On to the Great White North

Saturday morning, June 11, 0900 (day 17 of our trip) – mile zero of the Dempster Highway. The road is all gravel, and variously good condition, washboard, and occasionally potholed. After 71 kilometres we entered Tombstone Territorial Park, which has stark and rugged mountainous terrain. We visited the Ranger station here to have our Dempster Passport stamped (another contest – 8 stamps to Inuvik for a chance at a diamond or gold nugget prize). We also checked on the weather forecast (30% chance of rain, warming up to 18 Celsius – great!) and the road conditions (as good as it gets!). By 1000 we were 15 kilometres further along when a rather large grizzly bear walked across the road in front of us.

Tombstone Mountains

Grizzly

The terrain after that consisted of bare limestone slopes on a winding mountain road followed by barren-looking tundra, mostly above the treeline. Much of the mountain scenery was a bit more rugged than that further south as it had not been worn down by glaciation. A moose sauntered out on the road at one point, where we passed through a boreal forest area of black spruce trees all looking a bit scrubby and growing in various tilted directions (the trees are shifted around by the melting/freezing actions of the permafrost just below the root systems). Several places along the highway were straight, wide, and reinforced, with a windsock and orange pilons to mark the area as emergency airstrips. We saw in the distance a rock tor which had eroded into the shape of an elephant.

Elephant Rock

Moose on the Road

Eventually we climbed onto a great long hill, leaving the mountains for a plain (Eagle Plains). The plains had rolling countryside with lots of vegetation in the valleys and dwarf trees and tundra higher up. Occasional vistas of the Richardson Mountains to the northeast began to show. By the time we'd driven 369 kilometres we reached the halfway point to Inuvik, the Eagle Plains Hotel. It had been specifically built as a costly and standalone place for the halfway point, with fuel, accommodation (both camping and motel), and maintenance facilities. We filled up our fuel tanks here, and had a snack before continuing on. We only had to drive a further 30 kilometres to arrive at the Arctic Circle, at 66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude. Here we met a German fellow bicycling southbound having left Inuvik 5 days previously, and ambitiously planning to cycle to Argentina! For 3 of the 5 days, it had rained and snowed, and had proven to be a tough slog for this tough adventure. When I think of the distances and hardships he will face, I shake my head in wonder.

Finally at the Arctic Circle

Eagle Plains - halfway up the Dempster

We headed for a Yukon Territorial campground at Rock Creek, a further 40 kilometres north. Here was a bit of forested area with a nice stream passing by, and reasonably priced campsites ($12.00/night). As the earlier bear sighting was still fresh in our minds, we didn't pitch the tent, but fixed up the car for sleeping in the back. We had some darkening material on our windows which helped for a better sleep. A bit crowded, but it worked just fine for a night. We had a canned supper and a campfire, and hit the sack.

Rock River Campground on the Dempster

The next morning (Sunday) dawned (okay....actually it was impossible tell when dawn was with the daylight all night long) with a layer of cloud, so we fixed up a light breakfast and coffee and then headed out at 0800.

Continuing northbound again, for 20 kilometres, we crossed out of the Yukon and into the Northwest Territories, as we entered into the Richardson Mountains, a northern extension of the Canadian Rockies. As we passed out of these mountains and into a large plateau, we were a bit surprised to see a shack city with a stage in the middle, the site of the Midway Lake Music Festival .....who knew? A short drive further took us to a cable ferry across the Peel River, a free ferry as part of the road system. Then a short stop at a native Interpretive Centre (another stamp for the passport), and then on to Fort McPherson for a fuel stop. We were surprised to find the price of fuel here is less than it was in Dawson, or in fact in most other places since we'd left. So this will be our southbound fuel stop out of Inuvik. Being a Sunday, the hamlet was closed up, so we didn't see much else here, although we'd heard it to be a very friendly and nice place. Driving yet again for 75 kilometres took us to another ferry crossing. This one is a small motorize ferry which crosses the Mackenzie River at the confluence of the Arctic Red River and the Mackenzie.

Bare Limestone Mountains

Tors on Jagged Peaks

Approaching Ferry across Mackenzie River

Entering NWT

One of several panoramic views

A good crossing on a very big river, and we were again heading north, on our last leg for Inuvik. We were now paralleling the Mackenzie and entering the river delta. I'd expected a boggy treeless terrain, but it was very heavily treed with short scraggy spruce and tamarack, in a wetland area passing ponds and lakes. The Mackenzie is the longest river in Canada, flowing over 4200 kilometres, and it has a vast delta region. The road, however, was mostly straight and graded, and with a short lunch stop, we managed to finish our last leg, arriving at Inuvik at 1430 (Mountain Time – we'd had to change our watches ahead one hour crossing into NWT).

This gave us a chance to visit the Information Centre, set up camp in the campground in town (yes – we are camping again), and take a short walk around town. It's larger than most of the other places we've been to in the past week, with over 3400 people here. I'm presently typing this from our tent, with no wi-fi available, and rain outside (but it's warm at least). So with luck I'll get this posted on Monday morning from the library, and then get our Inuvik adventures filled in later on.

More Dawson

I last told you we were about done with Dawson City, and preparing to head north again, onto the Dempster Highway. But first, we wanted to visit at least some of the Highland Games events. The sporting events were scheduled for Saturday, but we could attend the mass band concert to be held atop “The Dome”, a mountaintop above the town, and locally called “The Midnight Dome”, referencing a tradition of locals (and tourists) coming to the top of the dome for the summer solstice to watch the sun at midnight. We were 8 days early for that, but it was still bright sunlight at 2300 that evening, for the concert. Very nice views over the Yukon River and the town below. 

Dawson and the Yukon River, from the Dome

The Commissioner of the Yukon, looking out over the Yukon River

 As we waited, a limousine pulled up and discharged the Commissoner of the Yukon Territory, with a mountie escort in dress reds....he was attending from Whitehorse. There was an amalgam of 3 or 4 pipe bands (actually parts of them), from Anchorage, Fairbanks, and local Dawsonites....the Whitehorse group hadn't arrived yet. In total, there were about 11 pipers with 2 snare drums, 3 kettle drums, and 2 bass drums. In spite of the small size of the Mass Band, they did an excellent concert. A few girls did some Scottish Dancing, and a young woman treated us to a few Robert Service poems.  I've “Vlogged” a bit here with a video clip, as well as a couple of pics. We quite enjoyed the evening, and headed back to our campsite at midnight (still bright) for our last sleep in Dawson.

Honour Guard and Commissioner meeting dignitaries

Interesting name for a Pipe Band

Scottish Dancers entertaining the crowd

The following morning came too soon, as partyers further down the campsite reveled until well after 3AM. But we still got the tent and equipment put away by 0800, and set out , heading for the Dempster Highway. We saw a fox with a bunny in his mouth as we drove eastward, and finally at 0900 we turned north onto the Dempster.

Doing Dawson

Finally summer has arrived!  We booked into the campsite in the middle of Dawson City, and are finally using the tent.  Temps yesterday and today mid 20's (Celsius), and a bit cool at night, but comfortable enough with a hot wife and a couple of sleeping bags.  This is our opportunity to play tourist, so that's what we've been doing.  Yesterday morning (Thursday) first thing on the agenda was to get an oil and filter change on the car, which was done by 0900.  Then we parked the car at the tent, and walked the town.

Our Campsite in Dawson - the Moosehide Slide in the background has been a mark of the area for centuries.

 The Klondike Gold Rush is really what made this town, and there is a lot of history surrounding that time.  Parks Canada is restoring many buildings here, and offer talks and tours in many of them.  We visited the cabin where Robert Service lived, and were given an interesting talk about his life and his poetry, with many of his poems being read by our host Ranger.  Then down to the imposing Commissioner's Residence for a tour by costumed Rangers, and a cup of tea with one of them.  We also visited the information centres for both the Northwest Territories (lots of info for our trip north on the Dempsteer Hwy.) and also the Dawson City Info Centre for even more brochures and information.  The streets are a treat to walk, with informational stories and historical buildings throughout.  We did a tour at the Native Cultural Centre, as well as attend a talk while touring a river paddlewheeler..  We purchased a few groceries at a local grocery store, and were surprised to learn that many things - vegetables and fruit, even - were pretty much the same, or close to the same, prices as at home.  Back to the camp to cook up a nice stir-fry, and then back into town for a guided tour of the town by a costumed Ranger.  Ranger Janice gave a great tour, entitled "Strange Things Done".....a natural for me writing this Blog.....and she showed us some alleyways and buildings with some unusual stories behind them.  Then back to the tent, and bed.

Ranger Janice guiding us in the Red Feather Saloon

Linda smiling after visiting Robert Service Cabin

Paddlewheeler "Keno" - there used to be hundreds of these plying the Yukon river

Typical Downtown Dawson City

This morning we got off to a late start....but it was again a fine day.....sunny and warm.  That turns out to be a mixed blessing - until now, it's been relatively cool and damp - but now that it's warmer, the bugs have awakened.  We are using "Skin so soft" to try to keep them at bay, and it works in that they are reduced to swarming around us, with only a few score daring to land on us for a bite.  Today we prepared our moiling tools, and headed out to Bonanza Creek (site of the original strike) to try our hand at panning at a claim where it's free and legal to do so.  On the way we stopped for a short hke at the site of the original claim that started the Gold Rush of 1898, and also had a look at a giant dredging machine.  We and a few others tried panning at the free site, and we got a little bit of gold, but it won't pay for this trip.

Only a couple of nuggets and a bit of dust

Back to the campsite for a bit of lunch, showers, and a catch-up on our laundry and this Blog. Then a visit to the local museum, and dinner at the Drunken Goat Restaurant (if you're in town, I highly recommend it).  We plan on attending a Mass Pipe Band presentation tonight at 2300 (it doesn't get dark til much later), as Dawson will be holding a Scottish Games here this weekend.  Tomorrow we hit the road again, heading for the Arctic Circle, and Inuvik.

A Huge Dredge used for Placer Mining until 1966.

Crossings

I believe I've left off at our arrival at Skagway, Alaska. Because Alaska is in a different time zone, we gained an extra hour when we crossed the border, so arrived in Skagway early in the afternoon. Even after detouring for a visit to Dyea, we still had time to walk around the town a bit and get a feel for the place. We checked into the Sgt. Preston motel, as even though it wasn't pouring rain, it was showering more than half the time, and the wind was quite brisk (okay – it was freaking strong and cold!). We had dinner at the Skagway Brewing Co. Restaurant, and returned to our room for warmth and a good night's sleep. Next day, June 6, broke sunny but still not warm – Skagway lives up to it's name as the Aboriginal name for a windy place with whitecaps, and the 20-25 knot breeze was coming up the Lynn Canal and thus quite cold. We had the day to explore after checking out of our motel, and took in a couple of walking tours offered by the US Park Service, and explaining a bit of the history of the area. Many of the shops in town offer and display wonderful pieces of native artwork and historical artifacts, including some fine examples of scrimshaw (whalebone carvings, mostly by seamen). So our day flew on. We placed our car for the 20:45 ferry in the lineup at 16:00, then walked into town for a Thai meal, then went back to the car to wait for the ferry. The Alaska State Ferries run as an extension to the highway system, and are considered a Marine Highway system. 

Main street Skagway

Ranger Andrew giving a tour

The loading of our ferry, “Columbia”, took about 2.5 hours, with vehicles bound for Sitka, Juneau, Bellingham, Haines, and other towns, all going into separate areas in the vessel. As we were ready to depart, the two cruise ships on the adjacent dock were leaving, and we ended up waiting for them before we left, at 21:30. 

Alaska State Ferry Columbia

An hour later we were docking at Haines, and it took another hour and a half to offload, with many of the big RV rigs having to back down the lane in the ship before offloading. It strikes me that with everyone having reservations and vehicle details beforehand, it could have been made a lot more efficient...but it was interesting, nonetheless. We arrived at our motel for the night at 23:30, and found a note at the front desk with our key and instructions to find the room. The building was a lodge, converted from an old fort built to protect Alaska from a Canadian border dispute. Our room was obviously one of the barracks rooms, with the washrooms down at the end of a long hallway. But – it was clean, and warm, and we were tired. So we hit the sack. Next morning, we were up and about at 0800, with no-one at the desk to check us out – so we left the key with a note, and headed out (don't worry – they already had my credit details from a reservation phonecall). Muffins and coffee were available nearby so that was breakfast. We couldn't really see much else to keep us in Haines, so we fueled up and headed north for the Alaska Highway. We wound alongside some scenic riversides with mountain backdrops, and climbed steadily as we headed north. By 1100 we were clearing Customs into BC again. The Border Officer told us a bear had his nose on the doors of the customs office last week, and when he fired off a bear-banger, it just looked at him, and went about its business in a nonchalant manner. Past here, the road climbs to an elevation above the treeline, with lots of viewpoints and not much road traffic. We were still passing through light rainshowers, and there was snow areas all around us. 

Magnificent Mountain Scenery north of Haines

Passing the Tatshenshini River Valley - more stunning scenery

At Haines Junction, we joined the Alaska Highway again, now back in the Yukon, and refuelled and headed northwest on the highway. It was a long, but scenic drive for a further 375 km., arriving at the small community of Beaver Creek at about 1730. By now it wasn't raining, but we didn't want to set up camp so checked on prices at the two available places in town, and ended up at Ida's motel, who gave us $10.00 off on a Senior's rate for a nice (standard) motel room. We were the only customers in their restaurant for dinner. Wi-Fi was weak from our room....so the blog wait continued for another day. Early to bed, and I woke up at half-past midnight thinking it was morning. The sun was just below the horizon, and daylight was streaming into the room from beneath the curtains. This northern land of the midnight sun may take a bit of getting used to!

We were up and showered by 0700, and after a light breakfast, headed northwest on the highway again by 0800. An hour later, a large moose walked out in front of us and an RV ahead of us on the highway. Soon we were back in Alaska again, crossing toward Tok and Anchorage. About 30 miles east of Tok, we turned north onto the Taylor Highway, driving for hours past a burnt area from the largest recorded forest fire ever, which had burned well over 6 million acres in 2004. 

Remains of a gigantic Wildfire - we drove past this for more than 5 hours

 At noon we entered the community of Chicken, Alaska – so named because the miners who'd settled the community wanted to name it after Alaka's state bird, but couldn't agree on how to spell Ptarmigan....so it became Chicken. Here we saw a large (world's largest?) chicken, and had a fine lunch at the Chicken Cafe, where they have some amazingly good cherry pie. 

Big Chicken

An hour later, we were headed north again, on a narrow winding gravel road (reminiscent of our drive to Telegraph Creek), and then joined up with our road back east to Dawson Creek, on the “Top of the World Highway”. It's a well-named road as it winds along a high spine mostly above the tree line, overlooking distant mountains and long drop-offs to valleys below. 

View from the Top of the World

By 1600 we descended to the Yukon River, and waited for a small ferry to take us across to Dawson City. Here it was relatively warm (18 Celsius), and not threatening to rain. I sit at my picnic table in the middle of town in front of the mythical tent which is now in use again (finally). The plan is to remain here a few days and explore, give the car a quick oil change (tomorrow), and then set out for the Arctic on Saturday. Our Wi-Fi restrictions are fairly tight, so I'm pre-typing this Blog for a quick upload when able, and then we can keep you up to date (hopefully) in short entries in the following days. We're finished with crossing between BC, Alaska, Yukon, and back.....at least for now. Next crossing will be into the Northwest Territories, and then the Arctic Circle.....but those are still a few days away.

Crossing the Yukon River on Dawson City Ferry

South to Alaska

In spite of the "minimalness" of our room at the Continental Divide Motel, it was still warm and dry, as opposed to the outside temp of 2degrees C., and rain.  When we got up in the morning, the surrounding hills/mountains were covered in fresh snow.  With little to keep us here, we got an early start and headed westbound on the Alaska Highway by 7 AM.  The road takes a deke south for a short while, back into BC, before returning to the Yukon Territory.  By 9 AM we were in Teslin, YT, and able to fill up with gas and coffee.  They have an interpretive centre here, but the people must be like me - NOT morning people, so the centre wasn't open, and we just pushed on.  About 50 km. east of Whitehorse, we turned south for Carcross., with a few historical and viewpoint stops along the way.  One of our stops was at Robinson Flag Station and Roadhouse....the ruins of an old stop for the narrow gauge railway which used to run north from Skagway through Carcross and into Whitehorse. The Gold Rush and the building of the Alaska Highway were the two major historically significant events in the territory, and everything we see is related to this, or to the natural history and ruggedness of the country.  We reached Carcross by 12:30, and visited the Tourist Bureau, where the staff were very helpful.  Their internet was slow, but they helped us check the ferry schedules and to book a ferry from Skagway to Haines (Monday evening only one that works....otherwise we'd have to go 100 miles south to Juneau, and then back to Haines, to arrive only a few hours earlier than the one we got).  They also helped us book accommodation in Carcross (rain mostly stopped, but now it was extremely windy and cold, with more rain in the forecast for later - so still not great for our mythical tent).  Also accommodation in Skagway and Haines.  We had a nice lunch and walk around town, watched the White Pass Railway pull out for it's trip over the White Pass to Skagway.  Carcross started out as Cariboo Crossing, but the only cariboo we saw this time was a metal sculpture at the entrance to town.  The town itself was a hub of activity during the Klondike days as it's the first place after the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass for the people arriving for the Klondike.  The railway added to the importance of the village.  We had dinner at the bistro in town, with some Yukon-brewed beer, and then it was an early night for us.

White Pass & Yukon Narrow Gauge Railway

A Carcross Caribou

The next morning, Sunday June 5, we awoke to cold rain showers.  The cabin we stayed in had a coffee maker, so with coffee and peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, we were ready to continue on.  We continued south on the highway, again leaving Yukon for BC before crossing into Alaska.  We only saw one bear on this leg of the trip, and stopped to view an old log cabin on the Chilkoot Trail.  We climbed toward White Pass and the Canada/US border, through a tormented landscape of stunted trees, numerous small lakes, and snow patches all around us. 

A Tormented Valley Landscape

 

Approaching White Pass

Then we crossed into the US and Alaska, and started down the pass toward Skagway.  Just a few km short of Skagway, we detoured off to visit the former village of Dyea.  A narrow, winding road followed an arm of water off the Lynn Canal to an area of tidal flats where the native population had originally had a village at the trailhead to the Chilkoot Pass, and where many of the Goldrush people started their inland trek.  Now it is a National Park Service Site, with a nice self-guided walk through the area.  We then wound our way back, and entered Skagway.  There was only one cruise ship in town this day.  Yesterday there were 7,000 visitors from Cruise Ships, wandering this town with a resident population of about 700.  The town has retained its Goldrush look to it, with the shops all made up to look like it would have in around 1890's.  We visited the old cemetery and walked the town, then checked into our room at Sgt. Preston's Lodge.  Apparently his wonder dog King no longer resides here, but we met his replacement, the wonder dog Raven.  Again, a motel would serve to replace the mythical tent, as it was steadily raining, and quite cool.  We found a pub for a bit of supper, and returned to our room for a bit of tv and catching up on internet/blogging.  The internet speeds are dismally slow here, and it took me most of 3 hours to upload and post the last blog entry.  We'll see how this one does.  We have a full day here on Monday before catching the ferry to go 25 miles south and across the canal, to Haines.  Then we'll have a morning there before we drive north again, out of Alaska and back into the Yukon.

At the Chilkoot Trailhead, Dyea

Skagway from Lookout on Dyea Rd.

Linda checking out the Old Graveyard

Day Nine

I am sitting in a little motel with the sound of raindrops, as our camping trip with the mythical tent continues (thanks for that term, Brian!). This morning began with a continental breakfast in our lodge in Dease Lake, chatting with a couple of ladies from Portland Oregon who are returning home from a trip into Alaska. We headed out northbound again on Hwy. 37 and were treated to 4 more bears (one of them a young grizzly, which they apparently call Cinnamons here in the Yukon, and Brown Bears in Alaska). Also a fox wandering along the side of the road.

The road leads into Cassiar, which is basically an abandoned town, with only a Jade-selling enterprise there now. There is also a mountain range lying just to the west of us, called the Cassiar Range. Shortly after that we left British Columbia for the Yukon Territory, and then joined onto the Alaska Highway where we were stopped for a quick police roadcheck. We turned east for 20 km., to visit Watson Lake, a small community, but also the 3^rd largest community in the Yukon.

The visitor centre gave us a passport for visiting numerous touristy/interesting places to visit, with an accompanying chance to win a gold nugget (my odds have to be better than my lottery tickets, and also free). Right next-door was the signpost forest, a huge collection of signposts from visitors – over 83,000 signs to date. Across the road was a Northern Lights Theatre Centre, which has a domed digital presentation about the Aurorae, and also about the immensity of the universe. As we are here approaching the summer solstice, we will not be viewing any Aurora Borealis on the trip...so we settled for the theatre version. The presentation was good, but will never match an IMAX theatre presentation.

Then it was time to wash the car again, having covered most of it on our trip yesterday to Telegraph Creek. A quick lunch in the only open diner we could find, and we headed west again on the Alaska Highway. Of course, as we passed our Hwy. 37 Junction again, we had to go through the police check again. We hadn't been drinking at lunch, so made it through again. After about 100 km., the rainshowers we'd had on and off all day became less intermittent and more steady, so we decided to find a room rather than a wet campsite. Choices here are limited. We passed a motel/lodge which looked quite rundown and scuzzy, and finally chose a second motel which has also seen better days. Coincidentally, it is called the Continental Divide Motel, as we are again on the divide where rivers drain both north and west. I went to check in, and discovered that they have no tv, no WI-fi, and don't accept plastic payment (cash only). As I tend to live off my Visa card, this was a problem. I offered them the remaining cash in my wallet ($55.00) as payment for the $70.00 room, which they accepted. However, that meant eating cheese and crackers for dinner, as we couldn't use the restaurant, and had limited food on hand – although we'd really had lupper in Watson Lake. Without the Wi-fi, I'm pre-typing this Blog for when we may find some tomorrow. The plan is to continue west another 350 km., which gets us to Carcross, and then turn south to turn into Alaska to visit Skagway. Hopefully, we can then catch an Alaska State Ferry to go a few miles south down the Lynn Canal (another estuary, not a canal) to Haines, Alaska. From there we will be able to drive north back into the Yukon, and eventually take the “Top of the World” Highway from Chicken Alaska to Dawson City. It's a circuitous route which misses Whitehorse, but we will get that on the way back southbound again. It also gives me time to memorize a few more verses of “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, which I still don't have down, and need to know before reaching Lake Lebarge (just north of Whitehorse).

Driving west into mountains, rain, cold

Bargain Accommodation

A Six Bear Day

Today is Thursday, June 2 - the first day of our second week for this trip.  We ended up at the end of one week in Stewart.  So it was time to head back out to Hwy 37 north.  On the way back out of Stewart, we managed to try a bit more moiling, and got a bit more (we hope) gold dust in our pan.  We also saw a black bear on the side of the road - first one in a few days now.  On the main highway, we drove some 350 km. north, and were fortunate enough to see 3 more bears (all black - perhaps the grizzlies are in stealth mode) as well as a moose, a family of geese who crossed their little ones ahead of us on the highway.  A short stop at about halfway to Dease Lake (our next destination) got us some gas, and we arrived at Dease Lake about 1315 - still time to do stuff.

Moiling for Gold - Again

Black Bear

It had rained off and on all the way up the highway, and is forecast to clear for the afternoon and then rain even more later tonight and tomorrow.  So we checked into The Great Divide Inn.  This is a nicely refurbished B&B/motel, just taken over by a young couple.  Dease Lake is on a continental divide, where one river leads to the Pacific Ocean, and another at the north end of town leads to the Arctic Ocean.....hence the name of the Inn.  The town itself is dying - the tourist bureau, gift shop, and only two restaurants, have closed their doors.  There is a small hot-dog stand with ice cream (which I had for lunch), but not much else here.  Several times in recent days, (Evi was first) it had been suggested that we'd like to visit Telegraph Creek which is a 2 hour, 112 km. drive southwest of Dease Lake on a gravel/mud road.  Our new hosts Derek and Sofia reaffirmed this suggestion if we weren't too tired.  So off we went, to see the Grand Canyon of BC, the Stikine Valley, and the settlement at the navigable end of the Stikine River which became the terminus for the early telegraph line for the Yukon Gold Rush.  Our friend Wendy would definitely rate the road a 5 out of 5 for a road not to travel on, but I loved it.  It's very windy, with steep grades, no side rails or shoulders to dropoffs many hundreds of feet down - but extremely picturesque, and with an open cafe at the end of it, in Telegraph Creek.  On this road we saw two more bears to make this a 6 bear day.  By the time we were heading home, I was hoping for a Sow and a cub so I could call this posting a 7-1/2 bear day, but we'll settle for 6.

Steep grades on the road to Telegraph Creek

BC's Grand Canyon - you can see the layers of lava in the sides of the canyon

This is what much of the road looks like

There are some interesting drop-offs

These trees survived a wildfire and grew new limbs

Stikine Riversong Cafe - good place for lunch after an interesting drive

Hopefully this wet weather will soon break into sunshine so we can get back to our plan to camp most of the way - but as you can see, we've still been enjoying this trip.