We had been told that we would meet people along the way but didn't really think much of that. Now we understand just what they meant. For a few days we kept running into this jovial man and his wife at different stops along the way. This morning we stepped out of our camper and struck up a conversation with a lovely couple who had camped next to us. We commented that we think we have been following each other because we think we had seen their camper a few times before. They told us they first saw us getting cinnamon buns and recognized our motorhome because of the IBC Network stickers on it. They couldn't find a campground the previous night and when they saw our rig in the pull-out they decided it must be OK to stay there. All day today we've been playing leap frog with them and arrived at the Alaska sign at the same time. It is wonderful how we can do this trip with just the two of us yet still feel like we're part of a community.
The highlight of today (well, at least for Colleen) was seeing not one but TWO grizzly bears! They were just walking along the road about 20 feet from us. We have now seen seven black bears, four white tail deer, two young moose, a herd of buffalo, one swan and two grizzly bears along with numerous prairie dogs.
We're staying at a campground that is famous for (drum roll, please) their pancake toss. This is a silly game of tossing a pancake into a bucket. The winner earns $10 toward breakfast. Out of all the campers a 5 year old boy won! We were both losers (with the rest of the adults and his siblings) and were given a wooden coin to remind us of that fact. :-)
We decided to camp in a pull-out again today, this time we were the second to arrive so we were able to find a spot where we could get Maxine level. We had a wonderful view of the St. Elias mountains.
Our pictures truly do not do justice to the beauty we are seeing. Just when we think it can't get any more beautiful we turn a corner or crest a hill and behold! Honestly it is almost overwhelming to see such beauty.
Many of these pictures are of the 'backside' of the St. Elias Mountains. They are said to contain the largest glacial ice fields outside of the polar regions, with ice over 700 feet thick!
Today we made it to the Yukon, and back to British Columbia, and back to the Yukon, and... The Alaska Highway weaves back and forth between the two provinces numerous times. Most of the drive we weren't really sure which province we were in.
We decided to try something new for us, but quite common along the Alaska Highway: camp overnight in a pull-out along the highway. Getting Maxine level was a bit of a challenge since other campers had already established themselves on the most level spots in the pull-out. Colleen was able to get Maxine level enough for us to be comfortable but not level enough to be able to open our slide. Thankfully, we can still use our bed with the slide in! (Something else Colleen thought through beforehand).
Our thanks to Colleen's colleagues, Dineen and Brendan for their beautiful craftsmanship in creating the Davidson sign for the signpost forest! One of the finest examples of signcraft now sits atop a post in the signpost forest for all to see when they visit Watson Lake, YT!
We passed Tetsa River Lodge yesterday and knew we had to visit the "Cinnamon bun centre of the galactic cluster." Unfortunately it was closed! We decided to backtrack before heading to Liard River Hot Springs. We're so glad we did! Mr. Sticky's might be better, but they were truly delicious. On our drive to the hot springs we saw a black bear and her cub, and stopped on the side of the road for a bit to watch them. The cub was so cute scurrying down the tree, then grabbing ahold of a small tree that bent under its weight! That cub did a great job hiding from our cameras.
The hot spring was wonderful! Originally set up by the US Army during the construction of the Alaska Highway, the hot springs were connected to the campground by a meandering boardwalk traversing marshland and forest filled with tropical-looking plants. This was a great place to take a break from traveling and relax for a bit in 110-120F mineral water. This provincial campground was probably the nicest we've seen. It was immaculately maintained and the sites were spacious with lots of woods between sites giving a feeling of privacy not found in commercial campgrounds.
Today's drive was both beautiful and heartbreaking. We enjoyed the beauty of the forested hills and were saddened by the incredible destruction of wildfires; black earth and sticks that were once full trees went as far as the eye could see in many places, and smoke draped the mountains from the fires still burning miles away. We also saw areas of wildfire from previous years and noticed how nature heals itself with new growth.
(Please excuse the bug smeared windshield. It is almost a full time job keeping the window cleaned. Windshield washer fluid and wipers is no match for the number of bugs we collect.)
We arrived at our camp for the night, Summit Lake Provincial Park, in time to take a nice hike up the hill. The flowers were blooming along the trail and we were able to look down on our campground and the lake.
We made it to Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway! This is another step closer and a small drop in the bigger bucket list.
A quick stop and short walk to see the original Alaska Highway curved bridge.
Arriving at Buckinghorse Wayside Provincial Park, our camp for the night, we had our first viewing of the remnants of the Pocket Knife Creek Wildfire. This park was closed just a couple of days before our arrival. The smell of burned wood was strong.