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Published: June 30th 2009
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We had hoped to do another crazy drive today and make it all the way to Whitehorse, but it didn’t start well. Rain had some to do with it. (We drove through it for about the first 6½ hours.) Jeff says that some of it looked suspiciously like snow. We also hit actual construction delays for the first time, but were stopped for no more than 15 minutes each time. Again, there were hardly any vehicles on the road, at least nothing like what I expected.
Today’s views were much closer to what I expected for this highway. The 200 miles west of Fort Nelson go through the Canadian Rockies, so we could’ve seen mountain peaks, beautiful vistas. We didn’t, because of the rain, but we did see some beautiful rivers, valleys, etcetera.
The big highlight, of course, was the wildlife. (Liam thinks that’s a very funny word, by the way.) We were following a commercial vehicle when we noticed a moose, and then another moose, and then another moose! It was a momma and two of her children. The truck scared them off a bit, but I was able to get a few pictures as they were running
into the woods. I love moose. We went on a moose tour when we were in New Hampshire six years ago. We saw a few moose, but didn’t have a camera up to the task. The last time we were in New Hampshire, we were too late in the season to do a moose tour. The boys would’ve loved it.
About an hour after the moose, we saw our first bison. It seems like we see bison on most of our vacations, so they aren’t as exciting as other animals, but I think they’re pretty impressive. We saw many different groups of bison, most thankfully not on the road or shoulder.
An hour or so after that, we saw the bear. He (she) was young and very intent on eating, similar, I suppose, to the brown bear we saw at Glacier National Park in 2005. This one was smaller and a black bear. We were nowhere near a turn-off, so we paused very briefly on the highway (a big no-no) to take a few photos.
Thankfully, the rain stopped shortly after that, easing our drive, at least for a while. We decided to stop and eat at
Yukon Restaurant in Teslin. Liam loved his slush puppie, the first he’s ever had. Although we could have made it to Whitehorse tonight, the campground we’re staying at tomorrow is full for tonight, so we decided to stay in Teslin instead. We have a view of Nisutlin Bay and the sun is shining just a touch. I’m hopeful it’s a lovely view tomorrow morning before we leave.
Conversation of the Day:
(while driving alongside the MacDonald River)
C: It’s not a lake.
L: Yes, it is.
C: It’s not a lake.
M: Actually, it’s a river.
C: It’s not a river.
D: Yes, it is.
C: It’s a lake.
L: Yeah, it’s a lake.
M: No, it’s a river.
L: We can call it whatever we want.
License Plates Noticed: BC, AB, OR, SK, MI, KS, AK, DE, YK, AL, CA, WA, ME
Animals Noticed (unique to the trip):
Moose
Bison
Black bear
Gull (are there seagulls up here?)
High Temperature: 63o (Upper Liard, YT)
Low Temperature: 36o (Summit Lake, BC)
Miles: 490.2
Total Time on the Road: 10:28
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Lisa
non-member comment
Wow
I can't believe you captured all of this wildlife. We have been to Glacier and Yellowstone and much of Montana without these views - I guess we must go North. Exceptional!