Kiskatinaw River Bridge, BC

Had to drive by the marker to make sure we drove the entire highway :p The support is visible in the center of the bridge. View from the scary sidewalk, it was a long way down.

View from window as we drove over the bridge.
One of the fields of yellow flowers.

This bridge is on the way to Dawson Creek. We went by it yesterday but didn't get any pictures so went back today. Pretty scary bridge. We walked out to get a picture of the downward view, it was just a narrow sidewalk and the bridge bounced when cars and trucks went over it. I really hate that, even though I know that is what it is supposed to do. Also took a picture of part of the field of yellow flowers. We will be in Alberta tomorrow, only about a half hour from the border. We will then be in Mountain Time so only two hours difference.

AlCan Mile 0

At the start of the AlCan highway and a bit of the history behind the highway.

Owen found another friend. Actually post of the beginning of the original highway. It is in the middle of the road so hard to get a good picture. It shows the mileage to places enroute to Fairbanks, the official end of the highway. We drove the entire length.

Dawson Creek, BC

We are at the Mile 0 RV Park. A really nice campground with grass and trees but they turn off the internet by 8 so there was no update yesterday. Not too much to report. Many hours driving through the "drunken forest", those stunted black spruce that grow every which way. That gave way to farm land. Lots of hills today, 6-10 % grades to chug up. We knew we were getting to civilization when we had a rest area with flush toilets rather than our favorite pit toilets. Close to Dawson Creek there were acres of fields with yellow flowers, think Wizard of Oz-poppies. Very pretty but have no idea what it was. It is in the books, we have driven the entire AlCan highway. We are at the beginning and Fairbanks was the end. Took us about 5 or 6 days. We will rest here again. Very hot and humid. The locals are not happy and we aren't thrilled either. We went from running the furnace in Fairbanks to running the air non stop. Nice breeze today with t-storms predicted. More wild fires a possibility without some rain soon. Fire bans are all over, things are way too dry and this wind will only fan any fire that starts.

Fort Nelson, BC

Now did you think I forgot about the other thing we learned today? Just saved it for it's own page. We learned firsthand why the Rocky Mountain are so called. Just look at the pictures and you too will see the reason. Unbelievable how enormous these rock faces are that just go on and on. We also went through an active fire zone today. Most of it was out. A lady at the gas station ($1.459/liter) told me there were a few hot spots that the firefighters were back burning. Lots of smoke to drive through and acres of charred trees. The Muncho Lake pic doesn't really convey the color of the Lake. It is a beautiful shade of green-blue caused by iron oxide. We followed it for miles and were amazed at it's color.

Fort Nelson, BC

Mom was very protective of her cubs as they crossed the highway. She went up to the road on one side, sent the cubs across then she crossed and stayed on the side until she was sure they were safe and followed. Lazy bisons and a goofy caribou. Didn't get the moose he was in a stream and we couldn't stop without causing an accident.

As boring as yesterday's drive was, today's was scenic. The views were spectacular. We followed many lakes and streams today and drove through the Northern Rockies. We learned a couple of things. Bears and other critters don't necessarily s**t in the woods. We know this by the piles of it we have seen on the side of the road for the last two days. We also got to see the animals that left the deposit. It was a great day for animal viewing. We saw a black bear with two cubs, a lone bison and a herd of bison, a couple of caribou and a moose. Still haven't been able to view an elusive sheep so probably have missed out on that. We are at the Bluebell Inn RV Park. It is downtown in Fort Nelson. Not the most glamorous but functional. We didn't even unhook from the truck. We got here around 6ish and hope to up and out early tomorrow to get to Dawson Creek. We will stay a couple of nights there and then head into Alberta--Edmonton and Calgary which will take three maybe four days of driving.

Watson Lake, Yukon

Note the miles of visible road in the distance.

Downtown in Watson Lake is nothing to brag about. It consists of about 4 stores.

Almost out of the Yukon. We are in Watson Lake which is on the border of British Columbia. Another long ride through miles of sameness to stay another night in another dust bowl this one called Downtown RV. At least we had many lakes to break up the monotony. The RV park isn't much to look at but it is convenient and cheap. Carole, many of the RV parks have vehicle wash areas, for a fee of course ;-) We are hopefully done with the major muddy areas of highway. Today there was one little bridge being repaired and very little rough roads. It was nice to come into the trailer and not have a huge mess to clean up. Again to Carole, the bugs are getting even worse than they have been for quite some time. So when you see those lovely "flying" things in the picture know that the bug gave his life to entertain you :p The only thing here in Watson Lake is the Sign Forest. It is amazing how vast this place is. Tried to pick a picture that showed a bit of how large it is but there is no way to picture it all. We did see some signs from ME, Dixmont and Palmyra come to mind. We are off to Fort Nelson, BC in the morning.

Salmon Fish Ladder, Whitehorse

The dam that the fish need the ladder for with a view of both pieces of the actual ladder. Looking into the pool that is viewable from inside the building.

Fish art work on site. Another smaller dam that the salmon can swim up.

Story of our life, the fish are just downstream and expected in the next week to 10 days. Seems we have just missed things all along our travels. Off to Watson Lake in the morning.

Whitehorse, YT

This is a center devoted to the Bering Land Bridge known as Beringia and the creatures and people who crossed and lived in the area. The Yukon is not glacial, not enough snow and a bit warmer than the Southern parts of the area. Many artifacts were found in the "blue caves" in the area and most of the animal finds were in AK and in the Dawson City area. Entire skeletons were recovered by miners. Really neat place.

This little guy is an Arctic squirrel.

Whitehorse, YT

The mud coated vehicles and Owen power washing the murk off.

Latest campground. Note we have trees and a picnic table. Could even have had a fire yesterday, today a fire ban is posted. Things are very dry here in the Yukon.

Whitehorse,YT

View along the road-miles upon miles that looked just like this. Five Fingers Rapids, in the Yukon River, had to be navigated when the towns were just being established due to gold mining.

Next two pics are for Flori, did your ancestors come from the Yukon? This was an inn back during the gold rush.

We had a huge wolf cross the road, I managed to get only his hind end.

Hi we made it to Whitehorse yesterday. A long day over boring roads, at least they were paved for the most part. Lots of construction and the trailer and truck were again coated in the delightful cement/mud. First stop after checking in was the RV wash to take the curse off. Only have a hot spot here so we are not going to down load any pictures. I don't want to spend the entire day here waiting. It has taken almost a half hour to connect. We will be here for one more night then off to Watson Lake. We are staying at the Hi Country RV Park. Might not have many connections from here on in until we hit the states again. Posting will be hit or miss. Quiet at the computer room, things are downloading so here's pics from yesterday.