David and Enid's Travels

Rancheria River valley

It is a week ago today that we left Prince Albert.  This morning we drove back the four km from the Watson Lake Campground where we stayed last night, and spent about an hour in the Signpost Forest, looking for signs from places we knew.  After we’d filled up our water jug there, we drove on, stopping at a few locations to see some of the scenery.

For a good part of the morning we were driving along the Rancheria River, and the mountain valley there is very pretty.  We also stopped and walked in to Rancheria Falls.  It is about a ten minute walk to the river from the parking lot, over a very well constructed trail.  Much of the trail is an elevated boardwalk.  The falls are not large, but scenic nonetheless.

We crossed the Nisutlin Bay Bridge at Teslin shortly after lunch.  There is a viewpoint on the south east shore, where we stopped.  A man from Boston was driving a motorhome he’d bought, with the intention of leaving it in Anchorage so that he could fly up and spend his summers there.  He also was lonely, having driven all that way by himself, and wanted to talk, and me to take his picture.

We arrived early at this campsite, having driven through a few rain storms.  Our tent fly was very wet from the rain we had last night, and I’d hung it over the clothesline to try and dry.  That wasn’t very successful, as it started to rain almost right away.  We set up the tarp over the picnic table, and then headed in to Whitehorse which is 20 km north of here. 

We got to the information centre, and they told us there was no shoe repair place in Whitehorse.  However we next went to Coast Mountain Sports, where the clerk informed us that there was a place called Northern Medical Services, “just two blocks away” that did boot repairs.  We hustled out the door, as it was almost five pm, and quickly covered two blocks, with no sign of the store.  After another couple of blocks, I stopped into a book store, and the clerk there said it was maybe three blocks further.   I was afraid that I was going to get a parking ticket, as I hadn’t put enough money in the meter, so sent Enid ahead on foot, while I ran back (literally, I’m the crazy person jogging on the streets of Whitehorse!) and got the Yukon.  When I caught back up to Enid she was waving to me from across the street, so I pulled in, and we went into the store.  The shoe repairman won’t be there until tomorrow morning, but the clerk in the store didn’t have much faith that he would be able to fix it.

We drove back to this campsite, and it is a nice, pleasant, though cool, evening beside the creek which drowns out some of the noise from the highway.  We’ll probably be staying here tomorrow as well, but we haven’t decided yet.

Whirlpool Canyon on Liard River

We were awakened this morning earlier than we wanted by the sound of the pump squeaking next to our campsite.  Unfortunately, the well doesn’t really work very well, and most people tried a few strokes, then gave up.  These people were speaking French, so I really didn’t catch what they said, but they tried a few times, then gave up.  It was enough to wake sus though, so we got out of bed.  I saw them a few minutes later with a pail, getting water from the creek.

We drove just a few kilometers and hiked in about 500 m to some erosion pillars (hoodoos).  One of them is probably the biggest we have ever seen.  

We drove to Laird Hotsprings, and arrived there just before lunch.  My original plan had been to stay there for the day, but it was far too early to stop, so instead we hiked in to the pools, and took some pictures.  After getting our lunch from the refrigerator we drove on. 

We pulled in to Smith River falls, and drove in about two km to the river.  The area has all been burned last year, and there were several newly fallen trees on the road, but they had been cut through.  The falls are a spectacular double drop of about 30 m, but somewhat hard to see.  There is a hiking trail to the bottom, but it is incredibly steep, almost vertical, and if there was a railing there it had all burned off.  So we didn’t go to the bottom. 

Next we stopped at Whirlpool Rapids on the Liard river.  The river is not high, but the rapids are still very rough.  If the water was high there would be an enormous back eddy, where there were many logs dumped on the very sharp and jagged rocks.  The rock must have a good deal of iron in it, for it is very rusty colored. 

We then drove to Watson Lake.  I saw a buffalo along the way.  We are now at the library doing this posting, and will be camping in the area.  Since Enid tore the rivet from her boot, we want to get to Whitehorse during a weekday, so we can get it fixed, so we will probably be travelling fairly fast over the next two days.

Enid on trail to Flower Springs Lake

We awoke to a beautiful morning.  There was no further rain during the night, but everything was very heavily covered with dew.  At approximately 9:00 am we were off on a hike to Flower Springs Lake.  The trail leaves the campground across a bridge over the small stream leaving the lake, and goes for about 200 m to the east where the trail intersects a 4 x 4 track up the valley towards the microwave tower.  This was wide open and an easy walk.  Unlike many roads, the views are very good, because at this latitude and elevation the trees are quite small. 

About 2 km up, the road is joined by the ridge trail from the campground.  However this trail looks to be little used, and would not be nearly as easy, or as nice a view as from the road.  There is a wilderness camping area complete with picnic table, marked with a trail kiosk a few hundred metres farther along the road.  Here the trail to Flower Springs Lake branches off to the left from the microwave tower road.   500 m farther along is a braided stream flowing into a small lake, where we surprised five ducks.  The stream interrupts the trail, and there isn’t any distinct path across the water.  On the way up to the lake we went too far to the right.  Although we could clearly see the trail on the other side, there was no clear way to get to it.  There were a couple of trail markers that were flagged with fluorescent tape, but they had fallen over.  On the way back we took the correct path and set up one of the posts in a small pile of rocks.  On another we tied back the tape which had fallen off.

The lake itself is small, and surrounded by high cliffs of bare rock.  There were many flowers along the way: lupines, short bluebells, forget-me-nots, anemone, avens and many other tiny alpine flowers, grasses and plants.  There were many small butterflies, orange, sulphur and tiny ones that were smoky-blue.  Yellow crowned sparrows sat on the small shrubs and chirped a warning as we walked by.
It took us about two hours to get to the lake, since I took a lot of pictures.  Enid went for a dip in the lake, and reported that it was ice cold.  I declined to join her.  After eating lunch at the lake, we headed back to our campsite.  We set up the shower tent, and had a good wash using the shower bag which we’d filled with water this morning before we left.

Evening reflection, stream leaving Summit Lake

We travelled more today than yesterday, but it was still not a very long travel day.  This morning we stopped in Fort Nelson at around 11:00 am to get fuel and some groceries.   We were looking for two things: somewhere to get drinking water, and somewhere to get connected to the Internet.  We asked about water at the IGA, and the clerk gave us the wrong information, sending us in the direction of the post office.  That was the wrong way, and we eventually found that there was water at the museum, and that was in the direction of the library.   Fort Nelson is not a very big town, so it didn’t take long to find that.  However, when we got there, it was closed until noon.  Two little boys sitting waiting in front told us “just 15 minutes until it opens” and one of them confirmed that, “yes, there was wireless Internet there.”

So we headed to the museum, about two blocks away and got our drinking water there at the trailer disposal site.  We also took the time to eat our lunch at a picnic table at the museum, before heading back to the library to post yesterday’s blog, and also check our email.
You could see large storm clouds building up over the Rocky Mountains as we headed west from town.  It began to rain just as we hit road construction.  This was good as the road under construction was very dusty, and the rain settled that.  We had one delay of about ten minutes while we waited for a pilot vehicle who escorted us through several kilometres of construction.  Because of the construction, our Yukon is pretty dirty tonight.

We stopped at Summit Lake campground about 2:30 pm.  It is quite a bare site, at the elevation of 1285 m, which this far north is almost at the tree line.  There are only small willows here, so we set up the kitchen shelter (it needed to be dried out anyway, as it was quite damp from last night’s dew) as there are no trees to use with the tarp, and then went for a hike up the Ridge Trail behind our campsite.  It began to rain just as we reached the top of the ridge.  We put on our rain coats, and kept on for about five minutes, at which time it started to hail, very tiny stones, perhaps 4 mm in diameter.  That finished the hike, so we headed back to the shelter.  It was a bit drier there, but it wasn’t great as the shelter isn’t very waterproof, and rain was blowing in through the screen.  So after the rain stopped, Enid and I got the tarp out and put it over the shelter.  That is much better, and it gives us some protection from the wind as well, which was good because there were many brief storms for the rest of the afternoon.

Supper involved barbequing steaks in another rainstorm, but after that the storms cleared.  This evening was very pleasant, though cool at this altitude.  We tried to hike along the shore, but the water is too high and the shoreline trail is drowned.  So all in all, we didn’t hike very far today.

Buckinghorse River

We did not travel far today.  We thought we left this morning about 9:20, then realized that the time has changed, so that actually we left at 8:20.  Small wonder no one else in the campground was up!  As it rained last night, our tent was quite wet, and we packed it away that way, so it was good to stop early just after lunch to let everything dry out.

We are at the Buckinghorse River campground.  It isn’t much of river, though I suppose it probably gets high in the spring from snow melt, nor is it much of a campground.  We are in the one and only nice site, which is back by the river, and a bit secluded by a bit of brush.  The other sites are just picnic tables lined up in a row, with enough space to park a trailer beside each.

After we had set up our tent and cooking shelter, we went for a wade and wash in the river.  It was pretty cold, especially when washing one’s hair!

Kiskatinaw Bridge

We are camped tonight, the first of what will be many nights of camping on our trip, at Kiskatinaw River Bridge campgrounds.  At mile 20 of the original Alaska Highway, it is an interesting bridge, for it is built on a curve.  The bridge is almost entirely made of creosote treated Douglas fir, including all the decking.  There is a noticeable nine degree bank to the curve, enough of a slope that Enid felt uncomfortable walking on the down side, at an elevation of 30 metres over the river.  The river is very low, though there are a few spots where the water appeared to be deep enough to allow people to swim.  Much of the river below our campsite is very shallow, and people have built rock dams in the water to increase the depth.

The drive from Edmonton was uneventful, but seemingly long.  It is a very good highway, four lanes, often with an extra lane at the approach of other roads, or on long sloping hills.  It seemed to me to be the best, most deserted, road I have ever driven on.  Actually though, where the road went to two lanes, it is obvious that there is quite a bit of traffic, especially large trucks on the road.  Though it is no farther than the distance from Prince Albert to Edmonton, I found it to seem to be a long drive.

The country around Grande Prairie is very flat, and seems to be very prosperous farming.  As you get closer to Dawson Creek the country reminds me much of Prince Albert, though it is more hilly.

We stopped along the road a few times for a very brief stretch, including a stop in Dawson Creek.  We walked the block and a half form the tourist information booth to the mile zero marker for the Alaska Highway.

Stormcllouds over the road near Darcy, SK

We have many miles of open road ahead of us, but today is the last day that we have a destination planned.  We drove to Edmonton today, and did some shopping, had supper at Graeme’s, and Mavis also came over to visit.  For most of the morning we had nice weather, but shortly after lunch drove into a rainstorm for over an hour.  We spent the afternoon shopping at two of my favorite haunts: McBain Camera and MEC. 

I walked into McBain Camera expecting to buy a $11 camera skin to protect the display on my camera, and walked out with the skin, but also with a tripod head worth $160.  That’s not the first time I’ve done that there (but last time it was a lot more, as I bought a new camera).  Then we went to MEC, where I spent my retirement gift card —and a few extra dollars 😉

Fields near Fiske, SK

After three straight days of packing, we were on the road this morning, driving to Bickleigh to meet with Peter Halladay.  He is visiting here from Australia, and we wanted to meet him.  We will visit him again when we go to Australia this fall.

Despite the negative image that outsiders have of Saskatchewan, the drive through the country was beautiful.  The country is a multitude of shades of green, interspersed with the golden yellow of canola in bloom.  Ditches are purple with alfalfa.  The light green of lentils contrasts with the dark green of more traditional crops like wheat.  Dark leaved cottonwoods rim the sloughs.  Grasses are topped with golden brown seed.

It is not hard to tell that it has been wet this year.  The roads were rutted and soft, but even more obvious, the Bad Hills are green, and Bad Lake is full to the brim.

Evening on Solymos Lake

We’re just back from our 11 day canoe trip to the McLennan Lake area, and madly packing to get ourselves ready for the trip to the Yukon.  It was a lot of fun to relive old memories of when we canoed here with the kids.  Graeme, Geoffrey, Enid and I paddled a short three day loop around from McLennan Lake, through Davis, Versailles, Hutchings, McLean and back to McLennan.  Then Enid and I travelled down to Missinipe, through Settee, Kemp and Mountain Lakes (among countless other small lakes, some with names, and some without).  Over eleven days we travelled about 150 km total and did 25 portages.