Arizona Desert Rats

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Woke up in Fort Nelson, BC this morning. A little history of the town: The North West Fur Trading Company first established it in 1805 and it was names for Horatio Nelson, who won the Battle of Trafalgar. It's present site is the fifth site - the previous four were vacated due to floods fires and feuds - at 59 degrees north latitude and 122 degrees west longitude and sits at an elevation of 1383 feet / 422 metres.

Outside Ramada Inn

After a rather interrupted sleep, due to the noisy next door neighbours, we rolled out at 6:00 am, expecting 3-5 cm snow. How happy we were that there was just a skiff. The hotel offered a breakfast of ham & cheese bun, muffins, cereal both hot and cold, juice, coffee, tea, yogurt and fruit salad. It was a nice breakfast. Fueling up was a bit hard (on the pocketbook) at $1.499 per litre. For our American friends that's $6.00 per gallon.

North of Fort Nelson, BC

The day began very dismally weather wise. We will take you down the Alaska Highway between Fort Nelson, BC and Watson Lake, Yukon. Hope you enjoy it more that we did! At least you won't have to chew your nails on the trip!

Black Ice on Highway

Just north of Fort Nelson we ran into freezing rain and black ice on the highway. The further we drove the worse conditions became. Sometimes we could see patches of the road and at other times it was completely covered with snow. Sometimes we could see a bit of vegetation along the shoulder of the road and sometimes it was just white. All the lakes and rivers were just white.

Along the way we came by Steamboat Mountain and the summit is at an elevation of 1,067 metres / 3,500 feet. Just before Tetsa River we encountered the first casualty - some fellow hit the ditch. No one hurt. It was windy around Tetsa River Regional Park. Summit Lake is the highest point on the Alaska Highway at an elevation of 1,295 metres / 4,250 feet above sea level. No wonder we were socked in! The area is known for dramatic and sudden weather changes and travellers have been known to see snow in every month of the year. Great fishing we hear. As we have been through this area before, it is too bad everything is covered in snow, because the lakes and rivers are spectacular.

I thought yesterday we came upon a winter wonderland, but it was nothing like what we saw today.

Racing River Bridge

Toad River is at Mile 406 / Km 653. During the Alaska highway construction, there were problems crossing the river and so vehicles had to be 'towed' across. The proprietors at the time adopted "Towed River" as the name of their lodge. The lodge is a gathering place for locals, is open year around. It is known for the collections of 8,000 hats that hang on the restaurant and gift shop ceiling.

Next on the highway is Muncho Lake. "Muncho" means Big Lake in the Kaskan dialect and is 7.5 miles / 12 kilometres and is renown for its jade green colour which is attributed to the presence of copper oxide leached from the bedrock below.

Down the road from Muncho Lake is Liard River Hot Springs. We stopped there as Gordon was in need of a rest from driving. We walked in to the Hot Springs, took some fellow's picture and he took ours, then we returned to the truck and headed north again. Buffalo love the area of the Hot Springs so we began looking for tracks. It was a few miles down the road before we saw the first tracks. That is all we saw - tracks! I was getting disappointed when low and behold! They were just waiting for us to come along.

Finally we arrived in Watson Lake, Yukon around 4:00 pm after a long day of travelling. Chose a room at Andreas Hotel, went to the in hotel restaurant and had a good meal and met a couple, Al and Joey from Whitehorse. Visited with them for about an hour over dinner.