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Published: July 29th 2016
27 Jul 2016: The gentleman at the adjoining campsite in Ft Nelson was returning from his third trip to Alaska. He advised us to stay at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake. Reviewing my itinerary, I found I had tentatively selected that during the planning stage so I felt my good judgement had been confirmed.
Driving North out of Ft Nelson we encountered a sign reading something like, "No services next 152 km. Check your gas. I Checked my gas. One quarter full. Whoops, better turn around and fill up. We drove 17 miles before we could find a place to turn around. Seventeen up, back and back up or 51 miles was about an hour's worth of driving, not to mention seven gallons of gas. From now on, we will drive BACK to the last gas station passed the night before rather than assuming there's a station just ahead.
We saw lots of wildlife on today's drive. First, a little black head popped up about 300 feet ahead of us. It was a little bear cub. It's mother must have given it a scolding for it bounced through the vegetation before disappearing into the forest. As we
began climbing into the northern Canadian Rockies, a lone Caribou sauntered across the road. Next, we came across a half dozen Stone Sheep by the roadside; ewes and lambs. They were shortly followed by another herd safely behind the guard rail. Finally, as we were alerted all day by roadside signs, we encountered a herd of Bison spread out on both sides of the highway, quite unconcerned by our presence. What magnificent animals!
Today's segment of our route was mountainous. There were sharp urges and steep grades, some as steep as 10%. We passed numerous warnings for truckers to pull over to check their brakes. Have you ever wondered how they do that? "Brakes, check". What, do they measure them? The next time I see a trucker, I will ask him or her.
The road was covered with pea sized gravel about eery other 100 yards or so. Lots of dust, slow going. Occasionally, someone would pass us going very fast. Usually the driver was in a red pickup truck. The dust was blinding and, with no center line, forced us to brake until our visibility was restored. Then there were the warnings, "Watch out for falling rocks."
Our copy (2015) of "The Milepost" advises, "Narrow, winding road with steep grades as the Alaska Highway winds though the Rocky Mountains. Not unusual to run into foggy conditions at higher elevations. Slow for icy conitions in winter." The trip takes more time than it would appear from looking at a map.
Once we set up in the RV park, we went across the street for dinner at Kathy's Kitchen, a restaurant built into a house, with tables in the different rooms plus more tables on the porch. The food was home cooking and very tasty.
Bedtime did not come too soon for me, even though it was not completely dark.
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Barb Lamb
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YOUR TRIP
I'm sorry I had not be following this before but forgot then you were leaving. Today was the first day I got on and read all about the trip so far. Stu and I will be enjoying the daily blogs from now on. Poor Jeanine..... What a trip! Now, we want to go on a big trip. This year it is Mexico for 6 months, we hope. Love ya