September 16: Up and off at a decent time for us, about 9:30 AM. Stopped at Watson Lake and what a friendly visitor center, the best yet. They had a great movie explaining about the origin and building of the Alaskan Highway. Both the politics and history and we learned a lot. The signpost forest is just outside the information center. In 1942 it started with a lonely soldier putting up a sign for his hometown and today it has 71,000 signs. Now 70,001 as we put up our sign that we made before we left on this trip.
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| Adding our sign |
The lady at the visitor told us that the stretch of the Alaskan Highway from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson was the prettiest on the highway. We now agree. The road followed the Liard River to the Hot Springs. We stopped, but could only walk part of trail as they were having bear problems.
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| Hot Springs |
We had been told to watch for bison by the visitor center and sure enough, we saw one then another and another down the road. Finally, we ran into a whole herd! They were fun to watch and one was dusting just like our horses do at home.
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| Dusting like our horses |
Decided to drive a little later than usual and we were rewarded with lots of animals. Our goal had been to reach Summit Lake Campground, but it got dark and we had to stop. Found a “former provincial park at 115 creek” We read about it in Churches Alaska Camping. It was not marked but the pull off was just after crossing the bridge.
September 17: Woke up to freezing temperatures, frozen puddles and frost on the windshield. We walked to a beaver pond by the campsite. It’s such a pretty spot that I understand why people still camp here. It’s a good thing we did not make Summit Lake. When we drove by, it was closed. This was an early start day and we were rewarded with sightings of Stone Sheep, lots of caribou, elk and deer. The drive was gorgeous. We went up and around Stone Mountain with the Northern Rockies on one side and the Stone Mountain Range on the other. That is where we met the stone sheep.
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| Stone Sheep |
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| Note frost on side of pond |
We were making good time toward Fort St John s following a fifth wheel in front of us. Edna smelled smoke and I pulled over. Got out and walked around and popped the hood- nothing. Got back in the motor home and drive off again. No smell. A little ways down the road is the 5th wheel off to the side of the road. He has the hood of his truck up and a fire extinguisher in his hand. Edna says pull over and I get out and go back to him. The fire extinguisher was used to put out the fire in his alternator. Belt is also melted. Of coarse we are near nothing. We take the man, his son and dog into Fort Nelson 35 miles away. Stop at the GMC dealer and they only have a belt for his truck, but no alternator. The truck is a 1992 model. NAPA is closed and he tries Canada Tire and they have the alternator. What luck, and we then take him back to his truck. It’s getting late and not a lot of daylight left as we head down the road again towards Fort St. John where we plan to drive to a provincial campground the other side of town. We didn’t make it as it got really dark and the road was mountainous. So, we pulled over into a trucker “chain up area”. Not as nice as a rest area because you are right on the road, and hear the trucks downshifting all night as they started down the mountain. By morning, we had a 5th wheel behind us and an 18 wheeler also. It was even colder than the previous night.
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| Sonw from previous day still on platform |
