Rancheria Falls

We drove about 5 hours to Whitehorse today and the only wildlife we saw was one rabbit!

The Rancheria Falls and the Teslin River were pretty stops along the way. The country is vast with trees, lakes and rivers as we passed the Cassiar Mountains.

We are staying in Whitehorse for 3 days to explore the area and enjoy full hook-ups!

Watson Lake - Signpost Forest

We travelled from Laird Hot Springs in British Columbia to Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory today. We saw several buffalo, a black bear and a grizzly bear. Well, it was a big brown bear with his head down eating – it could have been of the black bear species but, brown in color – but I prefer to think that I saw my first grizzly! Too hard to get a picture from the motorhome.

We stopped to see Smith River Falls a short distance from Laird Hot Springs.

Watson Lake is home to the “Signpost Forest” where people leave all sorts of signs with their names and home towns – over 75,000! Many of them are stolen roadside signs! The tradition was started when a soldier assigned to help build the Alcan Highway left a sign on a tree pointing to Illinois.

We are camped at Big Creek Yukon Government Campground tonight. A gorgeous spot right next to the gurgling creek. Roger has done a great job in picking overnight camps – this is one of the best we’ve ever had!

Here’s a bumper sticker we got at the lodge where we bought gas:
“FOR THE RECORD, THERE IS NOT A SINGLE MOSQUITO ON THE ALASKAN HIGHWAY – THEY ARE ALL MARRIED AND HAVE RAISED VERY LARGE FAMILIES!”

Laird Hot Springs

Laird River Hotsprings Provincial Park is a favorite stop along the Alcan to soak in the hot natural spring pool. A half mile long boardwalk trails through the wetlands surrounding the spring and lovely ferns and wild orchids survive because of the warm water. The water is crystal clear and the temperature ranges from 120 to 108 degrees as the water flows through the two pools.

The sun came out this afternoon and it was a lovely time to relax in the natural “hot tub.”

Boardwalk to Laird Hot Sprins

Laird Hot Springs

Alcan - Day 2

It’s too bad the weather was rainy with fog because we finally drove through some beautiful scenery today as we wound our way up and over the Canadian Rockies to Laird Hot Springs. Some of the grades were as much as 9%!

We saw these Stone Sheep; an elk with her calf and a bison – difficult to get pictures as we are driving down the road!

Tetsa River Services and Campground advertises their “hot, buttery cinnamon buns” like Bucce’s in Texas and Wall Drug in South Dakota. By the time you get there your mouth is watering! And they were big and good! We all barely fit in their parking lot. The proprietor said they call us “greyhounds” – Roger said “Is that because of our grey hair?” and she answered “No, because of your big rigs!”

We drove along the Toad River, a beautiful shade of turquoise, and then Muncho Lake where we passed the Northern Rockies Lodge, with a couple of float planes parked by their dock. What a great place to have Roger’s cub! Otherwise it is pretty desolate.

Dorothy, Tommy and Champ

We are staying two days at Laird Hot Springs to soak in the warm water and then onward to Watson Lake, YT.

Alcan Highway - Day 1

L to R: Dan, Pam; Ann, Gary; Kathy, Roger; Dorothy and Tommy

Here we are in Dawson Creek - Mile "0" - on the Alcan Highway. We went to a movie about the building of the highway - what an amazing accomplishment! It was authorized by President Roosevelt as a military endeavor, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, because of the proximity of the Aleutian Islands and the coast of Alaska to Japan. The road was to run from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks over mountains and rivers and through the wilderness. The Army Corp of Engineers, troops and civilians started the construction in March of 1942 and finished in October 1942. They endured the weather, the bugs, the permafrost and mud, poor living conditions and Spam to eat but, they got it done! It wasn't until 1948 that it was opened to the public. Thank goodness it is in much better condition now!

Kiskatinaw Bridge - Mile 23

The Kiskatinaw Bridge is the last of the original bridges along the highway. It is the longest wooden curved bridge in North America. We explored it with our cars and not the motorhomes!

I saw our first moose this morning - a female standing by the side of the road just watching the world go by!

We planned to spend tonight boondocking at Prophet Airstrip near Fort Nelson but it was being used as a "fire camp" or command station for firefighters and there was no room for us! We had hoped to "circle the wagons" and see some more wildlife but we ended up using "plan B" and staying in a campground in Ft. Nelson. They just came around picking up garbage because a bear has been browsing for food in the park! Yogi or BooBoo??

Canada

We crossed the border into Canada in Sweetwater, Montana. It took about an hour for all three of us to "pass." After all the horror stories about what we could and could not take they never asked any of us about plants, fruits, vegetables, chicken or eggs! Just mace, liquor and tobacco. Didn't search any of our rigs. Roger had to go inside and pay $2.00 for his shotgun and Dan gave up the extra chewing tobacco he had rather than pay $600 import tax - which he called "sin" tax! He later realized he should have given all of us some to bring in for him!

We were first in line and the agent asked us how long we were going to be in Canada - Roger responded "about a month, just passing through on the way to Alaska." When he asked Dan the same question he answered "about a week." When he asked Gary he said "about 4 days." The guy said "if you are all traveling together you might want to discuss you're plans!"

Lethbridge Trestle  RR Bridge

There is an historic site in the area of the previous Blackfoot Nation called " Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump" - must be a good story behind that name! We passed through Calgary - didn't stop - the "Stampede" isn't until July! The scenery was all plains until we left Whitecourt, Alberta then there were trees -similar to upper Michigan - but nothing spectacular YET!

We met up with Tommy and Dorothy, the 4th couple in our group, in Dawson Creek, BC today. We'll be here for two days, regroup, and head north again. We thought BC meant British Columbia - silly us - it really means "Bring Cash!" Everything is very expensive but if you consider the ratio of the US dollar to Canadian money we get about a 20% discount. Roger called to make a tee time for golf - $45 for golf but another $40 to rent a cart!

Dawson Creek, British Columbia

Great Falls, Montana

We are in Great Falls with two of the three other couples traveling to Alaska with us - getting our "land legs" back after the long drive up here! We plan to leave for Canada on Saturday morning.

We played golf yesterday and saw this eagles nest on the 6th hole. The offspring are almost big enough to fly away!

I read the Canadian website about what we could bring into Canada before we left Houston and stocked my refrigerator accordingly. When we arrived here we heard that recently the Canadian government has disallowed any chicken or eggs from crossing the border. They are afraid of the bird flu entering their country! So the six of us are trying to eat up all the chicken in our freezers! We invited everyone for French toast this morning and used up my eggs! Ann and I are cooking Herbert's chickens tonight - 2 each! They are special boned, stuffed chickens we buy at this Cajun place in Houston - yum! Not giving them away! Plan on chicken salad for lunch tomorrow and chicken casserole for dinner!

I got a good chuckle out of this comment on Facebook: "My mind says chocolate and wine but my jeans say "For the love of God woman, eat a salad!"