Jasper Naional Park, AB - Sunday, June 19

The clouds returned overnight with rain, thunder, and lightening but this morning is clear. We will drive south on Highway 40 today. Jasper National Park is about 240 miles away. Along the way we encountered a deer with a fawn and a moose with a calf. We were going to check out the Provincial Parks on the way but about half way into the drive the sky turned black and ominous so we kept moving. About 2:00pm, we entered Jasper National Park. Since we are old, we received the senior discount and paid for one day in the park. On our drive into the park, we found a tour bus and a dozen cars parked in the middle of the road. That is always a sign of wildlife. Today it was two bull elk with large velvet covered racks grazing and lying beside the road. I can just hear one of them saying to the other “Let’s go down by the road and stop a bunch of cars. For real fun we could even chase the tourists a bit.” We made a quick stop, wove through the traffic, and moved down the road.

From our camping books, Wapiti Campground, inside the park looked like a good place to stay. They have full service sites but they were all taken by the time we arrived. We took a no service site near the river and will “rough it” tonight. We heard a little thunder as we set up for the night so Charlie headed for his safe site between the front seats. It’s good to have a brave dog to take care of us old folks. After some rain, the sun came out as we relaxed with no modern conveniences.  We are about as far off the grid as we can get. Next trip we need to remember to bring real books, not digital books on the computer. Tomorrow we will look for breakfast in Jasper (two miles away), check out the shops and museum before heading into British Columbia.

 Views from Wapiti Campground:

 

Grande Prairie, AB - Friday & Saturday, June 17 & 18

We awoke in Dawson Creek to clear blue skies. This is the first sun we have seen in nearly a week. It looked like a good day to start our detour around the problems on Highway 97. It’s good to be traveling without a schedule.

We made a stop in Dawson Creek to get a photo of the 0 Milepost Marker for the Alaska Highway. We also found a coffee shop/bakery with Cinnamon Buns (they failed our test) and very tasty Pineapple Upside-down Cake. We should have bought two pieces. We took a back road suggested by our host at the golf course and it worked out well. It was scenic and traffic was lighter than the main road to Grande Prairie, AB. After a stop at the Grande Prairie Information Center we decided to spend the night here. It is much larger than we expected. The oil industry is big here and farming seems popular also. The size of the town was confirmed when we found another Costco. We will pass by this one for a change.

Tamarack Campground is a very nice park on the southern edge of town. It’s on Highway 40, our escape route south. The sun is shining and despite the wind it is warm. We decided to spend a second night here so we can recline in our zero gravity chairs and dry everything out. The campground is busy but we will still enjoy the day of rest. Today is Karen’s birthday. After nuking the cinnamon bun for her birthday breakfast, I suggested again, a fun day at Costco. She thought staying at the campground was a better idea. My new idea is a slow drive through the Okanagan Valley and multiple stops at the wineries along that route. That seemed to be a more acceptable plan. That won’t happen for a few more days. Birthday dinner will be reheated leftovers tonight and a promise for a better meal when we hit the big city of Kamloops.

0 Mile Marker

                    Lounging the day away:

Dawson Creek, BC - Thursday, June 16

Started working on the Ark today. The rain is still coming down. The local weather people report 5 inches in a 24-hour period. I’m surprised it was only 5 inches.

We pulled out at 9:15am for our trip to a point half way between Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek. We have a couple Provincial Parks that look interesting. The roads today were the best we’ve had so far: smooth, wide and not too busy. We saw a couple black bears again today but they have become common place. 

We reached our first park about noon so lunch seemed in order. We scouted out the campsites and all were too near the creek that had now become a river. It could get very wet here if it rains much more. We decided to continue to our next choice. The next Provincial Park we stopped at was along the Kiskatinaw River. It is near the last original wood bridge from the 1942 construction and was built with a large curve in the span. It is not on today’s Alcan highway but is part of the Old Alaska Highway and is still crossed by local people and interested tourists. It now has a weight limit of fourteen tons. That’s not bad for a bridge nearing its seventy-fifth birthday.

The Kiskatinaw River was also a raging torrent, with fallen trees flying by and clogging the passage in many places. We decided this was not a safe place to stay. The road in and out passes very close to the river and a bit more water could make it impossible to leave. We checked the map and realized we were only an hour from Dawson Creek so we were off again. Karen found a golf course with camping just outside of Dawson Creek that sounded quiet and nice. When we pulled in, our host met us at the site and welcomed us to the park. We talked with him about our route tomorrow down Highway 97 toward Prince George. He informed us that we would have trouble getting through Dawson Creek because of heavy flooding. They have one bridge washed away and two more underwater. Also Highway 97 was closed with large washouts in more than one place. Our fear of flooding has been realized. The B.C. road report says the road is closed indefinitely so we will need to find another way home. I guess Alberta looks like a nice place to visit. It’s nice to have time to reroute. Charlie likes it here. He has grass under his feet and his Frisbee in the air. So far no one has told me to keep him on a leash. Run Charlie run! 

Tomorrow we see if it is possible to move through Dawson Creek. If not, Farmington Fairways may become home for a few days.

Buckinghorse Creek - notice that is over bank in foreground

Views of Kiskatinaw River and wooden bridge: