Written August 8
I woke up a couple of times during the night to the sound of rain. Light showers I guess because when I got up, nothing seemed wet and the sun was shining. The earth must be like a sponge right now because it has been so long since it rained. I ate and packed up. I was sad to leave. The little campground was friendly and I actually considered staying an extra day but I didn’t.
Today the road was long. There were not real towns to speak of along it. The place I got gas was called Bell II, it is on the map but it is a lodge with gas, a restaurant and camping. That is all. No town, just the lodge. I thought it was weird that it had a name on the map. There must be a back story there.
There were other tiny villages, Iskut, Dease Lake and Jade City. Of those, Dease Lake seemed the biggest but it was hard to tell. I traveled 497 km (It took me from 10am to 5:30 pm). In the morning it was on paved road, speed limit 100. Later it was narrower and seemed to be tar and gravel with no yellow line. I found that hard to handle. The limit on that was 80. It started to shower just as I reached a part that was under construction and gravel so Vincent got a real mud bath.
The road was long but the scenery was beautiful. I was taken by the colours,flowers red, yellow, purple and white, trees, every shade of green, the grey hues of the mountains, the blue sky with various shadings of clouds and the many combinations of blues, grays and greens of the water. I passed wooden bridges, single lane bridges, and metal decked bridges. All sangย their own song as we rumbled over. I seemed to be in an altered universe. I saw very few other cars. It was my own little world. I stopped lots to take pictures and just jog around the car. I could have used a massage therapist, a second driver or both.
At lunch I stopped at a picnic area with a great view. Anne and Mark, a couple also stopped there for lunch invited me to eat with them. They are from Ontario and are taking the long way to visit their son in Yellowknife, thru Inuvik. Anne showed me a guide book that they had. One that knew everything about the area. Wow! Something I would love to have for next years leg of my journey. We said good bye with the knowledge that we might run into each other again.
Later on I saw the woman and her two daughters from yesterday. I thought they would be way ahead of me but they must have stopped for the night some place close to where I was.
This is definately a driving leg of the journey. Geographically everything is so far apart and there are no couch surfers to visit. I am enjoying the solitude and also meeting other travelers. So many stories.
Tonight I stopped at Boyo Lake Provincial Park. I have an enthusiastic stream running behind my campsite. It is making enough noise to be a rushing river and the sound is filling Vincent. Sleep should be easy with that soothing sound.. I expect it to be bright pretty late as I get further north. It is 9:30 and it is not even thinking about getting dark.
I think I will reach Whitehorse on Monday. One more night out. Unless I can find a library at Watson Lake, this note will stay in my computer. I was offered internet access in Bell II but they wanted $.50 a minute for it. Woohoo! I didn’t thing anything I could write could be worth THAT. I politely declined.
Talk soon.
Hi Vicki, Just spent the last half an hour reading about your latest adventures.Sounds like you are having a terrific time. I wish I could be with you but your posts are the next best thing to being there. I did some searching on the internet…..avoiding work ๐ and found out a little bit about Bell 11. It was built by an Ernie Kreese as a basic service station and garage for travellers on their way to the Yukon and Alaska. Now it is a destination resort for fishermen and heliskiers Enjoy your time in Whitehorse! Love, Anne and Doug
Whitehorse already?!?! Wow! Internet every day, such advances for good ole BC. We spent a month in Dease Lake one year when the kids were young. Harvey was doing a locum and we played in the snow. Love, K
Ask and you shall receive. My homework on Bell II revealed that it is named after the 2nd river crossing of the Bell-Irving River over Hwy 37, 48 km (30 miles) south of the airstrip at Bob Quinn Lake. The lodge is now quite deluxe with even a resident masseuse! Record steelheads are fished for in the summer and in the winter it is a heli-skiing mecca in the Skeena Mountain Range. Get this, in the winter their annual snowfall at 1,600 metres (5,200 feet) is approximately 20-30 metres (65-100 feet). With this in mind, you can expect to have an average base of 5-6 metres (15-18 feet). Let Vincent know what he is missing by this being a summer adventure!
safe travels, gail
Isn’t procrastination wonderful. Bell II, who knew.
Vincent is already complaining that there is so much that we can’t see in the winter. There is a couch surfing woman in Atlin who says the only way to her place is by boat, air or walking in over the ice. Well, with the temperatures we have been having there IS no ice…but maybe this winter I will get to see her place.
It is really raining today. maybe a good thing I am not camping out but the forest fire crews must be loving it. The “no fire” ban is off for the Yukon. I wonder about BC. The weather can be very different in different parts of the same area. I am warm and dry and writing press releases though…procrastinating. ๐