Day 31 and 32, Tuesday June 5, 2011, Travel from Ft. St. John to Fort Nelson BC (pictures in separate post)
We got a good start on the day at 8:30 AM after attempting to get the Wi-Fi working. It wasn’t. It did last night but that was another day! This portion of the Alaska Hwy, begins to show the frost heaves and undulating that shows up in the Northern BC and S. Yukon. So the idea is to slow down a bit and be ready for the holes and bumps to avoids problems. ( I missed a couple today.) Slowing down for me would place the speedometer at from 50-55 mph. Of course the hills demand a slower rate and especially the 6-8% grades that for the most part are not long. There were two long ones today, one descending in to the Chief Sikanni River and the other one into the city of Fort Nelson, but it was not as long as the Peace River descent. The old original wooden bridge over the Chief Sikanni River (not used) was a memorial until a few years ago when it was torched by vandals. Just the pillars remain from 1942. We passed through many roadside stops , some had gas but mostly they had lodging. These are only open in the summer. Gas at Pink Mountain (“Only use one side of the pump, please”!) was $1.36/L and at Prophet River it was $1.47/L (I thought you would like to keep up with the gas prices.) The sign there at Pink Mountain gas station stated “No dogs in drive or in store ...ever!” This was one big driveway, too They must have had a dog problem at one time.
Today’s animals seen were the Black Bear, some Sandhill Cranes and W.T. Deer, all by the side of the road . But the surprise came also in the flower category as we saw the first “Fireweed” flowers for the first time. That is the state flower of alaska and is the first flower after a fire, with it’s light pink, tall, (six foot) blossoms, . This means we are getting north for sure. We are nearing the 60th parallel which is the border between the northern provinces of Canada (Yukon and BC.). The hills are filled with White and Black spruce and some sections are devastated by the Mountain Spruce Beetle that has killed millions of acres of trees in BC , and we will see more in Yukon and AThere are many kinds of poplar , but the most prolific are the Quaking Aspen and the white leaved Poplar.The get huge in the Rivers beds.
There is a huge oil shale field in NE British Columbia and NW Alberta called the Dillon Basin that is THEE development in these parts. Much activity and all along out of Ft. St. John we saw side roads with dozens of signs advertising the oil and gas companies that were located down those side roads. Here, like the area near Williston ND, are the “Man camps” set up to accommodate the workers. Many come by themselves and commute on weekends to homes not too distant. Just outside of Fort Nelson is the Spectra Gas Refinery and depot. There are hundreds of people living there in a sort of “company camp”. Spectra is a big employer here in the region. Along the Hwy, there re many gas lines seen coming out of the forests.
Fort Nelson is located at the junction of three rivers, namely the Fort Nelson, the Prophet and the Muskwa all uniting near town into the Fort Nelson River , which empties into the Liard River and eventually to the Mackenzie at Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean. On the maps of the area there is a mapmaking phenomena. There are some roads that are labeled ‘open only in the summer’ (winter snow) and there are some roads that are labeled ‘closed in the summer’. Why is that? The roads are designated as ice roads in the winter only. If you have seen “Ice truckers” on TV , you will understand. In the summer the permafrost melts and it is impossible to drive vehicles on the tundra without ruining it.
Tomorrow we will see much wildlife as this is the area (across northern BC) that has Buffalo, Bear, Mountain Sheep, Goats, and Moose. Hopefully we will see them all...not at one time! The following day we will cross the Rocky mountains again as it heads for the Arctic Ocean and we move west to Alaska. A stop at Liard Hot Springs for a dip will be welcome.
Had a chance to talk top one of the workers on road construction as he stopped buy and asked about the Tundra .He is anticipating shifting from Ford to Toyota as he heard they hold up well after 150,000 miles of rough work. I can’t make that claim but I would believe it may be true. IT sure handles nicely and is as smooth as silk as they say. The word is from those coming down the Hwy. that there is some construction, but no major redoing or the road surface. That sounded good. This will be delayed as there is no WiFI here that is working. There was, but it ,too is down. We will be patient.
Here in the campground I did observe a American Redstart and some Yellow Warblers and right outside the door this evening, a Orange Crowned Warbled as seeking food. Had we a few days here this would be a good birding area. This is a long established park with a large restaurant and store.
Day 32 Wed. July 6, 2011 to Liard River and Hot Springs.
Confession Time! yes, I goofed in the previous narration. I was under the assumption, like many of us, that the Rocky Mountains extend past the Yukon Border, but that is not the case. The Rocky Mountains terminate at Muncho Lake (see pic ) and in the Yukon the range that is there is geographically different and is named the Mackenzie Mountains. The continental divide does occur, however, near Swift River not far from here and continues into the Yukon north to the Arctic Ocean.
The stretch of road from Fort Nelson to Liard River (and beyond) is a very twisting, and undulating length of road. The pavement is good, but those frost heaves and ups and downs can be disconcerting at times. During the day we ran into one road crew putting what they call “gravel patching”. The tar truck goes first and lays the tar on a “patch” and the dump trucks go behind (backwards) and gradually pour out the gravel on devices designed for that smooth layering. Almost immediately the traffic can proceed with caution. My, so dusty afterwards! The dust was extreme and signs reminded us to keep our headlights on.
As we rounded a curve before Toad River there was a sign, just ones small sign at the side of the road it read ; “Cinnamon Buns Ahead- 4km”. Ruth and I both said “Wow! Let’s stop!”. So we got those $5.00 cinnamon buns and they were huge at about 6 inches on diameter. We got two and I stopped a few miles down the road at a pull out and ate mine. Ruth saved hers for ??? I filled up with gas there and the sign on the pump said “Tell us the number of liters you received.” WHAT? I found this to be true and later in the day another incident that showed a lot of trust up here in the north. (see pic) The cinnamon bun place (Toad River Inn) has been there for a number of years as I have stopped there on my way up before. Because there are few travelers and few places to go besides on the road we run into people many times in a day that we have seen that day or a few days before.
Now for the animals of the day. People said that the animal sightings on both sides (east and west) of Liard River would be numerous. They were right . We sighted and pictured , Black Bear , Caribou, Deer, Rocky Mountain Sheep , and some of those multiple times. No Moose yet, but then we are not on Alaska yet!
Muncho Lake is a great vista (see pic). The road actually runs right close to the shore line for many miles and you get a close up view of the Lake and the mountans on the west side.. There is a high pullout at the north end of the Lake and many picture have been taken from here. We added to that amount.
Earlier in the day we passed Stone Mountain where the Rocky Mountain Sheep come right to the side of the road and lick the minerals that is on the gravel. (See pic) Ruth got some nice shots of them. People are patient if you pull off on limited shoulder. JUst watch out for trucks.
The last stop of the day was at the campground at Liard River Resort. This is so honest here, too, that the store manager (Ken) has a big window and when someone comes to get gas , he walks out there (leaves the store open) and gets the info from the customer about the gas (no automatic devices), then returns to the store , a walk of about 200’ feet. We applied for a campsite as we had called ahead. No need to rush as we were with only one other camper in the 50 spot campground. No dump, but water and electricity. Electricity here in this “up north” country is run by a generator (commercial) which we can hear from the camp site easily.
Then, Jim went to the Hot Springs and enjoyed it immensely . It is a long walk, and a $5.00 fee, and the surrounding swamp is loaded with fish, plants, flowers and “life’. We got to the pool (actually on a stream) that has three depths of pool and three temperatures as the water begins to cool. It was not crowded and the people were very friendly . I met a couple from north of Ottawa and we talked about Alaska and rural Alaska. There was time for some bird watching and picture taking along the 1/3 mile boardwalk to the Pools. There were some birds in the campground, but we will see tomorrow if that holds true.
So it was another great day (73F and mostly sunny) and we saw lots of Rocky Mtn. Sheep and some hawks and a few songbirds. a little rain cloud went through just before we grilled the steaks, and it was gone before we started. Ot dampened the dust at least.
Tomorrow we cross into the Yukon 6 times before the “official” crossing at Lower Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment