“Friendliest city by a dam site”

We began the day with a walk down to the lake—very nice, but on our return discovered that this was the day the restrooms were locked for the season.  The showers still have working toilets but even they will close at the end of the month.  Showers required a “toonie” (a two dollar piece), so I showered in the rig.  This was a long driving day without anything that we were particularly keen on stopping to see.  The prairie flattened as the day progressed and the clouds cleared around three in the afternoon—a very welcome sight.  Favorite sights—noticing how many towns on the plains feature antique farm equipment museums—and the best city sign ever:  “Craik – friendliest city by a dam site.”  We went miles and miles seeing only baled hay and,

 in some areas, oil pumps and tanks. 

This area is very thinly populated.  We did have an incident where one of the straps on our storage box came loose, but we could hear it knocking around and stopped to take a look.  Disaster averted. 

We feel fortunate to be at a nice lakefront regional park.   It is closing in one week and folks, who seem to have been the entire summer, are being warned that they need to remove their decks, patios, and outbuildings. 

We are also seeing interesting birds.  A gull seen in the prairie and some small and very dark dabbling ducks that I can’t identify.  We also saw a small hawk.  We are only about a hundred miles from the US border so we should be in North Dakota somewhere tomorrow!

461 miles; Nickle Lake Regional Park, Saskatchiwan; N 49° 35.416’ W 103° 46.650’

A big mall is just that—a big mall

Halleluiah!  About an hour down the highway, the clouds parted and we had sun.  The first sun since Alaska, and we didn’t see much sun there.  The sun came out as we were leaving the mountains and entering the prairie.  It is pretty here in Alberta—rolling hills and farmland.  Lots of small towns, and interesting views. 
The plan today was the West Edmonton Mall and we drove until we reached it, except for a short stop in Mayerthorpe to give the dogs an airing at the Monument to the Fallen Four, a peace officer memorial.  It was a very nice tribute to peace officers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and the perfect stop to exercise the terriers. 

We arrived at “WEM,” as it calls itself, and well . . . it was a mall but a really really big one.  Not terribly interesting.  

We did have a nice lunch there and looked at the replica of Columbus’s Santa Maria and appreciated how crazy big and fancy the water park is.   If we had kids with us, this would be a required stop.  The pool had waves and the slides were huge and scary looking. 

We also stopped to watch some very good skaters practicing on an ice rink.  One pair of ice dancers did a routine and then watched a video of themselves, so we had the impression that the practice was serious.

We bought bread at a huge Asian grocery.

Then we continued on our way (which at this point is the Yellowhead trail) to another provincial park.  This one is in Vermillion.  It is noteworthy because we have our first public campground with flush toilets and showers—livin’ large!  And without an increase in price.  Again, there are only a couple of sites filled—except there were a large group of RV’s on a ridge.  We went up there assuming we would find a view only to discover that this was the part of the camp ground with power and other services.  We returned to the more attractive sites below—our solar panel gives us enough power for television and whatever.  The park is quite nice, but we are on the prairie, and the scenery is not spectacular but we do have grass and trees. 

It is after the Labor Day weekend and we are starting to lose traveler services.  They locked the restrooms for the season right before we pulled away from the campsite.  And it is raining again, sigh, with more rain forecast for the remainder of the week.

345 miles; Vermillion Provincial Park, Alberta; N 53° 21.914’ W 110° 52.674’

Woody Woodpecker

Today saw the end of the Alaska Highway and Dawson Creek.  It rained most of the day and was a pretty muddy mess.  But we went through some beautiful mountains and a long corridor through a spruce and poplar forest.  Although there were many wildlife warnings, we only saw one black bear and another dead deer. 

We stopped at the visitors’ center in Dawson Creek but it is closed on Sunday (!) so we continued down the highway toward Edmonton after taking a photo of zero mile marker.    

We went through a cute town of Beaver Lodge  and a couple of small towns until Grand Prairie, probably the biggest city we’ve seen since leaving Anchorage.  We are just entering the prairie after crossing the border into Alberta.  Grand Prairie has Costco, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and many familiar American retail institutions.  But we did not stop—we went on through to Williamson Provincial Park—a nice enough camping ground next to a lake only a couple of kilometers off the highway.  This is the first campground that is close to being full.  Even though it has been a holiday weekend, the campgrounds have been pretty deserted.    The weather may be a factor.  Although it is overcast, the rain stopped when we entered the prairie.  We saw some interesting birds in the park and were able to identify a pileated woodpecker, an impressively large bird with a red crest.

 

425.5 miles, Williamson Provincial Park (south of Grand Prairie), Alberta

N 55° 04.888’ W 117° 33.630’

Rain rain, go away!

It is POURING rain, and cold and windy.  We have really enjoyed the provincial parks the past two nights (which are like state campgrounds in the U.S.), but the weather today discouraged us from driving another 30 minutes or so out to one next to a lake.  Instead, we are in the middle of Fort Nelson in a mud bog masquerading as an RV park enjoying unlimited electricity, hot showers, and Wi-Fi.

We also enjoyed the prime rib special and red wine across the street at Dave's local pub.  A different kind of experience, more in tune with this nasty weather. The northern Rockies were gorgeous but the weather was awful so we couldn't see the peaks of the mountains and the twisty road was white knuckle--intermittent guardrails and precipitous drops into beautiful river valleys.

We did see the sign forest at Watson Lake early today ...

and stopped at noon at Liard Hot Springs for a leisurely soak in hot sulphury water.  Divine!  It is a great spot--outdoor steamy pools with hot hot water, but the temperature varies among the pools so you can find your comfort zone.  And there are changing rooms next door but otherwise the experience is very much an outdoor one.  The pools are natural and outside.  This is a very cool place.  We were there last summer and it is a must stop for anyone who takes the Alaska Highway.

 

As we entered British Columbia, we saw herds of bison,

including this big guy.

329.9 miles, Blue Bell Inn RV park, Fort Nelson, British Columbia

“You wanna be Canadian, please?”

Our first stop was Whitehorse, a great little city, where we reflected on how great Canada is.   You can too by going to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQf13B8epw

Whitehorse looks like one might expect an Alaska city to look—lots of charming older buildings that bring its history alive and it is sited along the beautiful Yukon River.  We walked through the downtown area in search of Wi-Fi and after bombing out at Starbucks and McDonald’s, we found it at a lovely little independent bakery and sandwich shop "Baked Cafe."  

The drive to Watson Lake was not as stunningly beautiful as the earlier part of the trip—perhaps because it rained most of the day—but the views are still beautiful and really impress you with how vast and thinly populated this part of Canada is.  

The provincial parks in the Yukon Territory are wonderful.  They provide firewood and decent outhouses and are well-sited.  And, bonus, they are very inexpensive.

367 miles, Watson Lake Recreation Area (north of the City of Watson Lake), Yukon Territory  N 60°05.819’ W 128°48.959’

Heading south

We enjoyed today’s drive so much.  There is not much civilization between Tok and Haines Junction, which is near our campground.  But the scenery is gorgeous.  We had fall colors and the usual glorious mountains, lakes and rivers, along with a lot of really bumpy road in Canada.  

This in not a complaint and the road is much improved from June 2009.  There are huge stretches of new highway but the soil and frost heaving is really a challenge to the highway engineers.  We really enjoyed a stop for lunch at Lakeview Campground.  

We were the only folks there and we sat at picnic tables on the lake watching the birds.  We heard a thunder of birds and then saw a huge flock of geese overhead on their journey south.  

We saw three of these groups.  Very cool.  Not too much later we were over the border into Canada but it was 20 additional miles before Canadian Customs, which proved uneventful.  We just had to show our passports, and they didn’t even want our tomatoes.  

End Road Work--too true

The vast and grand scenery of eastern Yukon is gorgeous.  And there was termination dust on certain of the St Elias and Canadian Icefield mountains.   

The final noteworthy landmark was the great Kluane Lake—the largest lake in the Yukon, and except for the Great Lakes, the biggest lake I have seen.  So, here we are in Pine Lake Recreation area.  It is our first provincial park if this trip and it is lovely.  We can see the water and there is enough separation from the neighbors to experience nature, rather than the din of humanity.  It is raining so we may treat ourselves to a DVD this evening.

313 miles, Pine Lake Recreation Area (just east of Haines Junction), Yukon Territory N 60° 48.075’ W 137° 29.243’

Starting out

We finally managed to kick off at around 11 am, September 1.  And immediately we began to have issues.  Don turned on the GPS as soon as we pulled out of the neighborhood.  There are only two routes departing Anchorage and we didn’t need the GPS to tell us we wanted the northern one, but we were fortunate he tried to use the GPS because it did not work properly.  This is becoming a tradition—beginning a road trip by going to Costco to exchange a GPS.  We did this last year when we left Chicago for South Carolina to pick up the Tiger.  So, I took advantage of the opportunity to make sandwiches in the parking lot.  Don returned with a new GPS and $30.  The model was on sale so he was paid change when he made the exchange.  Gotta love Costco!  Our second issue involved Sheila, one of our Australian terriers, who was having an extended panic attack as we drove down the highway.  Stopping for a short break outside calmed her and she was fine after we recommenced our journey.  Her last two trips in a car were for veterinary visits involving vaccinations and surgery.  Once she realized the destination would not be a place of torture, she was fine.  And Boomer, our other terrier, slept through the excitement. 

We drove around 7 hours to a nice state campground (Eagle Creek) in the Mentasta Mountains near Tok.  

The scenery on the drive was gorgeous—fall colors north of Palmer.  The weather wasn’t bad:  intermittent light showers and sunshine.  The Glenn Highway is one of the prettiest drives, with spruce and birch forests, mountain curves, rivers, and the Matanuska and Tazlina glaciers.  We also enjoyed the Wrangell Mountains and the Copper River drainage area that you can see while driving the Tok Junction road. 

I can’t end my report without mentioning our hike.  After a quick dinner and wash-up, we took the pups over to a trailhead around 8 pm.  The draw was a one-mile nature loop—perfect way to stretch our legs and exercise the dogs.  At one point in the walk, Don saw a sign that said “1.5 mile overlook.”  Well, he assumed that this was a 1.5-mile loop around the mountain to the end of the campground (or at least that is how he sold it).  

At 9:10, still climbing in increasing darkness, we opted to skip the view and turn around.  We returned to the trailhead at 10—stepping over bear scat and using a keychain flashlight to see the trail.  And by this time it was raining.  This was scary and a reminder to use a little more sense when walking in unfamiliar areas. 

We were glad to return to the Tiger to listen in comfort to the rain pour, which it did all night. 

302 miles, Anchorage to Eagle Creek Recreation Area (south of Tok), N 63° 09.938’ W 143° 12.042’