Prince George to Jasper Aug 4th

After a goodbye breakfast this morning we headed for one of my favorite places, Jasper National Park. It was a pretty drive through farmland, foothills and finally the Canadian Rockies.

 

This is Mt. Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

We camped in the Honeymoon Lake campground in Jasper NP. $15.70 for no hookups, our first night of dry camping. Felt more like camping with quiet treed lots rather than the parking lots in Alaska.

Gas was $1.079/liter.

Nice weather today with low around 50 and high in the 70s.

We have now driven over 9000 miles on this trip.

Farewell to Prince George August 3rd

This was our last day with the caravan. Due to all the rerouting nothing was scheduled for today except dinner so Nancy and I went into Prince George. It was a nice warm day so we went to the Railroad/Forestry Museum and to a city park.

Snowplow

Yoda drives the locomotive

Bandsaw

It is very dry here, it looks like autumn in some places because the trees are dropping their leaves. There are over 300 wildfires in British Columbia now.  The Cassiar Hwy is still closed.

After lunch we returned to camp and taught some more folks how to play Mexican Train dominoes.

We went out with the group for our final dinner together and said our goodbyes.

Gas was $1.079/liter here but the campground gave us a coupon for $0.025/liter at local station.

Tomorrow we head back to Jasper National Park so we may not have WIFI for a few days.

Nancy loves the wildflowers

Prince George Aug 2 2010

Nice day. Nice roads, nice weather, nice scenery. We were not supposed to be driving from Dawson Creek to Prince George but I am glad we did. It was a very good road with nice views of farms, mountains and lakes.

We went through the little town of Chetwynd on the way and saw some awesome chainsaw carvings.

Gas was $1.09/liter in Chetwynd.

Temps started in the low 50s and rose into the low 80s.

We are in the South Park RV Park tonight and tomorrow night. A very nice little park but kind of tight for the larger rigs. Tonight we are being treated to a pizza dinner then tomorrow night is our final dinner with the caravan group.

The Cassiar Hwy is still closed due to the fire so I am glad we did not wait for it to open!!

Back to the Beginning in Dawson Creek

St. Mary Falls Glacier NP

Back where we started. Today we drove from Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek. It rained on us most of the way so we did not take any pictures since there was not much to see. It was a sad evening meeting as more of our fellow caravaners called it quits and are heading home tomorrow. We are going to Prince George tomorrow and some of those from the east decided it was not worth going out of the way and are heading home. Since we are going back through Jasper and Banff it won't be that much further for us so we are continuing with the rest of the caravan.

Gas was $1.29/liter in Ft. Nelson and $1.12/liter in Ft. St. John.
Temps were in the 50s most of the day, finally getting into the 60s when the rain stopped.

Here are some pics from previous days.

Glacier National Park

July 31 Disappointment in Nugget City

Smoky Sunset

Mother Nature changed our plans once again. First they told us the Cassiar Hwy would open at 11pm last night so we made plans to leave at 5am this morning, but when we awoke at 3:30am they said the opening had been delayed until 7:30am. After breakfast we packed up, gassed up the truck and headed for the Cassiar Hwy turn off, arriving about 5:00AM.

Smoke from fire

 At 7:00AM the forestry workers arrived, ate breakfast then told us they were going to drive south checking out the road as they went, and if it was OK they would bring up the people waiting on the south end of the closure and we could go through when they got back around 9:00am.

Lined up on Cassiar Hwy

 A couple of semi trucks came through northbound about 9 but no one else.

Smoke over Alaska Hwy

 After several minutes of waiting Nancy and I decided to cut our losses and head home rather than waste another day in Nugget City so we started saying our goodbyes to the rest of the caravan (except 3 couples who had already left). Just as we were getting ready to leave we got word that cars were coming through from the south and we could head south in 30 minutes so we decided to wait some more. Soon a large convoy of cars, trucks and motorcycles started coming through. After they all came through a forestry worker stopped and told us that the road was closed again due to flare ups and the situation did not look good. At this point several couples, including us, decided to head home so the caravan leader decided to take the entire caravan back down the Alaska Hwy and we all headed for Ft. Nelson.

We drove through heavy smoke for several miles. Haze and smoke was present most of the day making the northern Rockies look like the southern Smokies.

The 300 mile drive wasn't too bad except for one long gravel construction zone about 50miles west of Ft. Nelson.

We paid $1.79/liter for gas ($6.48/gal !!!) at a lodge near Liard HotSprings. They don't have any nearby competition so I guess they figure they can charge what they want. We bought just enough to get us to Ft. Nelson.

It was warm today with temps getting into the low 80's for the first time since we left.

Sunset last night was about 10:30pm and sunrise was about 5am so we are seeing some darkness now.

Yoda and his friends decided to have a goodbye party.

It did not end well.

Sitting in Safeway parking lot to post this, no WIFI for 3 nights

Stuck in Nugget City July 30th

A disappointing day as we waited for news that the wildfire was under control and the Cassiar highway was open. Even though we could not see the towering columns of smoke today we soon began to smell it and soon the air became thick with smoke. Finally we heard that the highway would not open until late tonight so we are stuck here until tomorrow. Not much to do here so some spent the day cleaning and checking their rigs and we got up a game of dominoes.

Nugget City Store

We had a potluck dinner of finger foods which was great.

The plan now is to leave very early tomorrow morning and drive all the way to Stewart, BC.

We Did It, For Real This Time!

Thursday July 29, 2010

I was premature in reporting that we had completed the Alaska Highway a few days ago. I forgot about the stretch between Watson Lake and Whitehorse that we skipped when we went to Skagway. Anyway, we completed that stretch today, so NOW we have completed the Alaska Highway. It was a pretty but not spectacular drive from Whitehorse to Nugget City, just west of Watson Lake. The weather was great again, lows in the 40s warming to the 70s!

We had good road for a change as we drove through the hills and valleys.

As we approached our campground at Nugget City we noticed a large, strange black cloud to the east. I told Nancy that it looked like smoke and sure enough there is a large forest fire along the highway we are supposed to take tomorrow. The road is currently closed but we are hoping it will be open long enough tomorrow morning for us to get through the burn area.

Forest fire

The firefighters broke a communications cable while digging a trench so there is no internet service here tonight so I will have to post this when we get to Iskut, if we get there. Unless our plans are changed by the fire, tomorrow will be our last day on the Alaska Highway and then only briefly as we tour the Cassiar Hwy for the rest of the trip.

Gas in Teslin today was $1.129/liter ($4.31/gal).