Day 15             Sat       5/31/08            On the Way to Dawson Creek

The start of the Alaskan Highway in Dawson Creek, BC is about 550 miles away. Too far for one day’s drive so we will travel two short days. Today’s destination is Whitecourt, AB about 100 miles west of Edmonton, AB. We went food  shopping then hit the road for an easy 300 mile drive to Whitecourt. We got set up in the campground, cleaned 10,000 dead bugs off of the windshield, did a couple of loads of laundry, some “house” cleaning and had dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Dawson Creek, BC.

Day 16             Sun      6/1/08              On to Dawson Creek

It was a pleasant 250 mile drive to Dawson Creek. On the way, we drove through Beaverlodge, AB where they had a 15 foot high beaver. We settled into the famous, Mile “0” Campground which is actually at mile 1.5. The staff told us they were expecting three caravans tonight. Glad we got in early. We should try to get their schedules so we can avoid them up the highway. As we read and relaxed later in the evening, we noticed that the sun was just setting. Then we noticed that it was 10:45 PM! Tomorrow we need to go to bed based on the clock, not the light!

Day 17             Mon     6/2/08              Exploring Dawson Creek

We started the day with a hike along Dawson Creek, checking out the birds. The highlight was an Alder Flycatcher, one of the pesky small flycatchers that can only be identified by their call. We listened to this one and confirmed our ID by playing the call on our iPhone. The Creek trail was a very pleasant two mile hike though it left us about ¾ of a mile from downtown and another 1.5 miles back to the coach. In downtown we checked out the displays in the Visitor Center and watched an interesting hour long video about the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942. It was almost unbelievable that they built a 1500 mile road through nearly impassable wilderness in eight months! Of course there were over 10,000 men and one thousand bulldozers sent to do the job. Next stop was the art museum in a restored grain elevator. After lunch we photographed the famous “Mile 0” sign and flag post then visited Alaska House, another local museum where we watched another hour long documentary about the building of the Alaska Highway. This one was a PBS production for the series, American Experience. There was some overlap but this one was worth watching too. Any questions about the highway construction? Just ask! Adjacent to the campground, we toured Pioneer Village, Dawson Creek’s equivalent to Calgary’s Heritage Park. We saw 1910 era buildings housing several private homes, schools, churches and businesses, all moved here from their original locations. Finally back at the campground after our five mile circumnavigation of Dawson Creek, we relaxed and chatted with some of our neighbors, also heading to Alaska.

                                                                                                        1930's Mural on Wall & Pole                             Mile Zero Flagpole

Day 18             Tue      6/3/08              On to Fort Nelson

The highlight of the 280 mile drive to Fort Nelson, BC was the Black Bear with two cubs we spotted by the side of the road. Unfortunately there was no place to pull over to watch them. The lowlight was the roadkilled moose. Most of the road was smooth with a lot of ups and downs and a couple of construction delays. The new, “best in Fort Nelson” (says their ad) campground is a big parking lot behind a hotel. Well, the WiFi signal is strong! We had planned to go to a show tonight that the locals put on every night to entertain tourists passing through but it has not started for the season yet.

Day 19             Wed     6/4/08              Best Day So Far

The route for the next two days driving is described as the most scenic on the Alaskan Highway with the best opportunities to see wildlife. The first day certainly lived up to that billing. The scenery was magnificent and we saw black bear, stone sheep, woodland caribou, moose and lots of birds and ducks.

Stone Sheep at Roadside, one with Transmitter

Late morning we stopped at a roadside establishment. Like many on the Alaska Highway, this was a gas station, restaurant, post office, motel and campground. With a name like Toad River, and promises of lots of birds in the nearby lake, how could we not stop. As we walked around back towards the lake, we saw a small group of people with cameras and there in site 14 of the campground, was a young bull moose. We took lots of pictures, checked out the six or seven species of duck on the lake and decided to spend the night.

                                                                                 Moose in Site 14                                                                                                        Muncho Lake

We took lakeside site 14 so we’d be sure to see the moose when he came back in the evening. After a delicious lunch in the restaurant, we drove to Muncho Lake and explored the campground we would otherwise have stayed at. It was right on the shore of a beautiful lake but the best sites were already taken. Back at the campground we washed some of the road grime off of the car and coach then sat outside and watched the ducks, grebes, swallows and moose (he stayed across the lake and did not visit our site).

                                                                Carl Scoping the Ducks and Grebes                                                                The Lake out our Windshield              

The restaurant has a collection of 7,456 hats on their ceiling. Now they have one more since Carl left one of his. After supper we were back outside enjoying the view and wildlife. What a glorious day!

Day 20             Thu      6/5/08              Liard River Hot Springs

We planned to leave early again today to improve our chances of seeing wildlife along the road. However, our departure was delayed as we watched all of the wildlife in the lake outside our windshield including more ducks and grebes plus two more moose. Even Ginger had wildlife to watch since there was a tree swallow nest box on the tree just outside the coach. She watched and twitched her tail as the birds flew back and forth delivering nesting material.

                                                                                                           Nest Box with Tree Swallow                                            Ginger Waiting for the Return of the Swallow

We still left before nine and drove to Muncho Lake along the road we had driven in the car yesterday. The scenery was still magnificent and we saw more stone sheep and moose along the road. By 11 AM we had reached the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. The campground here is lovely with big sites separated by dense shrubs. Once set up we walked around the campground and out to the hot spring pools. Along the way we saw both yellowlegs and rose breasted grosbeak. The lower pools are like a thirty foot wide slowly moving river about waist deep and ranging from 105 to 120 degrees. They are in a natural setting surrounded by lush vegetation unlike the hot springs in Banff where the hot water is piped into a big, crowded swimming pool.

We would return later for a soak. For now we walked back to the coach and had lunch. After lunch we put on our suits and headed back to the pools. The hot water took some getting used to but it was soothing. There were two or three other couples in the pool so there was plenty of room. There was even one spot where you could sit under a small waterfall where the water flows into a lower pool. Very soothing on the shoulders. Back at the coach we relaxed before supper. Since we will be here all day tomorrow with nothing to do but sit in the hot springs, we needed the relaxing practice. After dinner we extended our relaxing practice sitting by a campfire.

Day 21             Fri        6/6/08              Liard River Hot Springs-Day 2

We were up early to go in search of wildlife. Unfortunately, early for us, say 6 AM, is not early for the animals since this time of year, sunrise is at about 4 AM. The good news was a bright cloudless sky. The bad news was that overnight with the clear sky the temperature dropped into the mid 30s! As we headed up the boardwalk the moose were hiding and the birds were singing high up in dense spruce trees that made them mostly impossible to see. Sandy has been listening to the bird song CDs and is getting much better identifying birds by their songs. There were several birds we never saw but we knew what we were missing! All of this struggle to see birds was finally rewarded near the upper pool when we spotted a robin size bird running across the ground. The bright orange facial markings were unmistakable; it was our first Varied Thrush. It was Sandy’s birthday so after the hike we went out to breakfast at the only restaurant within about 50 miles. We had hoped to come here for supper but the menu was pretty spartan (burgers etc) so we decided to eat in for dinner. After breakfast we went on a pleasant but unproductive drive to see wild Bison along the highway. Back at the coach we were still full from breakfast so we headed up to the pool for more soaking. While soaking in the hot water we had a nice chat with a couple from Jacksonville and a college student from Anchorage from whom we got lots of restaurant recommendations (I guess we’ll be eating a lot of pizza)! We all got together in the evening to chat and we then tried to burn all of the firewood we had left over from last night.