End of the Road

This is the final week of our journey to the north.  We left Kitimat and lazily headed east.   It was going to be an easy drive home and perhaps along the way we would find clear skies!

Our first stop was Hazelton, BC and area.  Actually there is Hazelton and New Hazelton.  The original Hazelton is much the same as it was with many of the buildings still the same. 

It was a major transportation stop along the river.  We then crossed Hagwilget canyon on a one-lane suspension bridge - rather interesting I must say - on the way to Ksan.  Ksan is a historical village and museum which replicates an ancient Gitxsan village.

Suspension Bridge

Hagwilget Canyon

Many of the towns along the Yellowhead highway in BC have lovely signs to welcome one to their community. 

Here is a sample of the entrance to Vanderhoof which is right next to a terrific little museum.  They have restored several buildings including an old hotel and have done an amazing job.  So often you can look into the rooms but are not allowed to enter them.  In these buildings, you can go into each and every room - what a treat.

Just west of Burns Lake, BC we cam across a couple of fellows who  had a plan to canoe across Canada and down to Florida.  One young fellow was from Australia and the other was from Victoria.  They were just getting to the top of six mile hill.  We stopped to chat and they needed some water.  We replenished all their containers of water.  They rely on the rivers and streams for water and there is none on the hills. Their plan was to enter the water near Burns Lake, and they would be able to mostly travel by water to Winnipeg and then down to Florida.  I will have to track their progress on the their facebook page.

We stopped at several visitor centres  as they are a great source of information as well as at numerous rest areas.  I must compliment British Columbia as they have visitor centres in most towns and rest areas are not very far apart.  There is always an area to stop and have a break and every one of them have garbage cans.  The visitor centre at Hazelton had some neat statues depicting some local history. 

Then we came across as rest area that had a terrific boardwalk through a rain forest.

We often stayed at BC recreation sites.  There are quite a number of them, often on a lake, all free, sometimes free firewood and while some are better than others, generally they are all terrific.  Our last night was at one just outside of McBride.  It was on a great lake but it also seemed to be a real frog hatchery.  The edge of the water was black with polliwogs and tiny frogs - you couldn't walk without stepping on them - I stayed away!!

Baby Frogs

Tadpoles

On our way through, there really was some spectacular scenery.  Our last night was in Alberta near Innisfree.  What a great view!

Our View

Our trip north has come to an end.    It was a trip of 12,300 kms, one state, three provinces, and two territories.  There really was some unbelievable scenery - the northern tundra, the Canadian shield, the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, and two oceans. 

Mount Robson

The weather started hot but changed quickly.  Very few days were not cloudy and most days we had some moisture - sometimes a few drops, and sometimes, a steady rain.  A sweater was pretty well part of my attire; however, on the most part, it didn't stop us from doing anything or going anywhere!

I would like to thank those of you that took the time to make a comment or two - I appreciate hearing from you!

Thanks for following our journey.  It is time to take a break but I will be back the end of October as we head south for another trip.  Have  a great summer!!

North Western BC

As we were travelling from Stewart, we saw a huge billowing of smoke and a very strong smell.  Further down the road we saw that it came from a forest fire that apparently had just started.  We stopped and watched as the planes flew back and forth dropping fire retardant.  It was interesting to see how the retardant was really working as you could see how the fire was suppressing.

It had been quite a while since we had been in a town of any size so when we arrived in Terrace, BC there were some things that needed to be attended to.  We had been on the road for quite a while, mostly in remote areas, we had to have an oil change.  We go to Walmart and, with empty bays, they tell us that perhaps they could fit us in on Tuesday.  Off to the Ford dealer we go and he can do it right away (this is 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon).  He gives us a quote, we say do it, and off we go to A & W for our free root beer!  We come back to pick up the truck and whoa, they want double what the quote was.  As we discuss this and the reason for it, it is now close to closing time and we are talking to a staff member with no authority (other than to give the quote which he had made a mistake when he gave it).  We pay the bill and leave, very unhappy.

We spend the night in Terrace and head off to Prince Rupert.  It is a wonderful drive with great weather (yes the sun was shining).  We toured through the town.  It seems that every seaport has a fisherman’s wharf – a marina of some pretty nice boats/yachts, restaurants and gift shops lining the edge.  We drove down to the area where they load the big ships but of course, you can get close.  Port Edward, which is a small community just south of Prince Rupert, became our stop for the night.  It was a great spot, up on a little hill, overlooking the inlet. Well it was until 4 a.m. when five long, noisy, freight trains went by.

On our way to Kitimat, we stopped again at Terrace to visit the Ford dealer to speak to a manager, in which we were successful.  We voiced our concerns and responded by saying he would check it out and call us the next morning.  He called and refunded us the overcharge – wow, that was pretty good customer service.

We arrived in Kitimat and found a campsite right on the Kitimat River where there is supposedly great salmon fishing.  The first day we went to see the Squirrel Tree.  There are several “squirell” houses where people provide them with food.  Also, it has become a memorial for fisherman who fished in the Kitimat River and have passed on to another fishing hole. 

Here we met with Gerry’s sister and husband and his nephew and family.  During the week we had a great visit.  We went to see the  giant Sitka spruce which is said to be over 500 years old.  Unfortunately, the top has broken off but it is still quite the sight.  We also took a tour of Rio Tinto Alcan – the aluminum smelter based in Kitimat.   Recent upgrades resulted in some areas that we were not able to see very well as they were still having some issues with driving the bus in some areas.  It was an interesting presentation.  From there we went to buy some groceries at the local No Frills Store.  As we were leaving a lady called: “sir, sir”.  We looked around to see who she was calling when she called again.  It turned out that she was calling us.  They were waiting for someone to pay for groceries with their PC Mastercard, which we did.  The result – a $50 prepaid Mastercard.  What a way to end the week!!

I have always heard that at Kitimat you can catch lots of salmon, see lots of eagles grab fish from the river and see lots of bears catching fish in the river.  Well, I no longer believe that – it didn’t happen I’m afraid.   No fish were caught, saw no eagles and saw no bears!!  Maybe another time.

I don't know how this blog will look on your computer but when I preview it, the type is not consistent.  I apologize for this but I haven't been able to correct it but I promise to keep trying!!

I hope everyone has a great week - hope you stop by next week!!

Back in Canada

We carried on to Haines, AK where we spent a couple of nights which gave us a chance to tour around the town.  They have a Hammer Museum which I thought might be interesting; however, Gerry felt that a hammer is a hammer is a hammer and just how many different ones could there be.

We camped out at Chilkoot Lake where apparently the grizzly bears feed at the mouth of the river from the Lake.  Well we drove over a couple of times and we sat and waited and waited but no grizzlies. 

We booked a ferry over to Skagway which was quite an experience.  We arrived at the ferry terminal in plenty of time and got into our allotted space.  When the ferry arrives, it came to the dock sideways as the entrance for the vehicles was on the side of the ferry rather than at the end as most of them.  Several cars were loaded first and when it was our time to load and the attendant comes over and says, come and pull out here as you are going to back in.  The look on Gerry’s face (and likely mine too) was one of disbelief.  We have been having trouble getting backed into a campsite so now he gets to back down a ramp and makes a sharp left to get parked in his lane.  There were several staff members helping and give directions.  He only had to pull ahead once to get straightened out (and that was at the beginning so he could start down straight) – amazing!!  Apparently not everyone backs down as easily because the day before the ferry was two hours late as they tried to get a vehicle towing a trailer backed in and apparently it wasn’t going very well.

Skagway is a pretty little town at the base of some mountains.  The store fronts, on the most part, are quite colourful.  But about all that is in town is shops.  There are quite a number of jewelry stores and many of them have people standing in the doorways telling you of the authentic gold jewelry they have to offer – reminiscent of visiting Algodones in Mexico.  Then it was back to Canada along one of the most scenic drives we have been on up to Carcross, YT.

This trip has been absolutely amazing.  We have never met such friendly folks from all over the world.  One evening we were chatting to a young couple – she was a teacher up at Tuktoyaktuk who was on a working visa from Czech Republic but had to go back as her visa was expiring.  She was also in charge of the art program and gave us a couple of beautiful postcards that she had made.  The young fellow with her was from Montreal and had just got a permanent job in Yellowknife.  Then there was a young couple from Germany who had started their two year tour of the Americas in Argentina and were on their way north.  I find that on the most part, people are more than happy to chat and share their experiences.

We passed through Jade City.  Now this is really gift store near a site where they mine jade.  It is family owned and you could watch as they prepared the pieces.

As we headed south we decided to take a little tour to Stewart, BC which is Canada’s most northern ice-free port.  It is a little town just across the U.S. border from Hyder, Alaska which is Alaska’s most southern settlement with some very interesting characters!!   Here, when you cross the border there is no American customs – only when returning to Canada where the officer we had today was one of the most pleasant.  There is a viewing station where the bears come to eat the salmon from the river except the salmon haven’t come yet; hence no bears.   

We found a small recreation site and settled in for several days.  While the weather was cloudy and cool for the first couple of days,  the drive in was spectacular, and the people we met wonderful.  It was quit sad to leave this place as we became quite a little community – a young couple with two children from Calgary, a  photography profess, a social worker from Nebraska, and a retired policeman from Australia – and all so interesting.

The young couple from Calgary were big hikers so one day they went off on a hike with their 6 year old son and 7 week old daughter.  When they hadn’t returned some seven hours later we went to the RCMP with our concerns.  Fortunately, they arrived back shortly thereafter so off we went to say all was well.  Since we did not have any cell service, this meant running into town about 15 kms away.  We met the young officer as he was on his way out so he got to cancel the Search and Rescue team that were on stand-by and said he was going back to do his report and “that was the kind of reports he liked to do”.

This area also is the home to Canada’s fifth largest glacier, the Salmon Glacier.  We drove out to the summit on a great clear day and it is massive.  On the way there is an observation station where the bears come to eat the salmon from the river – but the salmon weren’t there yet so, no bears.  Hopefully we get to see them before we head back home.

I’m afraid that this week I will be boring you with photos.  There is just so much incredible scenery so it is very hard to pick some special ones as they are all special.

To The Top of the World

As we were deciding on our course of action at Eagle Plains (half-way to Inuvik), the fellow beside us had a very dejected look.  We went over to chat and he had decided to turn around as he was on a motorcycle and had fallen once on the muddy and slippery road.  We told him that we were also unsure but we were going to call Inuvik and see if we could get a room for a couple of nights and if we could, he was welcome to come with us.   He pondered over it for a while and decided that he had come this far, it was a shame to turn back (thought exactly as we had).   He was from France and was on a tour of the Americas – landed in Montreal and would finish in Argentina.  We had a great visit, learned a lot about travelling in Europe.

Standing in the Arctic Ocean

Kelly smoking fish

Swans right near Tuktoyaktuk

 A Pingo

DEW (Distance Early Warning) station

A baby caribou

We made it to the top of the world - I peered over the edge but there wasn't anything I could see.  The landscape up was absolutely amazing.  To see the tundra  with lakes dotted throughout is unbelievable.  And then there we were, at the Arctic Ocean, it really is hard to believe.  Gerry was fortunate enough to stand in it; however I was relegated to taking pictures so I wasn’t able to do so.  The town of Tuktoyaktuk (known as Tuk) is quite small.  They were somewhat unprepared for the influx of tourists so they quickly converted a park into a camping area.  A fisherman had a smokehouse set up on the beach where they were smoking fish and selling smoked fish.  I was thrilled to see the sign of a market of local crafts that afternoon starting at one.  We toured around until shortly after one so we could see some of the local crafts.  Well, one lady was at the door with her wares waiting for someone to open up, and there didn’t seem to be any others unless they had set up early (which was doubtful) so we decided that we still had a bit of a drive back to Inuvik so we carried on.  Tuk is also the home of the pingos which is a hill of clear blue ice covered with grass and moss.  Most buildings are built above ground – I would think the floors would always be cold.  Our visit to Tuk was a picture perfect day – clear skies, no wind, and temperatures of +20C – the week before saw temps of 0 to +8 so we were in luck.  In the summer the days are very long as the sun does not set for 57 days.

Igloo Church (Catholic)

Since we got back at a decent time we decided to tour the town of Inuvik.  We stopped at the grocery store  and were totally shocked at some of the prices that the residents have to pay for some of their groceries.  We also noticed that the satellite dishes seemed to point down.  I’m guessing that they are getting a signal even though it looks as if they are pointing towards the ground.  And yes, it is light for 24 hours  – at midnight the sun was still well above the horizon.  I wish I could have stayed up to see the transition of it setting in the west and rising in the east simultaneously.

We left Inuvik on another great day but the prediction for the next way was rain.  We decided to pick up our trailer and head for pavement (766 kms away).  After two one hour delays – one hour because we missed a ferry by 1 minute and another hour when we had a flat tire on the trailer.  After as long, tiring drive we missed most of the rain, found a place to park for the night and crashed.

We drove into Dawson City and the first thing was to wash all the mud and muck off the truck and trailer.  We found a car wash and luckily no one was there so we were able to wash the truck and trailer at the same time.  We didn’t do a great job but we knew there was more gravel so the next wash will be better.  The campground we were staying at in Dawson City was across the McKenzie River so we had to take a ferry.  We got into the line-up and about three  hours later, we were on the ferry.  As it turned out, that was the only day that there were long line-ups – but it gave a great opportunity to chat with others passing through.  The next day we walked on to the ferry to tour Dawson City.  Many churches  at home have a church on the main level and a hall in the basement.  It seemed odd that the Catholic Church was on the second floor and the hall on the main floor but when you think about it, we have the same thing except our main floor is below ground.   We saw many of the original buildings, toured the SS Keno which was a steamship that brought supplies and then we took a river tour on a paddle wheel boat.  The scenery up and down the river was fantastic. As we watched a paddle wheeler go by we decided that we needed to take a ride on it.  The scenery was unbelievable.  We were able to take a picture of the boat from our campsite and a picture of our campsite from the paddle wheeler.  As we were walking back to the trailer, Gerry spotted some wild

strawberries along the side of the road which we picked and had them with cereal the next morning – yummy, yummy, yummy!!

Something doesn't seem quite right

How to portage a canoe

We were absolutely amazed at the number of motorbikes and cyclists that were on the road to Tuk – it is 900 kms of gravel each way – as well as on the road we were going on next.  We chatted with a father and son cyclists from Toronto who had just done the trip to Tuk and had come over the Top of the World Highway – also mostly gravel.

The next morning it is off to Alaska, and we went on the Top of the World Highway.  This highway climbs out of Dawson City and on the most part it follows along the tops of the mountains which result in some incredible views.  It is too bad that a photo does not do any justice as any haze seems to blur the scene.  On our way we stopped at Chicken, Alaska where you can still do some panning for gold.  The story is that it was named Chicken because the gold miners couldn’t spell Ptarmigan.  The area still has some active gold mines, and lots of folks still prospecting for gold.

We stopped in Tok, Alaska as the advertisements said that you could see the sled dogs and the puppies.  When I asked, I was told there were no puppies this year but to go around the back to see the dogs – you can see what we found.  There were no dogs to be seen so he carried on.

A pleasant but cloudy day as we head over to Haines, Alaska.  We

saw our first grizzly bear – a baby that we were able to capture with our dashcam.  The wildlife has been very scarce so we were excited to see this one.  We have stopped at a couple of government day use/campgrounds here in Alaska.  At both of them, there was a stand with child life jackets for folks to use when the children are playing in the water – what a great idea which should be adopted everywhere.

The mosquitoes are not getting any smaller, and they are still mighty hungry.  I’m hoping to build up an immunity to them which apparently what one should do.  We will see if that works.

Another week comes to a close and I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and the many photos of the past week.  Have a great week!!

I will end with just a couple of photos of some of the scenery!!