Day 8 Oasis in the wilderness

Day 8 Aug 19  Liard Hot Springs

Liard hot springs - heavenly!

This trip is full of visits to old favourites, and this is another one we've been looking forward to.  Liard Hot Springs is only 50 km north of our last stop, but it deserves a day to savour.  The springs are natural, and not at all diminished by the simple modern change rooms and spacious wooden deck along one side.  The sulfurous water is scalding hot as it enters the pools, but is gradually diluted along its course by cold springs.   There's a comfortable spot for every taste, and a long cooling overhung stream to explore when the steam overwhelms.

The day passes slowly, now that we're finally in the rhythm of travel again.  We soak, then read or knit, then soak again.  A helicopter carrying a Rapatac crew (Norbert would know how to spell that, but I'm stumped) lands on the highway to refuel, and Norbert takes another million photos.  What is it with men and machines?

Tally of animals is growing.  Yesterday we passed to pairs of woodland cariboo right on the highway - mom and calf each time.   I've never seen them so close and this is incredibly lucky.  This stretch of highway is known more for bison and we see plenty.  One big herd has 40 or so, including many little wee ones.  The males are getting randy and they're snorting and pawing the ground, head butting each other and nudging the females.  This is what passes for excitement for us!

Days 5 -7 Alaska Highway at last!

Days 5-7  Aug     Alaska Highway at last

We join the Alaska Highway at km 86, just north of Fort St John.  The highway is amazing in every way - 1500 miles originally,  stretching from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks Alaska.  It was built hurriedly in 1942-43 by the US military, with Canadian support, in order to supply the US military base at Fairbanks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.  Thousands of troops, many of whom had never been north of the 49th parallel, were sent to build the most challenging road imaginable - through muskeg, bog, river bed, mountain, mosquito swamps and winter.  The first 1000 km travel north and west through BC, then another 900 km across the Yukon before entering Alaska.  The highway was measured in historic mileposts, many of which are still used as reference points, although after 75 years of paving and straightening, the highway is 50 km shorter and there is no accuracy in the old mileage.

This camp even has an Atco trailer gym!

Much of the highway is beautiful, but the first stretch is so marked by oil and gas exploration that the landscape is sometimes lost in the ugliness.  There is pipeline construction aplenty and the road is busy with massive trucks carrying heavy machinery, giant pipes, steel girders.  There are help wanted signs at every stop, and work trucks from all across the country clearly indicate where the employment lies.  Every gas stop has its accompanying Open Camp - a field of Atco trailer motel rooms lined up in ranks, with a central cookhouse and washhouse.  Dusty trucks stream in at the end of the work day and I imagine clusters of Newfoundlanders joking with the Albertans across the way.  You can see how it might be too much of a stretch to imagine a green energy future when your way of life is tied to oil and gas.

The sides of the highway already reveal the changing seasons.  The odd aspen glows golden, and firey red rosehips dot the brush.  The hot pink of fireweed just a day ago gives way to the pale fluff of arctic cotton grass seeds along this stretch.  A skein of dozens of geese passes us, heading south.  When we stop for a hike or a pee break wild blueberries and cranberries lure us to linger.
But somehow, despite the cooler nights and shorter days, the wasps are still thriving.  If all of BC has seen a surge in wasps this year, the north has seen a tsunami.  We stop in Fort Nelson for the night, and immediately our truck is surrounded by hundreds of divebombing wasps.  They smack into the windows like kamakazi flyers, circling us like a buzzing tornado.  I refuse to open my door.  We decide to drive 10 minutes down the road to get gas, and see if things improve.  If we hit 50 kmp, we lose the crowd, and the gas station and grocery store seem somewhat better.  We try the campground, where locals sit on the porch armed with zappers.  It's safe enough to exit the vehicle, so we decide to stay.  And in fact, once they've eaten their fill of the road killed bugs on our front end, they disperse to find better pickins.   In the morning, the mass of dead insects is gone from our grill!  Mother nature's vaccuum cleaner at work!

Route finding our way up a dry canyon to see sheep.

North of Fort Nelson is the real attraction of this road - long stretches of gorgeous vistas, rushing rivers, tangled forests, and rocky peaks.  We cross back westbound over the most northern Rockies - a more eroded, and sedate range than it's southern ranges, but the peaks still surprise and delight.  The smoke from the Telegraph Creek fire is stronger here, and we lose the distant horizon in many spots.
I've been collecting oddities as we go, and find the best of many amusing signs on this stretch.  For many miles along the hwy Tetsa River Gas advertises 'the best cinnamon buns in the galactic cluster'.  The anticipation may contribute, but we definitely have to agree.

A beautiful campsite despite the smoke.  Fishing and swimming were fine.

And finally the first week ends at one of our favourite stops on the trip - Muncho Lake Provincial Park.  The long deep mountain lake has a limestone or marl bottom, so the shallows glow a tropical turquoise blue that ranges out into the dark navy depths.  Rain overnight magically clears the air and we enjoy a day of hiking, paddling and fishing in this lovely campsite.  I wish it wasn't 2200 km from home!

Day 4 The Peace vs the dams.

Day 4 Aug 15

You call this a lake????

Now in Peace River country - beautiful rolling hills and prairie, deep river valleys, cottonwood meadows and boreal forest.  At Hudson's Hope, the prettiest of BC's northeast towns, we visit the great museum  and stop at a coffee shop on the high banks of the Peace River.  We are just below the Peace Canyon dam here, and we drive upstream 24 kms to the WAC Bennett dam.  Built in the 1960's, it is unbelievably massive:  600 feet high, 2 km across, creating a reservoir that stretches north and west for 250 km.  Williston Lake (if you can call it that - it's not pretty) is the largest body of freshwater in BC, and can be seen from space.  Together the two dams produce 25% of BC's hydro power.  In an interesting statement of defiance in the face of BC Hydro, the town of Hudson's Hope has a massive solar array powering their visitor centre and town hall.

In the afternoon we stop to visit old friends - Ross and Debbie Peck live on a beautiful ranch above the Peace, overlooking a stretch of pristine wilderness valley.  All that will change.  The Site C dam will create a reservoir along this valley, raising the water level 50 to 60 feet in front of their home.  The town of Hudson's Hope will need a berm to protect the town from the higher water.

Controversy continues to rage, the price tag continues to grow, and yet work continues.  For now, wildlife abounds.  Osprey, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, squirrels, chipmunks, deer and elk share this lovely spot with the Pecks. For how long though?  And why trade this for the sale of power to the US?  We are confirmed in our original opinions, having seen the trade-off.

Day 3 Into the Arctic watershed

Day 3  Aug 14

Last night we stopped south of Prince George at Mama Yeh RV site - advertised widely as 'a beautiful provincial parklike setting...'  Not quite so - it was a gravel pad in a scrubby yard, next to the highway, with portapotties!!!  The no-see-ums and wasps were plentiful.  Oh well, can't win em all.

PG was thick with smoke this am, but farther north it cleared.  Through the Pine Pass, most northerly crossing of the Rockies, and only 933 m in elevation, it was beautiful and clear.  And now we are in the north - all rivers flow into the Arctic ocean from here.

We stop at Moberley Lake PP north of Chetwynd.  The wind is keeping the wasps down, but whipping up the lake.  We take a quick dip in a very splashy lake, and enjoy our evening campsite.

Today's tally:  a lovely mama bear and 2 small cubs who crossed the highway in front of us, 2 osprey, Stellar's jays, a red necked grebe, and a surprising bird - what we think might be a red necked Phalarope (not known to come inland) at Bear Lake PP.

Day 2 Smoke, detours, and surprises

So thick the view disappears across the road.

Day 2  Aug 13

We made it as far as Lac Le Jeune PP south of Kamloops last night, about half way round our long detour route.  High on the Coquihalla highway, it was lovely and cool overnight - 7 C. this am in the camper.  Good thing we brought the thickest down duvet, but who knew we'd need it so soon.

This morning we came back to the Thompson River at Kamloops.  Here, above the mud slides, the river is again a deep and beautiful green.  The air is still smokey, at times visibility is reduced to 100 m.  On the radio we hear that there are 600 wildfires burning in the province, including 150 that started this past weekend.  On the internet, the Fire Service map looks like the whole of BC is aflame.

There was no sunset last night, no sun was even visible.  No Perseid meteor shower for us tonight.  The smoke is acrid at times and my eyes are constantly stinging. Wonder how long this will last?

From the Fraser Canyon and then along the Thompson, we've been following the transcontinental rail lines.  CPR built the first one to unite John A Macdonald's country in 1885, then CN had to build much later on the opposite bank.  The two rail lines still crisscross the canyons at times, but now one is for northbound trains, the other for south.

For two days we've passed 100 car trains filled with goods - grain, coal, sulphur, oil, car carriers and long strands of container cars.  We occupy ourselves imagining what lies within!

By noon we pull into 100 Mile, finally back on our original route after the long scenic detour.  Lunch is at the Chartreuse Moose.  (Why so many Moose themed coffee shops on our travels?)  Sipping my coffee, I look up to see Johanna Wagstaff and Ian Hanomansing walk through the door!  I nearly fell off my stool - my CBC favourites appearing in the most unlikely place!

Ian was chatty and kind to my astonished inquiry "What are you doing here?"  Only afterward did I consider the utter madness of approaching him with my gobsmacked smile, camperized hairdo, and only one earring.  (I'd lost the other one in the camper in the morning and wanted to remember to look for it later.)

So far, our wildlife tally is 2 marmots, several deer, 1 pileated woodpecker, and 2 celebrities.

Day 1 Finally Off to Tuktoyaktuk!

Sunday August 12, 2018
Day 1 of our Trip to Tuk!

Finally departing after many delays, obstructions and deviations from the plan:  visual corrections (N), MRI (L), emergency surgery (neither of us).  The heat wave and subsequent lethargy does not improve my ability to move quickly when packing the camper either.

My Tesla's bigger than your Tesla.

Now, on the road that stretches so far before us, the highways sign at Hope warns that Hwy 97 (ours) is closed north of Cache Creek!  Something tells me this trip may require more depths of patience and flexibility than I am normally prone to.  Luckily, we've plenty of experience with bumps in the road.  They are often the unexpected bumps we find most entertaining - in retrospect.

Heading up the Fraser Canyon, the camper is full of gear and supplies for a 2 month expedition.  We know that good coffee needs to come with us, plus our espresso maker, as well as all the fishing gear, paddling stuff, kayaks (yes, one's resting on our bed), and books and knitting we will need for the trip.

To make a good start, we breakfast at MacDonalds - a road trip treat!  Only 3766 km to Tuk!

Day 1, Part 2

The next sign of trouble when we reach Lytton, is the view of the normally green and lovely Thompson River roiling dark and chocolate coloured.  At Spences' Bridge, sure enough, there is a road block and a detour sign sending us east to Merritt.  We check online and find Hwy 1 is closed at Cache Creek due to a mudslide, and Hwy 97 is closed in both directions further north also due to a mud slide.  This means our detour route will take us to Kamloops, Little Fort and Bridge Lake before returning to our highway at 100 Mile - about 200 km out of our way!

The irony of this is not lost on us - not wildfires as we expected, but last night's rain has sent us off on this trek!