Fort Nelson – British Columbia

Summer Solstice; the longest day of the year and we celebrated it here in Fort Nelson, or mile 300 on the Alaskan/Canadian highway. At 58.81 degrees north, we’re only five degrees south of the Arctic Circle and night is a constantly dusk. It’s not getting dark and the queen’s eye masks aren’t enough to let her sleep comfortably. She had to make a set of dark curtains to make it through the night lack of night.

The road yesterday turned westerly again towards the Canadian Rockies. We haven’t gotten to the big craggy mountains yet. The geography is more like the Appalachians, low-lying mountains with an occasional cliff and river canyon. The oil industry is very much present in this area of British Columbia and most of the trades support either that or tourists like us.

Fort Nelson is a smaller community than Dawson Creek. Our official and highly accurate census is taken from whether there’s a Wall-Mart, Safeway or Costco. None of them are here. There are several liquor stores here however, for which we’re grateful.

Since there is so much daylight, I got up early to explore the town and try to find something interesting to shoot. After an hour and a half I gave up and came back to the trailer and crawled back in bed. Most of the architecture is metal buildings that are so practical for a place like this, but so boring when they’re all you can find.

Main Street Fort Nelson from a back street.
Except for a new Ramada Hotel, most of the commercial buildings are prefabricated.

Later in the morning Fred and I went out to a local fishing store that I found, to see about a set of waders for me (No, I am not going to walk the catwalk like Fred did. How could I possibly top that act?). But we also had to pick up a battery for my car remote, a swivel for his trailer sink and a new jar of trailer hitch grease (and while we were at it, we hit one of the liquor stores). The women, wanted to visit a quilt shop at the edge of town but it’s closed on Monday’s.

Fred and I ran into them at the Ft. Nelson Museum, one of the recommendations in the guide books. That changed my view of the town. That’s because, this isn’t the first Ft. Nelson site. I don’t know if fires, floods or some other disaster was the reason to move the town, but all of that interesting stuff is in this museum; even some of the original buildings.

Original Ft. Nelson Post Office
The post office from the original site of Ft. Nelson is located in the Historical Ft. Nelson Museum.

We met the owner/curator, a wonderful codger named Marl Brown in the auto building. At 87 years, he loves to show off his toy’s if you ask the right questions. He keeps about a dozen automobiles of different vintages in the building and none of them were restored, but they all run! One of them is a century old Buick that Marl told us that he drove round trip to Watson Lake and back on its birthday. That is just over 600 miles. He parades them on Canada’s National Day. They’re not mint, but he keeps them running.

Marl in front of truck.
Curator, Marl Brown, in front of a running Federal truck.

I have a friend, Paul Speer, that collects ‘Hit and Miss’ engines (a motor with a flywheel used to pump irrigation water), so I asked Marl if he had one. Yes he did and proceeded to put a thimble of gasoline in it, then started it for us. Marl jury-rigged a Coke and Pepsi can on the exhaust ports and they randomly popped up when the alternating cylinders fired.

Marl starts antique car.
As a visitor watches, Marl Brown prepares to start one of his antique cars; an open one cylinder roadster that I’ve never heard of before.

We spent a bit of time perusing the treasures that were in Marl’s collection. Surveying equipment, bulldozers used in for building the road, assay scales, rotary airplane motors (and an Alison engine from a Spitfire), and daily stuff that people used during the road construction.

There was even something that was close to home for Fred and I. In the early years of the town, electricity was provided by five generators driven by large diesel engines. They’ve been replaced by gas-powered turbines. The diesel engines are the same that we had at the power plant that we worked at. Marl had one of these two-story monsters sitting in the yard.

Diesel generator engine.
A sixteen cylinder engine, similar to those used at the power plant used to supply the power for Fort Nelson.

A day that started off as a bust turned into a highlight on the trip. Even though, I appreciate looking at historical artifacts, what made this special was that I got a chance to meet Marl Brown and watch the sparkle in his eye as he showed off something in his collection.

Highly recommended.

jw

Dawson Creek – British Columbia

We’ve been on the road seventeen days with 2600 miles on the odometer when we arrived at Dawson Creek yesterday (Friday; it’s scotch night). Dawson Creek is an important stop on our trip.

  • It’s our first stop in British Columbia.
  • The weather is warmer than we’ve had the last few days.
  • This completes the first section of Fred’s itinerary.

The most important reason though, is that Dawson Creek is where we pick up the famous Alaska Highway. As Fred said this afternoon, “We’ve come all this way just to get to the start.”  If you want to drive to Alaska, this is the road that will get you there. Fairbanks is at the other end of this road, only 1500 miles away.

Gang under ALCAN Highway sign,
Fred, Sally, Deb, Anne and Jim take a moment to pose for photos under the highway banner.

The Army Corps of Engineers built the road in 1942 in eight months for military purposes during the second world war. The public didn’t have access to the road until 1948 and it wasn’t paved until the Alaska pipeline was built. Now the road’s covered with RVs. There’s a thriving cottage industry shepherding caravans of RVs on the same route that we’re taking.

Class A motoromes from a guided caravan.
A small part of a RV Caravan sharing the same campsite with us. Our paths cross often as we move from park to park.

A couple of days ago, I was afraid that we wouldn’t get into Dawson Creek. Last week they had torrential rains that dumped over four inches of rain in the area. The creek that runs through the middle of town (surprise, it’s also called Dawson Creek) cut the town in half by washing out the main road. Within three days, crews patched the roads enough to get traffic flowing again.

Damage on the Dawson Creek Broidge.
Only a couple of days before we arrived in Dawson Creek, over four inches of rain caused flooding on Dawson Creek and closed the major road through town.

We’ve now cleared the Canadian Rockies and the countryside is flatter, with farms and lots of timber. The towns are further apart, but they have all the franchises you’d expect at home. We even passed a Costco yesterday in Grand Prairie, which is something that we rarely do.

The geography of our route has changed from mountains to prairie as we pick up the ALCAN Highway.
The geography of our route has changed from mountains to prairie as we pick up the ALCAN Highway.

Tomorrow morning we strike out for Fort Nelson. A leg that’s close to three hundred miles or 450km. Although the road is famous, it gets bad reviews for its condition. We’ll batten down the hatches and suffer through it, because now we’ve made a turn and are on our way to Alaska.

jw

Hinton – Alberta

At the end of each day, we normally relax around the campfire to unwind, review the day’s adventures and plan tomorrow’s events. So, what happens when the Alberta winds drive you inside? Simple . . . we gather five people into a trailer meant for two and have a happy hour. A candle is the token campfire.

The gang discusses pans durning happy hour.
Sally, Fred, Jim and Deb (Anne’s behind the camera) convene around the candle campfire to review tomorrow’s plans.

jw

Waterton Lakes NP, Alberta

I wanted to get off a short note this morning before we get on the road to Banff and show a couple of shots of yesterday’s park visit.

Waterton Lake and Rockies
From the Prince of Wales Hotel lawn, this is the view you enjoy of Waterton Lake and Canadian Rockies.

If you’ve never heard of the Alberta winds, here is your notice. The wind blows here most of the time. And I’m not talking puffy little breezes. The winds come down off of the mountains and on to the prairie and they really batter you. The last two nights in the Ritz felt like sleeping in a Lowe’s paint shaker. I’d compare them to our summer monsoons, but they last all day and night.

Lake Waterton and Mountains
This is the scenic view looking east from the Prince of Whales Hotel.

It’s time to start packing now, so I’ll close. As I said, we don’t expect WiFi for a couple of days, but I’ll post news if I’m wrong. On to Banff and Lake Louise.

jw

Oh Canada

We made the Canadian crossing after driving forty-five minutes from our last camp. Going through the Glacier/Waterton customs was an ordeal. We pulled our vehicles in line and waited to be summoned to the officer’s booth. Fred, being funny, told the guy to watch out for the tricky geezer behind him. He looked at our passports, asked us about guns and alcohol, why we were coming, and where we were coming from. Then he said, “You’re from Arizona! Where are your guns?” I told him that we must have left them in the bar.

After passing through customs we pulled over in the parking lot to take the obligatory pictures in front of signs. We shot one in front of the Waterton Lakes Park sign, one in front of the flags and then we walked back passed the customs booth to the roadside monument. We stood there chatting about how nicely they had mowed the border when a Canadian customs officer came out of the building to talk with us. He told us that the US Customs people called him to complain about the people wandering back and forth across the line. You’re not supposed to do that without going through customs. Then he asked if we’d like him to take our picture. After he did, he remarked that Canadians aren’t as anal as the US Customs people and we all had a good laugh.

Gang posing at the border
The gang lines up for a pose at the US/Canada border. The shot was taken by a Canadian Border Officer after scolding us about wander back and forth across the line.

After another twenty miles (I guess I should start reporting this in kilometers) we made it to a lovely little park at the north border of Waterton Lakes National Park. Our hostess, Kristin explained all about the park and what to do about the bears should they happen by. I told her to stop teasing us about that because there are no bears here . . . well as far as we could tell. Then I complemented her on her English. She laughed and said that she was from Tennessee.

Fred poses in waders.
Fred poses for the cameras in his new Wall-Mart waders.

After setting up camp, we drove north to the little town of Pincher Creek to get supplies at the Wall-Mart. Once you drive away from the Rockies, the countryside reminds me of eastern Kansas with low rolling green hills and red barn farms. In Wall-Mart Fred and I checked out waders. He found a set, but there weren’t any in my size. Anne asked a clerk where the wine was and the woman said, “Oh honey, you’re not from Canada are you dear?”  So off we went to find one of the two liquor stores and in the process lost Fred and Deb. Don’t worry, they found their way back to camp.

Today we plan on exploring Waterton Lakes Park. Maybe we may see some bears there. We plan on leaving for three days in Banff National Park 200 miles north of here. The campground we picked out doesn’t have WiFi so the Blog may be dark for a while. If I can’t find a way to publish, I’ll save the good stories for when we’re back on-line.

jw

St Mary, Montana

It’s the beginning of our second week of travel and today was the first time we didn’t have clear skies. In Columbia Falls yesterday, the temperature was in the high 90s before afternoon thunderstorms dropped some light rain. Today the storms have been building all day.

We made the drive around the south flank of Glacier Park and got to St Mary in the early afternoon, and that’s even stopping at the goat lick and lunch (it’s not the name of a restaurant, they’re different places). We had to move so we could see Glacier’s east side. As I wrote earlier, the Going to the Sun Road is still covered in snow.

Goats at the salt lick
Mountain goats migrate from the high cliffs down to a salt deposit along the Flathead River.

The goat lick is kind of cool. There is a turn out near the south-west corner of the park where you can see mountain goats if you’re lucky. They come down from the high mountains to a spot above a fork of the Flathead River where there are salt deposits. The last time Anne and I stopped, there were about a dozen, but there were only three today. Since they’re on the other side of the river, they’re over a mile away in the shot I made with my telephoto lens.

Storm over St Mary Lake
Afternoon thunderstorms create a dark mood in Glacier National Park.

After setting up camp, we piled in the car and drove up the east side of the Going to the Sun Road. That’s when the thunderstorms really developed. As moist air moves in from the west, the Rockies wring a lot of that water out before moving out to the dry prairie. With thunder echoing off of the mountains while rain and hail bounced off of Fritz, the park was showing off a different face.

Two mountain peaks in rain clouds
Behind a grove of burnt evergreens, two Glacier peaks are obscured by rain clouds.

We’re going to stay here for another day then move across the border to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. It’s part of the Glacier Eco system and is called the International Peace Park. Besides, Fred and I have to see if we can catch something that moves.

jw

Columbia Falls, Montana

We arrived in Columbia Falls yesterday. Fred needs to get his stitches out (see the earlier post about pending disasters), and after five days of driving we scheduled time for a break. In addition to the medical concerns, we’ll restock some supplies and explore Glacier National Park so we can shoot some pictures and get in some fishing.

McDonald Lake tucked in glacial valley
McDonald Lake fills the glacial valley along the Going to the Sun Road in West Glacier National Park

Glacier is my favorite park (of the ones I’ve visited). It spans the border with Canada and their side is called Waterton Lakes National Park. Glacier is relatively small but has spectacular glacial mountains stacked one after another. I’ve joked before that it’s hard to photograph because to get one mountain completely framed, you back into another mountain.

Fred shooting waterfall
Fred composes a shot at McDonald Creek Falls in Glacier National Park

Going to the Sun road is the only road that traverses the park, and it crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. At 6600 feet elevation, it is the best view of the park. Unfortunately, the road was closed every time we’ve visited and this year the snow won’t be cleared until mid July.

If you visit the park early in the season, you can cheat the snow plows by driving around the park on Highway US 2 to visit the other side, and that’s what we will do on Wednesday. We will spend a couple of days in Saint Mary before we finally cross the Canadian border.

jw