Dawson City - Sunday August 28, 2011

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Supplies on board and trying to forget our brush with Walmart, with better weather in the offing further north we left Whitehorse in a miserable cold rain headed for Dawson City 532kms up the Klondike Highway .

"Walmart in Whitehorse" Truth is, that this is the real threat to our Arctic Sovereignty. What next? Walmart in Dawson City and Inuvik? Come on Hutch get your mind back to where it has been for the past week!!





As promised (on the weather Network) the weather and the scenery improved immensely the further north we proceeded. Great views at the Yukon River Valley and the TinTina Trench






Gas at Carmacs YT and lunch at Grandma's Kitchen at Pelly's Crossing. I went for the exotic and ordered a caribou hot dog (tough as leather).

As with all these highway stops a completely screened in enclosure is  provided for customers so they can enjoy their food away from the ever present swarms of bugs. Fortunately we seem to have avoided bug season.

One of our voracious followers commented that the night sky must be a spectacle of stars given the complete lack of ambient light int this part of the world. Fact is, we haven't seen any stars yet because the sun doesn't disappear sufficiently until after midnight even at this time of year, way past our bed time. This will not be the case for much longer at which point we will report back.

Arrived in Dawson City around 4:00pm local time, checked into a much too expensive cabin at Klondike Kates and went for a walk. Boardwalks and unpaved dusty streets added to the ambiance of this unabashed tourist trap of a town. At one point the dust precipitated back to earth during a brief sun shower and the visual effect was like watching a curtain of beads being lowered from the sky. Unfortunately I did  not have  a camera handy to get a picture (Damn!)

The curtain went up on the show at Diamond Tooth Gerdy's at 8:00pm sharp. We joined the rest of the old folks from the inland tour portion of Holland America Alaskan cruise and were plesantly surprised at the quality of the show and the Lasagna.






Tomorrow, a trip up Dome Mountain here in Dawson City and back along the highway about 40Kms to take on the Dempster.

Whitehorse - Saturday August 27, 2011

An hour and a half drive from Johnson’s Crossing put us in Whitehorse, a government funded town in a beautiful setting that left us with a sense that something was missing? (perhaps a personality) A nondescript day weather wise. Dreary cloud. The drive was nice but not outstanding.(we are spoiled).  However, the objective after checking into the Yukon Inn was to stock up on TP, detergent, cat food and litter (a year’s supply). 

The Great Canadian Super Store (GCSS - Loblaws) provided the human necessities and the cat litter but the cat food was another issue. 

Everything at the GCSS is super sized since many of the people shopping here come from afar and only visit two or three times a year so there is lots of “Stocking Up” going on. 

We visited four places looking for Lady Lucy’s preferred victuals with no luck. We even ventured into the Walmart (God save our pure Canadian Souls) based on the rumor that we would find it there. The agreement was that I would wait in the parking lot while Marci went into the store so that only one of us would be tainted. Anything for the “CAT”. We finally had to settle for something else at the “Feed Company” who’s proprietor was both knowledgable and helpful. She knew about supplying people from Inuvik with their year’s supply of various pet foods. She told us she would give us a credit for the unused food if Lucy did not like it, “just send it down with someone when they come shopping in Whitehorse” (1,250kms),she said, as if it happens all the time, which it probably does.

Getting all this stuff into the trailer required another repacking exercise. Balancing the heavy stuff (kitty litter, six cases of food and liquid detergent) at the rear to take some pressure off the trailer tongue. That’s it! No more stuff! The trailer has to survive the Dempster!! Remember???

Elk Stroganoff, half rack of ribs and a few beers on the propane heated patio of the Klondike Ribs and Salmon Restaurant on second street together with some good conversation with two aerial surveyors at the next table wound up our day.   

Liard River to Johnson’s Crossing

Awoke to a cool clear morning at the Liard River Lodge and quickly went to the car to check on Lucy who was really really happy to see me. Although she had her litter box, plenty of food and water and warm blankets to sleep on, she immediately curled up in my lap looking for body warmth to take off the chill her little body was obviously feeling. It is amazing how much this little animal has added to the enjoyment of this trip. 

Rather than have breakfast at the lodge restaurant Marci and I broke out the camp stove, boiled up some coffee and ate breakfast out of our cooler while Lucy explored the nearby woods on the end of her leash. 

While we were looking for an electrical outlet to run the coffee grinder (not a difficult task as every parking lot in this part of the world are wired for block heaters) Marci struck up a conversation with another guest at the lodge named Mike Ocko. Mike and his family are hauling a twin axel trailer filled with their worldly belongings behind a BFT  (Big F’n Truck) on their way home to Inuvik after living in Fort Simpson for the last 22 years. It sounds like they are are a similar travel schedule as we are so we may have company as we travel up the Dempster next week. 

After repacking and securing the tailer load for the third time, (practicing for the real test just before we hit the Dempster) we hit the road for the 520 Km trip to Johnson’s Crossing at the tip of Teslin Lake just east of Whitehorse. Lucy now has free run of the car while it is in motion and has chosen the lap of the person in the passenger seat as her preferred perch where she sleeps and preens herself for hours. But, as soon as we stop, she is ready to bail out and hunt down the local critters. 

The weather deteriorated significantly shortly after we met this guy and three black bears along the way. 

The countryside flattened out north of the Liard River and the scenery was much less spectacular than yesterday. By the time we got to the grocery store and gas station in Watson lake it was beginning to rain.

We arrived in Johnson’s Crossing (Bridge over the Teslin    River) at 5:30 local time and found, to our surprise, that the RV park and motel we had booked was a very clean, pet friendly but modest location (very small room) run by a lady named Andrea Underwood. Andrea also runs a bakery on the premises and serves simple but tasty home made fare.  Our surprise was based on diminished expectations resulting from our less than enthusiastic impressions of the more heavily advertised locations in the Village of Teslin (50 km before Johnson’s Crossing) that we had considered before deciding (on a whim) to book with Andrea. 

Life North of the oil patch is much harder than than further south. We saw a number of tourist locations that were closed down and more than one still in operation with “for sale” signs on them. The proprietor of the Toad Lake lodge where we stopped for gas, told me her business was down 30% from last year. She blames the US recession, the accompanying weak US dollar and the cost of fuel. 

Short Drive to Whitehorse tomorrow. 

Fort Nelson to Liard River - Thursday August 25, 2011

Magnificent, stupendous, unbelievable is just the start of the emotions evoked by the 320 Km drive along the Alaska Highway between Fort Nelson and the Liard River. 

Make sure someone else is driving if you come this way as the twists and turns demand the driver’s full attention leaving little time for enjoying the constantly changing vistas just around the next corner.

My brother Mike was moved to tears two summers ago as he entered the Rockies on the way to my sister Christine’s wedding in Canmore Alberta. Impressive scenery to be sure “but” this part of the Alaska Highway will turn Mike into a babbling brook when he gets here. There is no country on the face of the earth like Canada and this part of it testifies to that fact. Forget the ancient Romans or the Egyptian Pharaohs and their pyramids, nothing can match this priceless natural portrait that could only be painted by the hand of the almighty. Everyone needs to put this journey on their “bucket list”.  

The clear bright weather that seems to have been following us across this incredible country served to enhance our 360 degree high definition visual experience. As much as we tried, the accompanying pictures only hint at the reality of what we saw when we reached the highest point (1,267 metres) along the highway at Summit Pass. 

My previous complaint about the lack of wildlife has been remedied as Caribou, Stone Mountain Sheep and Wood Buffalo slowed us down in a number of locations along the way. 

Major reconstruction of the highway at Muncho Lake gave us a taste of the dust that we expect to see on the Dempster. Fortunately we were the second vehicle behind the “pilot” vehicle that led us through the 10Km long construction zone so we did not have to eat too much dirt. A look into our side view mirrors revealed that the large tread on our new mega tires was throwing up so much dust that we could not see the trailing vehicles.     

With all the construction delays and requirements for slow careful driving, it took us six hours to cover the 320kms to Liard River (in retrospect I wish we were still there). We checked into our room at the Liard River Lodge then immediately headed across the road to the Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park for a soothing dip in the sulphur hot springs ($5 per head, cheap at twice the price). It is a five minute walk along a board walk that winds through a warm water marsh from the park parking lot to the hot springs. The springs have remained as I remembered them from my last visit 25 years ago, quietly under developed and unspoiled.  

After passing the beware of the recently sighted bear sign, we were accompanied on our walk into the springs by three gentlemen and their wives from Minnesota who were driving three large semi-trailers loaded with Arctic Cat snow machines destined for Alaska. They had just negotiated the same twists and turns on the highway that we had and were glad to be off the road. They all admitted to preferring the straight and flat roads they normally drive in the US midwest but were also flabbergasted at the beauty of the country they had just driven through. 

The hot springs were glorious. the top two or three inches of water are very hot and can be moderated by reaching down and bringing cooler water up from the bottom of the stream with your hands. All the older distinguished grey-haired gentlemen in the pool seemed to be concentrated at the “hot” end near the source. The relief I felt in my sore lower back and shoulders was immediate. Unfortunately it is not recommended to spend too much time in water at these temperatures because of the potential for elevated heart rate and its resulting effects which often causes people to pass out for a spell as happened to one fellow while we were there who had stayed in a little too long. 

The menu at  the lodge restaurant was limited so we went for the highly recommended (by the waitress) shepherds pie. It was both plentiful and good. Stuffed, we headed for an early night. Unfortunately Lucy had to sleep in the car as the Lodge had a no pet rule. To say the least she was a lot more sedate about it than another guest’s pet retriever who was quite upset at being forced to sleep in his owner’s truck and let everyone within in earshot know about his displeasure for quite awhile before accepting his fate and settling down. 

Tomorrow, on to Johnson’s Crossing in the Yukon.

Fort Nelson

By any other standards the "Legendary" Fort Nelson Hotel is a "Dump", but up here it meets the minimalist requirements of the oil and gas crew community so is well used and apparently appreciated. The appreciation probably stems from the popular "Fall Down" pub or "Already on the Ground"lounge attached to the hotel and guarded by a number of local beauties.

We have to say however, that the food was great and the service cheerful.

Fort Nelson was our first stop on the Alaska Highway some 454 Kms north of Dawson Creek. For the most part the road was excellent with some notable exceptions just before crossing the Peace River at Taylor BC. and just outside of Fort Nelson itself. In both cases major reconstruction was the principal cause. It was also the cause for a six hour drive turning into an eight and a half hour drive as the road was limited to one lane in a number of spots and we we had to wait for traffic to clear coming from the other direction. Nevertheless, it is a real treat to be in this part of the world which is so vast and devoid of humanity that it makes you ponder just how dauntless (or more probably naive) the first white people to come here must have been. All that is changing as the somewhat quiet boom in oil and gas production in this area is very apparent.

Happily our new mega tires performed well on the road and were not as stiff and noisy as we had anticipated. The gas mileage also seems to be holding up although we have slowed down about 10km/hr on average because of the significant hills that we are required to climb.












Other than ravens and a few magpies, there has been an unexpected (from my point of view anyway) absence of wildlife along the way except for one young moose that was unfortunately crumpled in a heap in the ditch beside the road killed by a large truck no doubt. Given where we are the traffic on the highway is quite heavy. We had occasion to accommodate Lucy's call of the wild (quite a yowl she let out) so we had to pull over for a few minutes. I timed the passing vehicles at about one every two or three minutes.

When I talked to Grant Sullivan (Kayla's significant other) yesterday, he said that the porcupine caribou  herd and attendant wolves and grizzlies were on the move to their wintering grounds so we should see lots of wild life once we are on the Dempster.

After a good, but brief, thunder storm just after we arrived in Fort Nelson the weather cleared up and we are looking forward to another beautiful day on our way to the hot springs at the Liard River. Should be a fairly short drive (only 3hrs or so) so we will have time to get out of the car an wander around. My sore back (from all the car time) will appreciate a hot dip in the springs I'm sure.

Fox Creek AB to Dawson Creek BC

Greetings from the land of Oil & Gas, Elk farms, RV's and Pick-up trucks. The Peace River valley is beautiful and the City of Grand Prairie is well named, rolling farmland emerging out of the northern Alberta forest echoing the country side found much further south.






This has been, what many would call, a "candy-ass" trip so far. great weather fantastic roads all the way north to Dawson Creek BC from Calgary.

So much so that Lucy is becoming a little bored

















Found our way to the Sanderman Suites in Fox Creek after a strategic visit to IKEA on the way past Edmonton. The visit (to cheaply complete the furnishing of our new living room) added another 100lbs to the weight of our trailer. I hope we don't regret this later. Fox Creek is one of those waypoints that has no reason to exist except for the crews of sub-contractors needed to service the nearby oil fields. A future Ghost Town for sure when the oil runs out.

 We arrived in Dawson Creek BC, mile zero of the Alaska highway, about three this afternoon. The boys at Integra Tire were more than happy to replace all four tires plus the spare on our Highlander, with heavy duty six-ply all-terrain tires in anticipation of the Dempster highway north of Dawson City, Yukon. We should be there on Sunday or Monday next week for the last leg of our trip.

Enjoyed a great meal at "Browns" an eleven week old restaurant on the main drag in Dawson Creek. A very Toronto-like atmosphere filled with a younger clientele that may have it's problems when winter sets in and the oil & gas field crews are forced to lie low for a few months until spring.

Tomorrow we are headed to Fort Nelson BC, 484 Kms up the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek. Hope to get there early enough to do some fishing. After Fort Nelson it looks like we are going to have to carry extra gas as the pumps become few and far between.

Looking forward to a dip in the Liard Hot Springs on Thursday. I was there in 1986 and remember it well. Hopefully we will avoid any bear encounters as happened in 1997 that cost a woman and two gentlemen their lives. (sometimes a little drama adds spice to life).

Back From Windermere BC

With shopping completed in Calgary and arrangements made for new tires to be installed when we get to Dawson Creek BC. We headed west through Banff and Kootenay national parks to spend a few days relaxing at the Gallegher (Sister's married name) family cottage on Lake Windemere. Great weather, good food and lots of sleep.

Finished reading a very interesting and highly entertaining anthropological study on human sexuality by Christopher Ryan, PhD and Cacilda Jetha, MD entitled "Sex At Dawn" (The prehistoric origins of modern sexuality). A highly informative, entertaining and "in-your-face" must read, that questions much of our existing understanding and social mores around sex. Get ready to recognize and laugh at yourself (Not you Lindsay and Hilary you are too young!)

Returned to Calgary today to retrieve a much missed Lucy and pack up for the continuation of our trip north tomorrow morning. Destination Fox Creek Alberta. A small town about 185 Kms north west of Edmonton.

Stay tuned.

Calgary

After a "Super Eight" breakfast of cereal, coffee and a microwaved omelette, we arrived in Calgary some 688 Kms west, eight and a half hours after leaving Moose Jaw. Actual driving time works out to about seven hours and twenty minutes. Pulling 2,000 lbs. behind the car limits one's speed, especially on the hills, and blows your gas mileage out the window.  Gas prices are about fifteen to twenty cents per litre cheaper out here. Oh well! part of our tax-deductible moving costs I guess.


In this part of the world when the weather is clear and bright as it was, you understand the real meaning of the song title "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever." Just outside of Moose Jaw the continued "flatness" that we were anticipating following yesterday's journey, changed into the gently rolling prairie that I remember as a child when my family lived in Regina. The numerous sloughs and pot hole depressions were filled with water and ducks. At one point we had a blue wing teal (kind of duck) flying along beside the car just off our starboard bow. My immediate thought was that if this guy turns left it's duck for dinner. Clearly the duck knew what was up and winged it into overdrive and blew by us. Teal are one of natures's smallest and fastest ducks that have been clocked at speeds in excess of 150k/hr.

For most of the trip to the Alberta Border we could see the world famous Cypress Hills to the south, a meeting and conflict area for various American Indian and First Nations peoples including the Cree, Assiniboine, Atsina, Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Sioux, Crow, and others.This is one of my bucket list destinations.

Red Tail Hawks and foxes abound because of the ground squirrel (prairie dog or gopher) population. We saw both during the trip. At one point as we rounded a bend at the top of a long hill, I saw a gopher at the side of the road to my left looking to cross the road at just that moment a Red Tail swooped in from the south (out of the sun) and picked the little guy right off the road and took him to lunch.  

Unfortunately brother-in-law Tom is allergic to cats so we had to have a discussion with Lucy about spending a few days at a Kitty spa run by one of my sister's friends.




Laundry , shopping for new tires, warm clothes and a visit to my sister's cottage in BC are on the agenda before we head to Edmonton next Monday.

Winnipeg & Beyond

Winnipeg is only a couple of hours west of Kenora. Nice change after three long days on the road. Spent Saturday and Sunday with Penny Gilbert the wife of Marci's late cousin Paul Fortier. Penny lives in a downtown neighbourhood with tight parking so we dropped the trailer at Luc Fortier's (Penny's son) place in suburban La Salle about twenty minutes away. We used the time to service the car, enjoy a wonderful pedicure and a couple of good meals. The weather was outstanding.

Hit the road early Monday morning headed for Moose Jaw (half way to Calgary). Eight hours  of a long straight road with nothing terribly outstanding about the surrounding "flatness" other than our improved gas mileage (no hills to tow the trailer up). Hit a few showers just outside of Regina other than that the weather was sunny and quite warm. Lots of surface water on the fields. Saw many shore birds staging for their southward migration which should start in earnest in a week or so.

Arrived at the Super 8  motel in "little Chicago" (Moose Jaw) around 5:00pm. Got caught up in the 5 second traffic jam just outside of town at the local potash mine due to a shift change. Unhooked the trailer and headed downtown for Thai food. Moose Jaw was the rail head for illegal liquor entering the US through Chicago, during that country's prohibition era. The town plays up its shady past as a tourist attraction as can be seen from this picture of a local hotel.

Enjoyed a good Thai meal and headed back to the hotel for a shower and some sleep. More "Flatness" tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing my sister Christine and husband Tom tomorrow. Will stick around Calgary for a day or so to shop for warm cloths and buy new six ply tires for the cars journey up the Dempster.

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

The drive from Wawa to Sleeping Giant PP was uneventful. Weather good, a mix of sun and clouds with the odd isolated shower thrown in. The scenery along the North Shore of Lake Superior is spectacular at times especially between Terrace Bay and Rossport. Picked up some Bagels at Marathon for a  picnic lunch where Lucy was allowed out of the car to explore some new ground.

Made it to Marie Louise Lake Camp ground at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park around 4:00PM and checked in.

Marci got some practice guiding me into the campsite as I tried to back up the trailer into its proper spot. Backing up a trailer is not an intuitive exercise requiring a great deal of experience before one becomes proficient. Needless to say the learning process is quite frustrating for both driver and observer (guide). It is not a highly recommended exercise for those interested in enhancing marital bliss

Once we were set up and the spaghetti was on the stove dark clouds and thunder rolled in. There was much blowing about and loud noises right over head but little or no rain. Nevertheless we battened down the hatches threw the cat into the car for the night and retreated to our air mattresses. We were soon asleep. 

Around 4:00am (determined later) I was awoken by the howl of the dog on the neighbouring campsite. I quickly became aware that there was a critter wandering around outside the tent. I figured it was a raccoon so I ignored it. the neighbour heard the same thing and was up with his flash light.

At breakfast we spoke with our neighbour who showed me the tracks of quite a large wolf that had finished off someones left over supper near his camp fire. He said that he had actually directed his light on the animal which turned and wandered off through our campsite before he could take a picture.

 I heard the animal pass behind the tent and disturb our tin mugs left near the car, so I would not be surprised if Lucy had an opportunity to come eye to eye with her first wolf through the car window. No doubt this is why she greeted me in the morning as she peered over the edge of the window with saucer sized eyes and flattened ears.

The morning was bright, sunny and cool and by the time I had re-secured the trailer load, repacked our equipment into the car, eaten breakfast and had a refreshing swim in the lake with the resident ducks, it was afternoon before we hit the road again headed for Kenora.

Lunch at the Upsala Reserve Shell Gas and Family restaurant comes highly recommended. The food is excellent especially the fruit pies. Pay no attention to the rough service. I think they are just shy!

We arrived at the Kenora Comfort Inn at around 9:00PM eastern time. Fortunately we had passed into the central time zone so it was only 8:00Pm local time, time enough to find a restaurant.

Steak sandwich and onion soup for supper  and a warning from the waitress about the marauding bears in the area after we told her we had walked to the restaurant from the Comfort Inn, capted off another great day in north western Ontario.

On to Winnipeg.

On the Way To Wawa

By the time we get to Inuvik I am sure we will have packing and unpacking the car down to a slick science. At the moment we are not very efficient. Just too much stuff!!

Good drive to Sault Ste Marie. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Iron Bridge just east of the Sault and let Lucy out to explore some country side

As we were leaving the picnic site we noticed several people on their hands and knees looking for something in the grass. I had good magnet in my tool bag which can (and has been) be used to pick up small metal objects, so we stopped and asked what they were searching for. It turns out that the young woman in the group had a fight with her boyfriend and chucked her diamond engagement ring out of the car window. Clearly she was having regrets. Unfortunately magnets are not much good for finding inert white gold ring settings.

Beautiful drive up the east side of Lake Superior from Sault Ste Marie to Wawa. It has been many years since I have been up in this neck of the woods but the names remain familiar, Montreal Falls, Pan Cake Bay, Old Woman Bay, Rabbit Blanket Camp Ground, and Gargantua Bay (an old abandoned commercial fishing village that I visited in 1986).

Arrived at the Mystic Isle Motel  just outside of Wawa. Perched on a hill above the highway, it is a very clean and comfortable spot from which you can see the Mystic Isle (Michapecoten Island) in the distance out in the Lake.

Great dinner at the Best Northern restaurant (BBQ'd pork tender loin and apples) across the highway from the Motel. Met a young (younger) couple from Ottawa (Dan and Anook). They both work as maintenance technicians for NavCan and have traveled extensively in the Arctic. They had much to tell us about their experience of Arctic winters.

Looking forward to another beautiful day tomorrow. Short drive (470 Kms) to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, just east of Thunder Bay, where we have reserved a "premium" campsite on the water for tomorrow night. I wonder how Lucy will enjoy sleeping in a Tent with all the critters running around outside.

25,035.50

On our way

After properly securing Lucy on her perch behind the front seat, finding a misplaced cell phone and saying our  thank you's and goodbyes to brother Mike and his wife Ora, our adventure began at 3:20 PM.

First port of call the Comfort Inn in Sudbury.

First time driving with a fully loaded trailer following behind, took some getting used to especially on the hills. The trick is to maintain momentum and hold the RPMs to between 2 and 3,000. Average speed 95kms/hr.

Massive construction underway on HWY 69 just south of Sudbury. Construction workers have filled up most of the hotel rooms in town.

Beautiful country, it's been too many years since I have been up here!

Lucy is really good while the car was in motion, she gets a little worried when we stop. Right now she is curled up on the bed in our hotel room with Marci and seems quite content.

Headed for Wawa tomorrow and the Sleeping Giant Provincial park just east of Thunderbay on Thursday.

Leaving is hard to do

Getting out of town and on to the road is proving to be a long and frustrating exercise. Living in one place for eighteen years permits the unfortunate accumulation of incredible amounts of useless stuff. Leasing our home for a year has forced us to rid ourselves of nostalgically preserved memorabilia of past lives that has now lost much of its relevance. My recently deceased Mum said to me many years ago, "never go back, always move on". I think she meant it mostly in a physical sense however my memory of her advice made it easier to turf alot of once "important" stuff.

We are staging the trailer and the final organization of the cat and the car at my brother's house in Thornhill, (big garage and driveway). Hopefully we can hit the road today. Marci's appearance at 7:30 this morning after spending all night at one of her clients has left this in doubt. We will See!