| From Hinton, Alberta we drove 203 miles
up highway 40 to Grande Prairie and during the scenic drive we passed through
only one small town. Most of the road was good with a few rough areas and
we saw many mountains, valleys and a lot of logging and energy. Most side
roads were for logging trucks. We passed a coal fired electric plant, and
saw oil wells and natural gas plants and pipelines that send energy south.
Alberta has a lot of natural energy and a booming economy.
At the metro of Grande Prairie (population
50,000) we stopped at Wal*Mart and spent two nights - something we seldom
do. Within walking distance was shopping, restaurants and a movie cinema
and we took advantage of all of them. We also found free WiFi so we did
email, updated websites and checked our finances to determine if we could
continue traveling or needed to get jobs. After studying our financial
spreadsheet we determined we could afford a couple more tanks of diesel
fuel so we headed up the road.
Dawson Creek, British Columbia It was only 81 miles to Dawson Creek traveling highway 43 in Alberta which became highway 2 in British Columbia. It was a pleasant drive on mostly good road and Linda and I decided the drive was much like two places we are familiar with - Nebraska and Kentucky. We drove for miles through farmland with railroad tracks paralleling the highway and grain silos in each small community. That is similar to driving highway US 30 across Nebraska. Before we reached Dawson Creek we saw rolling horse farms that reminded us of our home state of Kentucky. On reaching Dawson Creek we stopped at Wal*Mart for two nights. Across the parking lot was a Days Inn with free WiFi and I walked across the parking lot several times to connect and do email. After having two bad meals with terrible service in Grande Prairie (Denny's and Smitty's), we chose White Spot Restaurant in Dawson Creek for our next meal and got delicious food and excellent service. Dawson Creek's claim to fame is the city
is the beginning of the Alaska Highway better known as Mile Marker 0. We
took pictures at the ceremonial marker at the visitor center and then drove
to the center of town and made pictures at the actual Mile Marker 0 sign.
It is located in the middle of a busy intersection so we had to dodge traffic
to get pictures. While in town we studied murals depicting the history
of the old downtown.
At the Railway Station Museum & Visitor
Centre we watched an interesting 50 minute video about the history and
construction of the Alaska Highway. Then we drove north to the Kiskatinaw
Bridge, the only original wood Alaska Highway bridge still in use. As I
walked across the old wood bridge I saw a nail had come loose and I picked
it up. So I now own an original nail that was in an original wood bridge
on the Alaska Highway.
History of the Alaska Highway In 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the American and Canadian governments re-evaluated their security and decided they needed land transportation for military goods, materials and men from the continental states to Alaska. As one part of the wartime measures, 1,500 miles of road needed to be constructed through the vast untamed wilderness of northern Canada and Alaska. Building in the northern areas would not be an easy feat and for eight months, men and women battled mountains, rivers, mud and mosquitoes to finish the vital artery. On March 9, 1942, Dawson Creek, a small northern Canadian community with a population of 600 people, bustled and swelled with activity when the first train carrying American troops arrived. In a matter of weeks the town's population exploded to 10,000. To build the highway it took 11,000 American soldiers and engineers, 16,000 civilians from Canada and the United States, and 7,000 pieces of equipment. They worked against some of the toughest and most unforgiving wilderness in the world. After a little over eight months the highway
was completed. The 1,528 mile road included 133 major bridges, 3,000 culverts
and cost approximately $140 million US dollars. The Alaska Highway has
been under constant upgrades and shortened routes and today the highway
is 1,422 miles long and stretches from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to
Delta Junction, Alaska.
Fort Nelson The 278 mile drive from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson on highway 97 (Alaska Highway) was on good pavement, rough pavement and a few short areas of construction with smooth gravel. Most of the road followed gas fields, pipelines and the forestry industry which is alive and well in British Columbia. During the drive we saw deer, a grey wolf and a Mama bear with a cub. The day was mostly cloudy and dark so the pictures are not very good. We stopped at Fort Nelson Truck Stop which
is a combination truck fuel station, restaurant, convenience store and
campground. We planned to fill our diesel fuel tank and spend the night
in the campground. We quickly learned they had no diesel fuel, the restaurant
had closed and the entire facility would close the next day. Due to the
high cost of fuel less people are traveling this year and their income
was only 40% of an average year. They did not know if someone will take
over the facility or it will remain closed. In town we ate at Fort Nelson
Café and the waitress told us their business is down big time this
year.
Before leaving Fort Nelson we stopped at
the Husky service station to fill our fuel tank and would you believe the
fuel pump shut off when it reached The bad news is we are still heading north
and will reach the Yukon tomorrow. The REALLY BAD news is our destination
is southern Alabama.
Muncho Lake The drive from Fort Nelson to Muncho Lake,
British Columbia was 158 scenic miles over fairly good to fairly bad road.
We drove steep grades to mountain tops and used the diesel engine's exhaust
to slow down descending mountains to valleys. The road twisted through
scenic terrain and much of the drive was done at 45 mph. It would have
been very scenic if the sun had shined, but we had heavy clouds and a little
rain. During the drive we saw some deer and a lot of caribou and even had
to stop because caribou were blocking the road. At Muncho Lake we decided
to spend the night in a scenic pull-out overlooking the lake and mountains.
It was free camping and we need to save money so we can fill the fuel tank
again.
Liard Hotsprings As we prepared to leave Muncho Lake a lone
caribou walked beside our motorhomes and slowly made his way down to the
lake. Then a herd of Stone Sheep walked over rocks beside our motorhomes
and down to the highway where they licked salt deposits beside the road.
Stone Sheep are similar to Bighorn Sheep except their horns mature at a
small size. We watched the sheep about twenty minutes and then we drove
north along the lake, over a mountain and into Liard River valley. This
part of the Alaska Highway was both narrow and rough and wide and smooth
with a few miles of packed gravel repairs. It was a scenic drive of 38
miles with signs warning to watch for buffalo. And we saw a lot of buffalo,
some lone ones and many in herds. They were the biggest and healthiest
looking buffalo we have ever seen.
Liard Hotsprings Provincial Park has clear water hot springs with water emerging at 118 degrees, then it flows through three pools with the temperature falling to 100 degrees in the last pool. All four of us got into our swim wear and jumped in. Well, we eased our way into the cooler portion and worked up to the warmer water. After a soothing and relaxing soak we walked to the Park Lodge and ate a late lunch. Camping in the park cost $19 a night and
they have no hookups and no dump station. We stayed in a large level gravel
parking lot across from Liard Hotspring's entrance where camping is free.
We did pay $10 (family group rate for all four of us) to enter the park
and use the hot springs.
Watson Lake, Yukon Territory The Alaska Highway is Highway 97 in British Columbia and it becomes Highway 1 in the Yukon Territory. The 129 mile drive from Liard Hotsprings to Watson Lake, Yukon was on nice wide pavement, rough narrow pavement and short areas of gravel. Along the drive we saw some buffalo and one black bear. At Watson Lake we stayed at Downtown RV Park which is nothing more than an open parking lot, but they have level sites on gravel, full hookups, cable, free WiFi, and an area to wash cars and RVs. A grocery store is next door and they sell a half-gallon of milk for $4.59, a 12-pack of store-brand soda for $8.99 (plus $1.20 in fees), and a chunk of Colby cheese for $8.99. Overall we found the cost of food along the Alaska Highway to be about triple the price of what we pay in the states. Prices in restaurant runs high too such as a hamburger and fries ($15.95), a quarter-pound burger with fries ($19.95) and don't even ask what cheese on the burger cost. Here in the Yukon, Rich was able to get his
satellite dish to connect to DirecTV making him a happy camper, but I was
not able to connect. Rich has a manual dish that can be tilted down low
while I have an automatic dish that is smaller and is not designed to dip
very low.
Watson Lake is famous for the Sign Post Forest.
In 1942 a homesick soldier working on the Alaska Highway posted a sign
pointing to his hometown with the mileage. Since then thousands of travelers
have post all kinds of signs and the latest count in 2007 was 64,371 unique
signs. The forest goes on and on and we enjoyed walking around the forest
reading the signs. Rich and Diane Emond posted their sign during their
Alaska trip in 2006 and the sign was still where they placed it. But it
was low on a post where winter snow covered it and caused it to age. So
Rich moved it to a higher place and sprayed the sign with a clear protectant
to preserve it.
We have driven 601 miles of the Alaska Highway and tomorrow we'll start our drive down the Cassiar Highway (highway 37). It will be a 541 mile drive with a stop at Stewart, British Columbia / Hyder, Alaska to watch bears catch salmon swimming up stream. We have heard reports that the highway is OK, terrible, impassable - you name it. We do know the first 60-70 miles is rough with pot-holes and a traveling speed of about 15 mph. We'll unhook the cars from the motorhomes and drive that part separately. The rest of the highway will be gravel and narrow or smooth and easy driving. If it rains the road can get so muddy it is impassable. Wish us luck. |
