Alaska Highway, Day #3

Since I rolled into Whitehorse late, I decided to sleep in. I got out of hotel just before checkout time and rolled over to Java Connection. After I got properly caffeinated I checked out the visitor center, watched the movie on Yukon Territories which was total BS (they showed you 2 fabulous months of the year). I stopped by NAPA store bought some octane boosters (many gas stations only sell 87 and my darn truck likes premium). I also rearranged my gas cans, now that they are actually full of gasoline, laying down position was not an option, spillage was imminent.

Since Dawson City ferry was out of business while the ice chucks disappear I headed towards US via Beaver Creek instead. 1st stop Haines Junction, YT. Btw, if the road ever takes you this part of the world stop by the Village Bakery across from the visitor center (closed at the time). I had amazing meat pie with corn crusting, and cheese and herbs puff. I took Nanaimo Bar, Two-Tone Brownie, Cinnamon Roll and Cinnamon/Apple Puff for the road. I was about 20 miles out when I tried Nanaimo Bar and I wished I got more, it was soooooooooooooo good. Two-tone brownie was as good as Little Debbie's.

Before I knew I was in Beaver Creek, YT. I kind of expected little more for the border town, so I moved on to the US Custom's hoping other side would be better. Naye! Border City is trailer park Tuesday so I kept driving. Now, to make things clear this part of the journey from Beaver Creek on is just plain BORING. Flatlands, surrounded by water infested mosquitoes, burned out trees, for miles and miles and miles. I stopped in Tok, AK to grab some food. Fast Eddy's Restaurant looked like busiest place on the strip so I checked in. Food was regular dinner stuff which was great for this part of country!!! They had motel adjacent to it, so I grabbed to room, and hooked myself up to the internet. I calculated the time differences and decided to call into my parents and let them know I am okay.

Alaska Highway, Day #2

Night at the Northern Rockies Lodge was peaceful. I left Muncho Lake and headed north on Alaska Highway towards Liard River Hot Springs. Entrance to the springs is free this time of year, so I grabbed the towel and swim-shorts and headed for the springs. I changed quickly and hopped in. I stayed in for about 3h, until my hands were so wrinkled I thought skin would fall off. I was boiled to perfection :) Coming out was lot harder than getting in. Water temperature was between 40C-49C (104F-120F), outside was about 40F.

An hour or two later I passed through Watson Lake. It's the place with all the post signs. Amazing what one homesick soldier started. Soon after I stopped at Rancheria Lodge for a late-late lunch (7pm). I have to explain this again I guess. As you travel north, days get longer, so when you drive and you look at the sun, you go, ohh I have another 2-3 hours of daylight, then you look at the clock and it's 7pm. Well, this place was right out of the South Park. The mum, the superb Canadian son which ends every sentence with 'ehh', the cheesy food, three legged dog, ohh just to name the few. I rolled into Whitehorse as the sun was setting around 11pm.

Ohh ohh I almost forgot, just before Whitehorse there is Lucky Lake Recreational Park, I stopped to take few shots when this native Indian runs up to me and says: "Yoh man, you got some toilet paper I can buy?". The alcohol on this breath was extreme, so I decided to share some of my finest Scotts roll with him. Bugger grabbed the whole thing stuffed $5 into my hand and ran off, toward portables. Bizarre as it was I proceeded to the lake area. On my way back a Indian woman walks up to me and wants to return the roll to me, half used up. I politely declined and ran for my truck before who knows what happened next. I heard behind me, Indian-man-voice: "Yoh man, stop hitting on my woman", Indian-woman-voice: "I am not your woman, you drunk...", FJ-Cruiser-tires-voice: squickkkkkkkkk, wrooooooooooooommm.

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.

To Alaska Highway

Finally! I have reached Mile 0 today. Just around 3pm I arrived in Dawson Creek, BC. I stopped by the visitor center and got to see the movie on making of the Alaskan Highway. I also got to procure valuable information on what to do and see along the way. This information should compliment my existing guides and Milepost publication.

Road to Dawson Creek took some time, since I decided to take an alternative route. After about 50 miles on Hwy 40, I swerved off the road to Hwy 734, unpaved-truck-logging-dirt-road. I wanted to test out the truck and my skills in driving. I was lucky since the day was warm and ground, well in prime condition. Road was just finishing with drying after all the rains, so dust was not an issue except on couple of spots. I also got to hit couple of muddy parts, but nothing heavy duty. Only one logging truck passed by me in the opposite direction. I ran into bunch of pickup trucks as I got closer to Grande Prairie, with ATVs loaded up in the bed. I guess off-roading is huge up here. Once I got back onto Hwy 40, I check the tires and under body. Looks muddy but okay. Rest of the trip was under heavy gusty winds, blowing in my chest so I had to fight for the control of the vehicle couple of times.

Since it was still light out, I decided to move on to Fort St. John about 45 min. north. Along the way I picked up another hour and am officially in Pacific time zone. Super 8 I am staying tonight is out of this world. This is like a mansion, unlike Super 8-s in US. Anyway, another hard-wire connection and hence I am blogging again.

Cinco de Mayo

Ole! It finally stopped raining. I spent the night in Calgary as you know. In the morning I visited local Nikkon Fast Lube to change the oil in FJ Cruiser. Right next to it was Starbucks so I grabbed a latte while oil was changed. I filled up on gasoline and took off for Canadian Rockies. I stopped by little cute town Canmore and continued off to Banff. In Banff I had lunch in the Irish place where waitress tried to jiff me for $5 change. There goes her tip!

Ride from Banff to Jasper was simply spectacular. Number of peeks, valleys, canyons, glaciers, elks, birds, lakes and rivers I have seen, wow. In 150 mile drive from Banff to Jasper I stopped probably about 40 times, which made my trip longer than I expected. Even with all the stops, when I pulled into Jasper, I had another 2h of daylight so I decided to continue to Hinton, which was another hour north towards Dawson Creek. Here I am reporting at the end of week one. It went by really quickly.

I am also releasing Google Map for week 1. This map might have some items out of order but I am sure you will get the general feeling for the progress I have made in the first week of travels.

Two rainy days

Thursday and Friday were just brutal weather wise. It all started out with rain in Missoula, MT. I turned on CB radio and forecast called for 2-4" of snow in the mountains heading north to Kalispell, MT. Ride was good and FJ Cruiser handled well over the mountains. I had coffee break in Kalispell and moved on towards West Glacier. Again, my timing was off, since road through the Glacier NP is closed until mid-June. Yey!!! So, I drove around the park, and on the Shelby, MT. This part of Montana is washed with heavy gusty winds.

Next morning, while still raining, I crossed into Canada. Alberta here I come. And, it was just like Montana, except flatter, with gustier winds, lower speed limits, more expensive gas and well that Canadian feeling to it :) I reached DPP (Dinosaur Provincial Park) and pleasantly surprised I was not the only person there. Two rednecks from Montana were just as surprised to see City Slicker. Nice thing is that I was able to drive inside of the park. It reminded me of the South Dakota Badlands (DPP is part of Canadian Badlands), except it looked a little different with all the rain, I don't know how else to explain it. It looked like it was eroding right in front my eyes. Another thing I noticed about Alberta is abundant wild life.

Drumheller was short ride north. This is the place hosting largest Dinosaur. You can actually climb inside of it to a platform within the mouth of the Rex and look outside. I got there too late (story of my early trip, early-late-late-early, timing I have to work on), so I snapped picture and drove off into the sunset, towards Calgary. Before you go off into the sunset, check out that photo. FJ can fit into one T-Rex's foot, and it is not the optical illusion, I measured it.

I finished off the night with dinner at Big T's Smokehouse.