Alaska Highway, Day #1

I started out of Fort St. John and actually headed south first, because in my driving need I skipped a place of importance. Hence I back-trekked couple of miles and visited one of many parts of Old Alaska Hwy. This little 10 mile detour took me through Kiskatinow Provincial Park and over Kiskatinow bridge. Significance? It is a last standing and used original bridge built by U.S. Army. After I crossed it couple of times just for the good measure, I continued north to Fort Nelson. Little after I passed Fort St. John landscape started to change for prairie to forests, green mile upon mile of green forest. I stopped to breathe in the fresh, dustless air many times.

Short break in Fort Nelson to fill up the tummy and I continued. Once I passed Steamboat Unincorporated (common thing here in Canada is to have unincorporated communities) road became narrow path through mountains, across the creeks and rivers. It was a good fun drive. Another side note, if I did not mention it before is about establishments being licensed. If the establishment is fully licensed it means they can serve alcohol. At first I was kind of eerie about it, until a local waitress explained it to me. Like, how can you have business if you are not licensed? Canadian, ehh! And they do say it often, ehh! Some restaurants have funky stuff where they can serve you alcohol only with food.

All the lakes along the road were still cover with ice and rivers have big chunks of ice floating down. It is a tow month. Near Summit Lake I encountered snowfall, which turned into rain as I descended into valley below. I passed by other interesting places such as Suicide Hill, Toad River and Muncho Lake. Suicide Hill got the name because so many army trucks have overturned at it that after a while they had to level it off. I spent the night at the wonderful Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake. They had the husky dog sitting outside named Muncho after the lake :)

This portion of the road was where I finally started seeing numerous wild life they have been talking about. I crossed the road with mama black bear with her two subs, spotted moose, caribou, stone sheep, deer and numerous birds. It also took me some time to get used to the quietness of the place. Hearing the river pass by, with birds chirping and nothing else. I would probably pass by another car every 20 minutes or so.