Moose, bears, sheep and fish

We keep pushing north. The days are getting longer, the roads lonelier.  We are seeing some of the same folks at rest stops and campgrounds that we had seen days before.  There is a group of us heading north – sometimes on the same schedule, sometimes hopscotching each other.  It’s very interesting. 

Before arriving in Dawson Creek (the town where the Alaska Highway begins), we stop briefly in Chetwynd where there is an annual chain saw carving competition

Very skilled sculptors:

A special shout out to Gerry and Sherry, who invited us to join them into town (in a normal sized vehicle) to visit the Mile 0 visitor center, go to a real restaurant for lunch, and stop by Walmart for a few essentials.  We almost felt like normal folk, rather than the gypsies we’ve become.

Tom standing on the ACTUAL Mile 0 landmark (not the photo ‘op’ one constructed near the visitor center):

We will spend the next couple weeks working our way up the AlCan before actually ‘landing’ in Alaska.  The Alaska Highway is pretty amazing.  Built in 1942 by 11,000 military troops and 16,000 civilians, the 1523 mile road was completed in 9 months.  It includes 133 bridges and 8000 culverts.  The crews suffered great hardships during the construction.

This blog is in two chapters –

Chapter 1 – the first 300 miles Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

The weather is all over the map, sometimes grey and misty, or snowy, other times sunny and almost hot.

We had about 300 miles of this:

Other sites:

Our first Moose !  They are hard to see – this one was running along the edge of the woods on the opposite side of the highway from us as we went sailing by.

                                                                                       

We also saw a black bear feeding on the side of the road.

Our campground in Fort Nelson is right beside a pioneer museum housing the first area post office, a trapper cabin and a great collection of ‘pioneer’ artifacts such as hand saws and tools,  pants stretchers,  dial telephones,  Philco black and white TV’s and many other things we grew up with,  Huh?  Pioneers?  These parts were settled very recently !

First Post Office in Fort Dawson, service 32 residents:

Chapter 2 – the next 150 miles to Muncho Lake

Well, after an easy 300 mile first relatively easy day, we were wondering what all excitement was over driving the AlCan.  Yes, it’s undivided, only one lane in each direction, with some large logging and oil industry trucks, but still a relatively easy drive.

Everything became clearer today when we covered 150 miles at a walloping average of 35 miles per hour.  It was a magnificently beautiful day, and the drive was profoundly more interesting than yesterday.   

Road construction, bears, sheep, narrow bridges, sharp curves, loose gravel patches, eroded shoulders and steep grades all slowed us down.

We made a brief stop for a cinnamon bun from a shop along the road.  It’s a local favorite … terribly sinful.

We overnighted at Muncho Lake – known for good fishing and beautiful green water (copper oxide leaching in). 

View from the top of our camper.

Kris bought a fishing license. Good thing ….

Dinner at the homestead.

After dinner guest

Night night from our window (sunset about 10:30)