More of Canada - The Cassiar to the Yukon & Beyond (Friday 5/17 - Sunday 5/19)

 

We woke up on Friday morning to early morning fog in the Witset RV Park & Campground near Moricetown, BC.  We were fortunate to find this place as we struggled after Prince George to find a decent campground.  This place fit the bill as it was clean and had decent bathrooms/showers.  After showers and breakfast, we were out of camp shortly after 8:00am.

Leaving camp took us over an old wooden bridge crossing the Bulkley River and Canyon.  Both Pam & I commented the night before as darkness fell, that we wanted to take photos the next morning.  Thankfully the skies had cleared and the sun was bright.  Here I am ready to take on the day!

 

 

 

 

Our first impromptu stop of the day was here at the old village of Hazelton, the oldest surviving village in Northern British Columbia.  About 5-7 miles off of Hwy 16, before we got to the Cassiar Hwy.  We drove through town and then stopped here at what is now the Municipal Building.  A replica of a 19th century era river boat, many of the parts are from original paddlewheelers from that time.

 

Also nearby is the 'Ksan Historical Village & Museum.  Too early in the season, it was closed so all we could do was drive through and look at some of the buildings on the grounds.  Perhaps worthy of being placed on our "next time" list.

This is the Hwy16/Hwy 37 junction where the Cassiar Hwy heads north to the Yukon.  It is also possible to continue on southward to a remote area of Alaska, but we didn't feel the need to linger or detour.  So this would be our fuel stop, before heading deeper into the wilderness and the unknown in terms of where we might find our next gas-up opportunity.  Most advise to never let your gas tank get below half a tank, as fuel stops are not always reliable in this part of Canada.  Also adding to the uncertainty, was the fact that with the Alcan Hwy closed due to the wildfires near Ft. Nelson, all traffic to Alaska had to take the Cassiar Hwy, creating a significant increase in demand in fuel plus reported capacity situations at campgrounds along the way heading up to Watson Lake.  These were concerns we did not take lightly!

 

 
While the road was remote, it was in great shape!  We had read about frost heaves and potholes on a variety of online resources, but found the drive to be comfortable and interesting.  We did drive miles and miles (or perhaps more appropriately . . . kilometers and kilometers) without seeing much in the way of other drivers or towns along the way.  There were ample turn outs to stop to rest, many with vault toilets, so were were good.

The village of Gitwangak is just a few miles north of the 16/37 junction, and has several totem poles.  While interesting, this isn't really developed as an attraction, leaving us to ponder the significance of the totems on display here.  That said, being early in our adventure and our first chance to see totems up close, we enjoyed our stop . . . again a great opportunity to get out and walk a bit.

As we were leaving the area, we met these fellow GAH/SAP folks in their Minnie Winnie.  They were very nice and willing to pose for a quick photo for inclusion in this blog and to share with the GAH/SAP Facebook Group.  It was pretty remarkable that with 157 units out on the road traversing from Iowa to Anchorage, we would literally run into others along the way . . . especially given as vast and remote so much of the trip is.

Here's a bit of what it looked like for us as we continued north on Hwy 37, the Cassiar Hwy.  The 2-laner often followed along a river or through the valley alongside the tall snowcapped mountains.  Because of the density of the forest, it was often impossible to see (and photograph) wildlife.

As you can see here, Simmons Lake in British Columbia was still mostly iced over.  While we had initially considered boondocking here, we decided to move on as there were other places expected ahead.  We did buy a package of homemade english muffins at this "honor box" hanging in the turnout.  They were delicious for breakfast the next morning . . . and a couple of days later too.

We had no idea this area was known for their jade mines.  When we passed through here around 9:00pm, we saw several GAH/SAP campers boondocking here.    Everyone seemed on top of one another, so we pushed on another half an hour for our overnight spot.

The Tā Ch’ilā Park/Boya Lake Provincial Park was where we landed!  It was $20CDN for a dry campsite, which was also very close to the vault toilets.  As you can see, we had a great site, right along the lake.  And the mosquitoes were not out yet . . . BONUS!

We woke up and hit the road for Watson Lake, home of the world famous Sign Forest.  While it required a bit of back-tracking on the Alcan Hwy, with was worthwhile to visit and add our own personal signs to the collection.  Mine was an old license plate from the '66 VW Beetle I had bought for Pam back in the mid 1980's.  She added a special tribute item in honor of her husband Rex.

Once back on the road, we had chef salads for lunch.  Being able to pull off the road and enjoy a a great view over a meal is one of the benefits of RVing.  We ended up over-nighting Saturday night at the Congdon Creek Provincial Park near Destruction Bay . . . another $20CDN/night dry campsite with vault toilets near by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And check out the snow/sleet we drove through on Saturday afternoon!  It was not slippery, but did add an element of caution for about an hour.

 

We rejoined the Alcan Hwy at Watson Lake, YT.  The road from there to Whitehorse was in great shape, but beyond that . . . from Destruction Bay to the Canada/US border . . . not so much.  This is just an example of how tore up the road is from their arctic winters.  The tundra creates frost heaves, that really damages the roads and driving taking a high level of attention and caution to avoid damaging tires and the undercarriage.

As we saw, there are big highway projects to make the roads better.  I imagine it's a very short construction season in this area of Canada and over in Alaska too.

We reached the Canada/USA border Sunday around 12:00pm.
 

Before wrapping up this segment of our trip, here is a bear video and a few photos of the wildlife we encountered on these days.  There were a lot more, but stopping safely to photograph them, is a real challenge.  Sometimes you have to just slow down and enjoy the view while they allow you to be in their company.  Many of the animals (black bears and moose especially) were skiddish and smartly darted into the forest when cars approached.

A big brown/grizzly bear.  S/he didn't seem to give us any attention, only looking up from time to time while foraging in the dirt.

This was a family of black bears.  The momma is the one on the upper right.  Her two cubs appear to be almost as big as she is, so I'm guessing maybe 2-year olds?  The one in the foreground is a cinnamon colored bear and was lighter than its darker sibling.

This was one of the saddest bear experiences we had on the trip.  This black bear was with several others just outside of Dease Lake, a well known tourist area on the Cassiar Hwy.  When we pulled up and out onto the shoulder, this bear started right towards our camper!  THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE BEAR BEHAVIOR!!! It only occurs when a bear has been habituated to humans because they are used to being fed.  NOT GOOD!  A fed bear is a dead bear because they almost always become nuance bears, and euthanized for the safety of people.

TO BE CONTINUED  - BACK IN THE USA!