'Through the fur trappers town", Day 28, July 2, 2011

Day 28 July 2, 2011 Travel from Hinton to Grand Prairie. 100 miles of just trees.

(Looks like I will have to download pictures in the AM, Internet very slow)

It looked like a great day again with the morning temperatures hovering around 54F. It is a great improvement from the cool 30’s and 40’s of the previous days. The day got better and ended at a comfortable 75 F in Grand Prairie in the afternoon.

The road from Vinton on AB 40 to Grand Cache is a very hilly and old road .It was the first road built to Grand Cache as it was only a trail from here to Grand Prairie until the 1960 (Grand Cache became incorporated in 1969). The journey was through large tracts of forests that have been clear cut for many years. Now the new growth is filling in the old cuts with fresh light green colors. This area is heavy with logging but it was Saturday and there were NO TRUCKS! So the road was relatively devoid of traffic and the morning went smoothly. There is a large coal mine at Grand Cache that is in full operation and they produce electricity as well. Grand Cache Coal Corporation.

We did stop at Grand Cache after seeing some caribou along the roadside and Mule deer right after that. Grand Cache (3,000+ pop.) is a town that s getting onto the 21st century very quickly, and with good infrastructure and facilities. The people seem to understand that with the new connection to Grand Prairie and a shortcut around Edmonton after the Icefield Parkway, on the way to Alaska, they can capitalize on the opportunity to grow and prosper. The Visitor Center there is as good as any we have seen with memorabilia, history and wonderful displays. We usually scan the children's and nature books in the gift shop. We gassed up at $1.16/L = $3.48/gal. (US) much better than Sascatchewan River gasoline price at nearly $5.00/gal. The remainder of the road from Grand Cache was the newer road built in the 1990’s and was still in good shape with only some frost heaves occasionally were felt. It is a different feeling to go through the solid green forests and not see anything else but rolling hills with trees. It is a rather clean feeling with no houses, or structures of any sort for 100 miles. Can’t do that very many places.

Grand Prairie is the most northern agricultural area in the world at 54 degrees north latitude. It has cattle, hay, some grains and root crops.

The last landmark before the Tamarack (note spelling!) Campground was the Wapiti River named after the many caribou that inhabit this area. This campground, like all on this weekend, was full, but we did have a reservation so got site number 2 right up front for the short timers. (See pic)

We arrived at 1:45 so had some time to write cards, download mail, upload pictures and just unwind. It felt good. Supper was taco salad and then we watched a movie for the first time as we had brought a few Net Flix movies with us. We watched “Unstoppable “ about the runaway freight train in PA.

It was a good day and although the phone connections were non existent we didn’t mind a bit.It os good to have them quiet some days.

(Forgot to add) Last night at the KOA campground in Hinton a bright red, German “self-contained” bus pulled in. It carries about 24 passengers from Germany and tours North america for 60 days. They sleep on it, and have some meals so just keep moving. They started in NYC , went through Toronto, Detroit, Ann Arbor Chicago, Glacier NP and now will head for Alaska. You may have seen some of these on the road.

Tomorrow we head for the Al-Can Highway and Fort St.John up the road 200 miles.