DAY ELEVEN & TWELVE: July 22 & 23 2011
Prince George, British Columbia is quite the place. Dinner was tasty, we ate pasta (pronounced paaasta-with a long a) at Nancy O’s, a local favorite. After dinner we headed back to the wonderful campsite for showers and laundry! Much needed as our clothes were really starting to stink and so were we. We played a few rounds of go fish in the tent before calling it a night. As we were getting ready for bed the rain started to come in. It continued all night and we woke up on the 22
nd to one wet rain cover and a birthday boy—happy birthday to Clayton! Luckily for us, the half dome tent kept us warm and dry all night (with the exception of a minor leak near our feet). All was good as we packed up the Roaring Glacier and headed to Ft. Saint John by way of Dawson Creek (the start of the Alaska Highway).
We spent the majority of the morning in the car seeking out wildlife…we didn’t get lucky. We did however spot something down the road..construction! And lots of it. As we weaved through the highway and stopped for construction we were noticing the scenery was becoming more and more beautiful. Overall, the construction only added about an hour to our drive and we enjoyed it, it forced us to slow down and really enjoy what was around us. We pulled into Dawson Creek very excited as this is the beginning of the Alaska Highway! The drive in was beautiful, mustard flowers lined the highway making for gorgeous views. We never knew mustard could be so pretty! As we pulled into Dawson Creek the Roaring Glacier was thirsty so we filled him up. When Clayton was making his way into the gas station to pay, he was mistaken for Jesus by a few Canadian hilly billy kids and their dad. Clayton played along and blessed them on his way out. We celebrated Clayton’s 24th year of life with a ‘fancy’ lunch at the White Spot, a local hangout. Let’s just say we were really hungry so we ate it up! Heading out of Dawson Creek we posed for pictures at the world famous Alaska Highway sign and made it to our pit stop for the night: Fort Saint John.
Another lovely campsite was home for the night. Before pulling in we stopped at the local Safeway for dinner cookins (sushi) and deli made pasta-YUM! We hung out at the campsite for a little bit, letting the half dome air out after being squished into the soggy tent bag all day. As we sat and admired the other campers at the site we were greeted by a lady on a Harley, pulling into the site next to ours! We immediately liked her as she jumped off her bike and stroke up conversation with us (we also knew she had to be awesome since she flew an American flag off the back of her bike). She told us she was taking quite the ride-from Seattle to Anchorage. Soon we found out that she, Robin, was taking the exact same route as us, she was even planning on taking the same pit stops as us. We ended up talking to her well into the night sharing stories of our travels and getting to know one another. Before any of us knew it was 10 pm. The sky had fooled us as it was still light out. We called it a night…but here came the rain.
We started to wonder if it was following us. Where ever we decided to campout the rain did too. But it was ok-the half dome kept us dry and warm yet again! Our alarm went off really early but we both kept sleeping, hoping the storm would pass. It never really did so we go up anyways. We must have needed the sleep as we finally woke up at 8:30! We packed up the Roaring Glacier and said ‘good morning’ and ‘hope to see you later’ to our new friend Robin. The rain trickled off and on well into the morning but eventually cleared. We drove awhile, still hoping to spot any kind of wild life roaming the Alaska Highway with us. Still without a peek at much we pulled into Fort Nelson for lunch and a fill up for the Roaring Glacier. Both were fulfilling and we hit the road to stop just a couple hours later at the beautiful Summit Lake.
Summit Lake is inside a Provincial Park, even better (Provincial Park is the same thing as a National Park in the states)! This means cheaper cost-nearly ½ the cost of any previous campsites. And, we decided, much more beautiful. We found a spot near the turquoise, reflecting lake and got ready for our first hike in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As Clayton mentioned a 5 hour hike into the backcountry of the park Ashley got a little nervous feeling in her stomach. “This could be the day,” she thought, “We might see a bear!” Clayton convinced her it would be worth it, plus our legs were really getting sore from sitting in the car. We needed to get out and feel the burn. As usual, Clayton was right. The hike was well worth it. 5 hours it wasn’t but breathtaking it was. We aimed to hike to another lake not too far from camp but ended up taking the wrong trail. It happened for a reason….the view we saw from the top was amazing. A sea of mountains stood before us and we could see, although a small tiny spec away, the Roaring Glacier in the distance, proud that we had climbed to the top and jealous he couldn’t come with us. We finished the night making a ramen-noodle-like dinner watching the sunset on the lake. Right as we got done eating we were amazed at what seemed like a million fish jumping for their dinner too. It was quite the sight. Even though it was only about 8:30pm the sun was still high in the sky, but we were too tired to stay up with it. We packed away all the food and as we did…here came the rain. “Hurry! Get into the tent!” It thundered and lighteninged, hailed a tiny bit, and poured rain... all night.
Miles for the days (22nd & 23rd): 628.2
Miles per gallon: 21.6
Happy Birthday, Clayton!
Good 'ol Nancy O's...We'll take the paaasta!
Some loonies & toonies (one dollar coins-gold coin & two dollar coins-silver with gold in the middle) and cash.
The shower at the campsite...not too shabby, eh?
A roaring waterfull to take our minds off the construction.
Hard at work.
Who knew mustard could turn so many heads! There were yellow patches like this all over.
We made it to the world famous Alaska Highway! Now we just have to make sure we follow the arrow.
Clayton, already enjoying his birthday present (a book detailing the Yukon Gold Rush)-thanks mom!
Clayton has picked these up along the way to add to his collection!
Dryin out the 1/2 dome at our campsite in Ft. Saint John
Birthday Dinner!
We <3 the Roaring Glacier.
A clear, pink sunset at the campsite in Fort Saint John...no sign of rain.
Welcome to the Alaska Highway...potholes galore!
The logging industry is huge up here. Trucks full of logs zoom passed us everyday!
YIKES!
On our hike at Summit Lake.
The views from the top were gorgeous...this is the direction we will be heading!
Summit Lake from the top of our hike.
And from the bottom of our hike.
Ashley has become obsessed with taking pictures of the wildflowers. They are beautiful!
Clayton on the hike, trying to spot the Roaring Glacier.
If you look really hard at the top of this picture, in the darker part, you will spot a school of fish. These are guys that were jumpin all night!
The reflection when the water was still.
The view was gorgeous! Those are our campsite neighbors out on their canoe, trying to catch some fish.
DAY THIRTEEN: JULY 24 2011
Three straight days when waking up was incredibly hard. You see, it has rained every night, all throughout the night, the last three times we have camped. When you wake up in the middle of the Rocky Mountains in the heart of British Columbia it seems it is always light out making for a rough night’s sleep as well. The relentless rain wasn’t helping coupled with the first Canadian thunderstorm. After the first lighting strike Ashley shot up quickly from her book glaring into the tag inside the tent. The tag clearly says WARNING: be cautious in certain situations: high wind (check), lighting (check), flash floods, (check). Well three for three that’s not good. Even though the situation seemed uneasy , the scenery at Summit Lake was incredible making it all worth it. Clayton was sound asleep at 8 o clock pm preparing to drive the early shift. He never completely came out of his comatose to endure the night.
When we woke up Clayton was quick to make a nice cup of Joe but not before he stepped into a deep pool surrounding the tent. Later he told Ashley about hearing something near our campsite and that’s why he woke up so early. He did however poke his head out of the tent momentarily making a few owl rotations before he got out. Later he concluded it must have just been some stone sheep after he analyzed the scat around the site.
As we drove through the prettiest part of Canada, Clayton had a hard time keeping Ashley awake. Of course, she was exhausted after worrying herself all night. Clayton sure did have fun with his tired counterpart. He woke her up with every site of wildlife and beautiful scenery with the words “Golly, that’s a bear!” (In a very well-rehearsed Canadian accent.) There was never a bear thoughL
The first sign of wildlife was a Moose and her baby calve. Back to sleep… “Oh golly that’s a bear!” This time she awoke to a nice herd of stone sheep. Two babies accompanied by their mothers and a nice looking male sheep. Their ability to rock climb was pre-knowing but to see it in real life was overwhelming. Even the toddlers never misplaced a step and nimbly climbed 70 to 80 degree inclines. Alright, alright, enough fooling around with the sleeping Ashley, “ Oh golly that’s a Mountain Lion!” Clayton was so excited to see a Mountain Lion and neither one of us have seen on in real life. You could tell, as Ashley tried to argue it was a deer. Clearly, it was a Mountain Lion strutting alongside the highway fulfilling its role as the king of the forest. He was very timid and it was hard to even try and get close (probably good though.) The road kept winding twisting and turning as we came across a giant animal rivaling the size of the female moose spotted nearly an hour ago. The animal was not content on the right side of the road and was very forceful as it dashed across the Roaring Glacier. We drove alongside it about fifty yards away clocking the beast at about 30 miles an hour. It seemed to be a light jog for the creature. Later we found out it was a Caribou, very beautiful.
Onward and upward and downward, as well as side to sideward, we arrived at Mucho Lake. “Golly that’s a bear!” Nope. Just a lake. Well not just a lake, the most beautiful lake we have ever seen. The side of the mountains surrounding the lake are filled with copper giving the lake an indescribable color but we will try it anyway. Turquoise, blue, green and grey. We know, but try to imagine it (or look at the picture below). The lake stretched along the road for 8 km or 4.8 miles. Yeah I like miles. Puddle jumpers use the lake periodically giving us the first of many spotting of a plane in the water, here we come Alaska!
On to one of the main attractions on the Alaska Highway: the Liard Hot Springs. We visited the springs so early in the morning we were able to wave the park entrance fee and greet our friend from Fort Saint John, Robin, as she took her first step out of her tent. She told us an uneasy tale of waking up to black bear walking alongside her tent in the early morning. We walked on to the hot springs anyway weary of our first bear sighting. When we first arrived there were only two groups of people who had taken over the left side of the pool. Sweet! The whole right side to ourselves! Clayton put his foot in and screamed, “there ain’t no way I’m getting in there!” We realized we tried to get in the side with a temperature reading of 110 degrees. No wonder nobody was over there. We moved on down and it was quite nice. We ending up spending the money we saved on admission in the gift shop, though.
On to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory where we reserved a hotel room for the night (the second one of the trip). We slowly negated the roads in hopes to see more wildlife and yet again…. “Oh golly that’s a bear!” This time for real. Finally a bear and so close! In the next two hours of driving we spotted eight black bears all next to the highway waiting to be famous on the internet. Sorry to the few we didn’t post pictures of but what can we say, your smile was a little weak, your runway walk was pathetic, posture needed lots of work, and you need to learn how to pose for our camera. The next group of wildlife: wild Bison. We have both seen bison and probably all of you as well as enjoyed the great meat. These Bison were different though because they were wild they were much more majestic. Too bad such an awesome school chose such a terrible mascot. Oh wait is that the other way around? (Ashley says GO Buffs! From the other side of the room).
Watson Lakes main attraction: the signpost forest. This is an array of signs put up by travelers of the Alaska Highway throughout the years. It was started by one man posting a sign 50 years ago so his military buddies could remember him. Today there are almost 73,000 signs posting mostly of the home town people have come from. Tonight we plan on making our sign “Denver, CO- 5280ft to Anchorage, AK-Sea Level Traveled by Ashley and Clayton”. We brainstormed many ideas including super gluing Canadian pennies to spell out the words. But were running low on cash. Good night…see you in Whitehorse.
*We apologize for the delay in blog entries as we entered a no internet zone*
Miles for the day: 325.1
Miles per gallon: 21.16
Momma moose and her baby! The first exciting peek at wildlife. Lots more moose to come we hope!
Stone sheep! This was the Momma and her baby. The baby was amazing at climbing straight up those rocks.
The mountain lion in the distance. When we tried to get closer but we spooked him!
The unbelievable Liard Hot Springs. Perfect timing...it soothed out our kinks and sore muscles from sitting in the car. And was awesome for Clayton's knee.
Us with our new friend Robin in the hot springs! She is awesome.
The path to the hot springs. Beware of bear. They like the hot springs too apparently!
The first bear we saw!!! He was a little guy, about 50 feet from the Roaring Glacier.
Ralphie's long lost step cousin. Go Buffs!
These beasts were huge. Lots of warning signs along the road for them because they wonder with their heads down and they're blind.
Smith River Falls was gorgeous. We wanted to hike in further but the trail looked dense and we knew bears were nearby.
This guy was big. He didn't really like us all that much, he growled a little bit when we snapped this picture.
The most amazing moment ever! We watched his roll over to scratch something on his big belly and Ashley snapped this shot right in time!
Getting closer and closer to AK!
The Signpost Forest was really cool.
It went on forever--nearly 73,000 signs have been posted since it started 50 years ago. Here are some of our favorites...
Yep. Go Buffs.
Yep. Go Rams.
The Boulder & Ft. Collins signs were on neighboring posts and were the first ones we saw when we jumped out of the car. Pretty crazy!
Ashley's mom's maiden name is DuBose, a spinoff of DuBois, and apparently a town in WY!
Clayton's grandparents, cousins and little cousins all live in Edmond!
Self explanatory. These towns are in NM.
The license plates posts were really cool, so many people have donated to the signpost forest. It is quite the site to visit!
