanny powers of persuasion. We drove through Teslin and went to the local first nations museum and cultural center. I can say without a doubt the carved masks displayed were the best I had ever seen! We reached Whitehorse around 6 and drove around until we found a reasonable looking hotel. It turned out to only be $123 more a night than camping but I feel that a good night sleep is worth that and more. Now at this point we were starving and hit up a local pup, perusing their menu I thought to myself I saw buffalo all day I wonder what those tasty tasty looking animals taste like? So I ate one in burger form and as I thought it was delicious! Devon tried the fish and chips and so far nothing untoward has happened. The helpful waiter informed us that the beer on tap was out of service so instead we should order a bucket of local beer. Of course we took his advice and the beer was delicious but very very tiring. Now that we are a day ahead of schedule we can take in all of the Canada day events tomorrow including the duck race. Apparently they drop ducks off of the bridge and race them downstream. I am curious to see how this turns out!

Animal sightings – buffalo, black bear
Casualties – none
Km travelled today - 669







Map

Liard Hot Springs

The woeful tale of Tippy Tumbles and her unfortunate barefooted sweetheart…

After we forced ourselves to sleep under the midnight sun, we awoke to every camper’s nightmare, rain. However, it didn’t take long for our dear friend the sun to come out and make Liard Hotsprings brighten up.
Fiona began her day by taking photographs while I soaked my “aged” bones in the glorious springs. It wasn’t long before the boss decided that a warm swim in the upper pools was in order. I finished my chapter and began the looong walk up to join her. The arduous trek was mired by a most unfortunate event. With towel and books in one hand and my sandals in the other I started out on the faithful journey. Why get my sandals wet when bare feet would certainly suffice? The answer to that lies in ones perceived natural ability to walk without falling. Weighed down by ALL our gear, I made an ill placed step, twisting my back as I gracefully struck the cold, wet ground. But still I pressed on! When I arrived at my destination, with my stiffened back, to meet my caring nurse, I was promptly diagnosed. “Stumbles are common with the elderly… it is one of their many struggles.” Interesting…
We spent most of the morning swimming around and enjoyed the afternoon sun by taking photos. Now here my friends is where we learn that all these jokes about age and stumbling come back to bite our friend the nurse worse than the giant northern B.C. mosquitoes. Old Eagle Eyes Howarth spotted a woodpecker frolicking in the trees above and provided him/her with dialogue. “I’m,” taking the voice of the sturdy beaked bird, “going to peck the shit of that tree.” Perhaps not one of her wiser musings, but certainly there was nothing wrong with it. The problem is that when walking on a raised boardwalk, it is important to watch where you are going.
WHOMP!
Down went Tippy Tumbles after walking directly off the wooden pathway! No injuries to report, but one could certainly hear the woodpecker laughing in the distance.
If you ever get the chance to come to Liard Hot Springs, I highly recommend it. It is spectacular!

Wildlife: One mother moose, one baby moose, a marmot (or porcupine if you are less intellectually inclined), one pesky squirrel, a million and one bugs, and a whole gang of children from Bountiful!
KMS: ZERO!

Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs

Today was an epic day! Not only were the Rockie and MacKenzie mountain ranges stunning even though at times it poured rain but we saw not one moose but two both of which were alive! So we left Fort Nelson and made our way north to Liard Hot Springs. The scenery was the best yet with tall stoney mountain peaks, deep emerald lakes, and lush river valleys. To top it off we started the morning seeing a black bear, a confirmed sighting this time, two deer, then a mom moose with her baby, and a herd of buffalo! And like stupid tourists we hung our heads and cameras out the window and said, “Here moosey moosey moosey” which scared the baby moose to hide behind its mother. When we reach Liard we decided that camping is not so bad when the campsite is pretty and has three hot spring pools attached. The hot springs were more than expected; super warm and clear and not too busy. The hot springs are at their hottest point about 53 degrees Celsius and then cool to around 35 at the far end of the pool. The second pool, Beta pool, is around 40 and is much deeper so you can swim. We managed to spend a number of hours just paddling and then took some pictures and paddled some more. Which is what we intend to repeat tomorrow. Linking the pools is a boardwalk and hiding under the boardwalk to the Beta pool was a marmet who had made its home there.

Animal sightings- two deer, two moose, buffalo, black bear, marmot, squirrels
Casualties- none
Km travelled- 312

Driving

Fort St. John to Fort Nelson

So what happened today? The answer to that is not a whole lot so let us go back to yesterday for a moment. When we left off yesterday Devon and I were about to head out to view a delightful movie entitled The Killers. Like the champions we are we accomplished this and made our way merrily back to the campsite to enjoy a dinner consisting of pasta and pre-packaged sauce, another of Devon’s culinary masterpieces. Now let me describe the camping sites. There were sites numbered from1a-8a all of which were empty except for 4a which we and our already set up tent were inhabiting. Upon pulling in we noticed 8 bikes and an equal number of new tents encircling our own. Now I may be wrong in this assumption but when one books a site and pays for it one doesn’t expect to share it with two other bikers and their bikes parked directly next to our tent. To top it off they also took our table and all of the other tables around. Neither Devon nor I wanted to pick a fight with 8 bikers so we mulled in angry silence until the next morning. Now we put up with the guy next to us snoring all night and the intrusion into our personal space but at 6:10am when they decided to have a pow wow around our tent I had had enough and this is when nursing assertiveness took effect. I thrust my sleep tosseled head out of the tent and said in my most angry/manly voice, “Excuse me, I am trying to sleep please be quiet.” This seemed to do the trick and they were contrite until they had the last laugh an hour later by starting their bikes up next to the tent. Well that was last night.
Today we drove and admired the scenery which was quite impressive. We left the Peace River District and moved into the northern Rockies. And the best part is we passed those bikers on the road and gave them an angry look. I believe they learned their lesson. We arrived in Fort Nelson and discovered that here they specialize in expensive gas. But the best part is I picked the best hotel in town. So much better then camping this hotel has free movie rentals and a Jacuzzi tub in the living room with a view of the TV and fireplace although it is much too warm for a fire. Bliss! Tomorrow we move onto Liard Hot Springs for two nights of camping and no internet. But the hot springs look stunning I can’t wait!

Animal sightings- two deer, one very dead moose
Casualties- none by me
Kms travelled today- 421

Alaska Highway






Devon and his new hair!

Tumbler Ridge to Fort St. John

Today we left Tumbler Ridge with fond memories of roads I would like to never travel again. We ventured forth towards Dawson Creek the start of the Alaska Highway. The scenery was much the same consisting of trees, high ridges, and strong winds. Upon reaching Dawson Creek we stopped and took photos of the iconic mile 0 sign post of the Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway was built in a mere 8 months by the US army during WWII and goes from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks Alaska. We met many an American at this sign and had to explain that no none of those RVs parked behind the sign were ours and no we weren’t doing the trek in a 4x4 nor a pickup truck instead that little Mazda 3 over there was ours. This got raised eyebrows and the comment “oh I hear the road gets a little rough up north.” But we didn't mind so much because like pregnant teens we judge people who RV ;)
So Devon in all his wisdom decided that he really needed a hair cut at this exact moment in time so we found a barber shop and he buzzed it all off. I am pretty jealous right now but didn't quite have the nerve to do the same. We left Dawson Creek without incident and drove the short distance to Fort St. John where we will be spending the night camping (again) at Charlie Lake. A decent enough spot which meets the criteria of flush toilets and hot showers. It is nice to be in a larger town again so we will celebrate by going to the movies.
Animal sightings- two deer
Casualties- none yay
Kms travelled today- 240

Map


Dawson Creek


A moose!


Old Curved Bridge on the Alaska Highway


Peace River

Tumbler Ridge

Part of the upside to writing the blog entry the day after the events happen is that you don't miss out on the little gems that surface long after cute,little library with the free wi-fi closes.

Picture it, a pristine starry evening in B.C.'s own Tumbler Ridge, home to ridiculous dirt roads, waterfalls, and dinosaur tracks older than me (I'm only 30, Fiona might be an amazing photographer but her ability with numbers... but I digress). You're nearing the edge of sleepland, oh so close to forgetting that you are in a tent and soon to be dreaming about all sorts of spectacular vistas and wonders, when out of nowhere you hear a woman of beastly proportions screaming, "More! MOre! MORE!" and screeching, "Keep Coming!" Now, I would have been okay with the ghastly chirps if this C.H.U.D.(Look it up on imdb) was doing what you think she was doing, but alas she was only parking an R.V.

Cruise back now 13 or so hours to when we so narrowly avoided what surely would have become known as the Monkman Massacre if we had not been so quick thinking... After safely navigating most of the 61kms of potholes en route to Monkman Provincial Park and Kinuseo Falls, we encountered a couple in literally the middle of nowhere. Their car had broken down. Maybe. For all I know they might have been telling the truth, but I prefer to imagine the situation differently and possibly more truthfully. These were not ordinairy people, they were abhorrent spides draped in heavy metal t-shirts and dirty, ripped jeans desperately trying to lure us into their web of murder. Why not? Why not indeed take or lives for their own? Undoubtedly the woman's spoken and I imagine written English was not adept enough to assume the role of teacher, but surely she could disguise herself as a nurse! However, before I could warn Fiona of these murderers intent, I watched in awe as she uttered those faithful words, "We will pick you up on the way back from viewing the falls." Naivity or is she just that much better of a person than me?

The falls, taller than Niagra, were stunning! I will let the pictures do the talking.

On our way back, those murdering bastards had disappeared. They'd vanished faster than the Cornish language. Fiona was going to pile camera bags on top of them so that they could not implement their wicked plan... you see she was thinking it too! As it turns out we weren't the only ones who thought these vagabonds capable of murder, they were in the back of a super cab pick up truck while the driver sat alone in a compartment built for 5. I smiled and waved sweetly as we passed them.

Onto the Alaska Highway...

Animal Sightings - 1 Chipmunk -- pressumably Dale from the tear in his eye.
Casualties - 0
Kilometres travelled today - 176

From the top of the falls




Kinuseo Falls


The view of the road

Pictures

Prince George to Tumbler Ridge

The morning started out well as I felt like death warmed over until Starbucks again saved the day, conveniently located in our hotel. We left Prince George and drove and looked at trees, and more trees, and some rocks, and more trees. That was basically the sights of the day, trees and lots of them. We are on a search for a moose as neither of us have seen one up close and in the wild. There were many teaser signs along the way stating moose for the next 40km and moose over the next 1km but to no avail. At one time Devon was so frenzied about seeing a moose he mistook a tree for a moose. Me being a little disbelieving stopped and turned the car around to see if I too could get a glimpse of the mythical animal. Alas there was no such moose but just a stream featuring trees and Devon swearing that the sound of me must have scared it away. Devon also claims to have seen three black bears but since I did not witness this we believe they were as real as that moose. So we drove through Chetwynd, the chainsaw capital of something, ate lunch yay Subway and moved forth down to Tumbler Ridge. Now Tumbler Ridge was not really as imagined it is the world’s largest open pit coal mine so we were expecting you know some sort of infrastructure. Nope there are a lot of liquor stores though for a town that consists of three blocks and many pregnant young women. Not that I’m judging but you know… We went for a stroll down to the river to look at dinosaur footprints and found two belonging to a theropod and an ornithopod. We apparently are terrible at finding them as we should have found 12 easily. None the less they were neat and reminded me of Devon due to advanced age. They discovered the footprints and some bones here in 2000 and it is now the site of Western Canada’s oldest dinosaur material and the material is from the Turonian age from which no other footprints have been found. Pictures to follow when not using the slowest internet connection ever found.
Animal sightings- one deer, perhaps 3 bears, no moose
Casualties- none
Kms travelled today-428

Map

Abbotsford to Prince George

Student nurse Fiona says, "The way to cure a sore throat is plenty of starbucks and McDonald's hash browns.". And so began our epic journey from Abbo to Prince George. It would be safe to say that we roughed it today... Morning latte, lunch out beside a highway, dinner at an oddly similar "restaurant" to our lunching spot, and ipads and laptops for dessert. Not a lot to mention besides the usual: loud unsightly Brits at the hotel, people smoking in unison after exiting a restaurant three abreast, and small animals smooted down by a mazda 3.
-Devon

Kilometres travelled: 757
Animal sightings: 1 chipmunk, 1 fox
Casualties: 1 chipmunk :(
Williams Lake


Quesnel


Route Travelled