Winterscape

Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

Our trip so far

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Date:            5/22/2013                                    Time Zone: PDT

Location: Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada                                               

Travel leg of journey: 11                        Day of journey: 16

Miles traveled today:            280                        Miles traveled since departure: 3785

Percentage of travel completed: 34.4%

U.S. states visited today: British Columbia

Critters observed today: none, amazing still

We had planned on departing Dawson Creek yesterday morning, but we learned of a snow storm along our planned route and decided to stay a fourth night in town. We had no other option, as there are not a lot of Plan B routes in this part of the world. Asphalt plants for roads up here are not a growth industry. The rest of the day Tuesday it rained and sleeted, and was just miserable all day. A fitting landscape painting, matching our mood this sad day.

We left early today with the temperature barely above freezing. The roads were clear but with off-and-on fog. We encountered the results of the snowstorm about 75 miles out. The roads became more hazardous as we drove, but we moved along with little problem. The fir trees up here are cleverly designed by a higher power, with their branches growing at a steep angle downward, the better to shed snow as it falls. But they still held plenty of snow and were quite beautiful to see. This stretch of the Alaskan highway is heavily wooded, but with natural gas and oil pipelines in abundance. Most of the pipelines are buried, with the ancillary facilities concealed a good distance off of the roadway so as to make a minimum visual impact on the surroundings.

The total lack of critter spottings since we entered Canada is baffling. I have this mental image similar to Gary Larsen’s [The FAR Side] cartoons: the critters are huddled behind the trees near the roadway, chatting. One of them suddenly shouts “ here comes the speeding breadbox. Stay hidden and don’t move until they have passed!”. And it may be true, since other travelers we have met on this trip, traveling behind us, did see 4 bears just west of Fort Nelson today, and yesterday a moose, while we saw not one.

We traveled through a few small towns and crossroads today. Most were established to serve the flourishing fur trade in the early days. Now, most negotiations regarding fur trade occur in the late evenings in the local bars and saloons. We also passed several camps right off of the highway. The camps consisted of many sturdy modular buildings, perhaps 10-20 each. These housing units are provided for the oil, gas and logging workers in the area since there is little development for miles in any direction.

This RV park is very rustic, definitely not a resort. But great wifi [when it stays on], and even cable TV! We are now watching TV for the first time in 6 days and enjoying getting caught up on local and world events from the Canuck perspective.

Fort Nelson is the lowest elevation on the Alaska Highway. Over the next few days we will climb to the highest elevation and traverse some of the wildest areas of our trip. We will experience the true Alaska Highway wilderness experience. It will be slow travel and communications will be challenging until we reach Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

I have included in this post a few photos from our stay in Dawson Creek.

Nancy at Milepost zero

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