1. Dawson Creek, the "official" MIle zero city of the Alaskan Highway (Al-Can)
2. A Fox (Reynard) came out of the woods, ran along a fence and waited under the shade of the tree for me to take the picture.
3. A view of the countryside just outside of Ft. St. John, BC. Notice the agriculture at this high latitude.
4. The memorial for the WW2 men who lost their lives in a boat accident on Charlie Lake BC
Day 30 -Monday July 4th, 2011 Independence Day (235th year)
Here on the Al-Can (Alaska) Hwy., we will have no other other stop of more than one night from here on. There will be an evening at Liard Hot Springs for soaking in the outdoor warm waters, and some good historic stories as we travel, but we will keep moving along starting tomorrow all the way to Anchorage. (Original bridges and artifacts from the road building in 1942.)
Back in Michigan and the rest of the USA there will be a lot of celebration on this Independence Day with fireworks and parades and family picnics and get togethers. That is as it should be as we look back on the forming of the best government in the world. Maybe it’s not perfect , but it is what WE make of it.. So I hope you all had a good time remembering. I know that in the various locations of my family there will be a lot of fireworks and some sparklers for the children. Stewartstown PA;, Grand Haven MI;, West Branch MI;, Louisville, KY;, Grand Rapids MI:, and on the Muskegon River at the Hardy Pond. All across America they are celebrating the birth of this nation. Where is your family remembering?
Today here, gave Ruth and I a chance to look over the area on the side roads and trails and two Provincial Parks that are on Charlie Lake here near Fort St. John, BC. Lake Charlie is about 12 miles long and has great fishing. Right next to the RV Park is a huge boat launch and parking lot. The cooperation between local entities has even placed an excellent , fenced in , playground at the edge of it for children to use while dad is fishing. Mom’s bring their chairs and read, relax or push the swings. In the drive around the south end of the Lake today we saw dozens of boat launches. They call them “Sportsmen‘s Access”, here. More on that later.
That reminded me that when we were in Grand Prairie, we saw the use of ‘pheronome’ patches on Pine trees to selectively prevent the attack from the Mountain Beetle Pine borer. What the patch does is make the beetle believe that the tree is dying (same scent or attractant) and they go away. Of course it is used in limited places where decorative trees need to be preserved. It is a HUGE problem here in BC and the west.
Back to today! We did both Charlie Lake Provincial Park and Beatton Provincial Park, which are only about 10 mies separated and opposite sides of the Southern (populated) end of the Lake. Birding was slim but we did get a few species. The west wind has blown since we arrived at about 30-35 mph, and that keeps the birds deep in the forest away from the winds. Another trail was at Northern Lights College here and that proved to be a longer jaunt than we expected. Ruth was very tired at the end as there were lots of up and down hills. We ate lunch there at the end of the trail, picked up some bread and headed home . We saw two Flycatchers new to the list in the Dusky and the Least. At the end of the day two 3 year old Bald Eagles flew around the end of the Lake looking for food. Good stuff.
Gas is a bit higher here, but still good for this region at $1.37/L. By now you can figure the US cost.
We took one more walk around the end of the lake where we saw the Barrow’s Golden Eye yesterday (a mom and her six young ones), but they were not about to be on that Lake with the wind whipping up the waves to whitecap size. I might mention that Ft. St. John has a HUMUNGOUS ice arena and practice building. It is about the size of Grand Rapids Van Andel Arena. For a town of 30,000 that is dynamic. Of course the winters are long here. Oil, gas, timber, and agriculture are the main industries.
Tomorrow we get to see the historical portions of the building of the AL-Can highway. The Alaskans after the war didn't like that being referred to as ‘Al-Can’ so they finally got the official name changed to “Alaska Highway” which is used today.
During WW2 when the road was being built the 10,000 men stationed here had many jobs. One day in April, a crew was assigned to move equipment and dozers on small raft/boats with motors from the south end of the Charlie Lake to the north end to be used there on the road. They started out with small waves of 1/2 foot, but by the time they got to about 1/2 way and the waves were 2-3 feet, one of the sides of the raft/boat was taking on water, so the captain ordered the raft/boat to head for shore. Waves filled the boat and the boat capsized (this was April) and the men floundered. A man in his cabin onshore preparing breakfast, saw the boat earlier and looked again and it was gone. He got in his rowboat and rowed out to rescue the men. In three trips he rescued five men , and some 15 men drowned. There is a wonderful memorial to them and the rescuer just at the shore of this RV Park. Canada awarded the man many honors and now there is a memorial. (See pic).
Tomorrow we head for Ft.Nelson and the day after that Liard Hot Springs! Yes we will get in and soak! Thanks for reading!
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