There had been washouts and road closures eliminating the route we originally planned to take to get home, which would have been a little shorter. However, when driving in Alaska you need to be able to flex and so came up with a different route home.
When we got to Dawson Creek, part of the original planned route, we spent two days there as we wanted to go to the Mile Zero Museum. It commemorates the beginning of the Alaskan (Alcan) Highway. More about that later.
Once again, we enjoy the mountains and the Fall colors.
We are still in the “Land of Frost Heaves.” It is hard to photograph them to let you know what they really look like.
They are even harder to see in real time. You will be right on top of them before you know it, and it’s nearly impossible to get slowed down fast enough to not hit them hard. This is why you need to drive slowly. They are sneaky and dangerous road hazards.
So while Don keeps his eyes open for frost heaves, I watch the mountain scenery and the color. (I also keep and eye on frost heaves just because I am paranoid that way.)
As with yesterday’s posting, there is not a lot of need for me to try to describe to you what you are seeing on most of these pictures. It is just non-stop beauty.
One of the really great things about Alaska and Canada highways, is their pull-outs. There are pull-outs every few miles and although some of them are HUGE (big enough for our entire caravan to pull off all at one time, often with space to spare) they are mostly all big enough for a motorhome and tow car, often with trash barrels and restrooms.
As a result, we spent most of our nights on the way home in pull outs. They are quite safe and extremely convenient.
One of our ‘pull-out nights’ was above a river at ‘Cranberry Rapids.’ There was very little traffic, but if you opened a window or door, you could hear the roar of the rapids.
A chain saw would have helped me get a better picture of the rapids as the trees pretty much blocked the view.
Back on the road the next morning, we were once again greeted with gold covered hills and mountains.
We had seen a couple black bears next to the road, but did not have time to get the camera on them. Then we saw signs about watching out for buffalo.
First we saw one buffalo here and one there, and finally I commented to Don that is seemed strange that they were just singletons, not several at one time. About that time we came around a curve to an entire herd. There were probably 50 or so in one area.
We found the solid golden hills amazing. Don said he thought we had probably gotten enough Fall color on this trip to last us a while.
After seeing lots of “Watch for Caribou” signs, we finally saw the real thing, actually we saw lots of caribou on the road.
Here we came across even more caribou.
Here is both a mom and calf. Both male and female caribou have antlers, including a center blade that is used to shovel snow away as they are looking for food.
Finally we arrived at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the beginning of the Alcan highway. This marker indicates Mile Zero where it all began.
We visited the museum across the street.
This is a map of the Alcan Highway, 1500 miles that was built in an unbelievable EIGHT MONTHS.
This road was built through weather and conditions that were truly unimaginable and for which the men were unprepared, but they did it anyway.
Fifty to seventy degrees below zero temperatures were common for the unprepared troops to work in.
In summer, the top of the permafrost melts into a horrible mud called muskeg. They cut timbers and built what was called ‘corduroy’ roads, which though bone jarring, carried vehicles across them.
We also found another couple from our tour parked right next to us in the RV park where we stayed for two days in Dawson Creek.
This was the last time that we saw familiar faces, although we watched for the orange placards identifying our group on RV’s as we went down the road.
From Dawson Creek, we drove through Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Jasper is beautiful but we didn’t take the time to stop there this time.
After passing through Jasper and moving back into British Columbia, we spent another night in a pull-out with a view of this glacier overhead.
At this point Don and I are both suffering from colds and really want to get home, so pushed even harder to drive long days.
We had a fabulous trip. We had great people to share the experience with and we can’t talk about it enough. Personally, I would go back in a heartbeat, especially at this time of year. However…
...To quote Dorothy, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home!”
