Day 4 (Aug. 4, 2009)

This morning was another cold one.
On the road by 6:50 AM. 39 F & really foggy.
Full moon the night before at our little pull-off camping spot.

Cecil tried to set a forest fire last night.
He had fire all over the table from the white gas stove.
Spread across picnic table into the grass.
There are already 800 fires, what's one more?
I think he has finally figured out which way to turn the gas off for the stove. : )

Listening to Alan Jackson gospel songs.
Feels like a Louis L'Amore story in this far away western land.

Coffee & Blackberry Nutri Grain bars for breakfast.

Whirlpool Canyon's collection of trees.

Stopped at Whirlpool Canyon. This is a must see! Fast moving water.
Had to walk over rocks with trees scattered all over from being pushed by the river.
Rocks made shelves to step over and come up to the point.

The backside of the trail looking toward the other bank.

There was a trail that went around the point to another rock beach where you could see different channels of the river converging.
There were places that would have decent to camp at.
After the water converged it spanned about 100 yards across to the opposite bank.

Whirlpool Canyon early in the morning.

Starting to pass through the thickest smoke yet. There was a sign earlier that read "Active Fire, Do Not Pull Over For the Next 60 km.
There are firefighters on the sides of the road, and in the brush.


The sky is orange and we can see the source of the fire.
There are spots in the woods where smoke is billowing from the ground.

Bison being smoked out of the woods.

Liard Hot Springs, Yukon Territory
Beautiful sulfur pools leaves you smelling like a boiled egg everytime.

The view walking to the hot springs.

A must stop. Great place to warm up after sleeping in a cold car.
Northern style oasis. We took two trips to the springs, ate lunch and took several walks.

Ate Italian Style Wedding soup and peanut butter and honey rolls for lunch.
We really liked the campground, but its early so we're going to drive on to Ft. Nelson.
We've also decided to try and save our money for campgrounds with showers.
The trail heading past the 1st pools but was closed because of bears. : (
Definitely going to stop there on the way back.


A quick break at Boulder Canyon to make coffee.
Patchy blue skies and the surrounding tall mountain peaks
make for incredible scenery on all sides.

Muncho Lake - Blue-Emerald-Translucent water, surrounded by tall
pines thickly placed upon high mountains with jaggedy cliffs.
One of the most scenic places yet!

Enjoying Muncho Lake.

The whole Muncho Lake Provincial Park had incredible scenery.
Miles past the lake we were passing through sheer cliffs hanging
over top of the road.

Had ice cream cones at the quaint community of Toad River.
A few small buildings including post office, gas station, cafe, gift
shop all in one store backed by green and rocky vistas.

The ceiling of the Toad River Roadhouse.

Finally made it to Fort Nelson.
Went to an IGA to get some groceries.
It's a decent sized place, but the town seems kinda dead.
Everyone at the IGA looked at us kind of weird. Tourists!
Must be small enough where "Everyone knows your name."

Beautiful ranches surround the area.

Left Fort Nelson heading for Sikanni Chief where there is
supposed to be a campground with showers.
We decided to just pass up Sikanni and keep driving to Fort St. John
Later turned to be a real long night! No places to stay!
Fort Nelson to Sikanni Chief was 200 km, then Sikanni Chief to
Fort St. John was another 200 km.
Cecil drove must of the way. We weren't too tired at the time.
We rolled into Fort St. John at about 1:30 AM.

At that time in the morning we were getting pretty tired.
Anne was behind the wheel and I was a dozing off.
The whole trip I had been wanting to get a photo of a fox, bear, bison, deer and goat.
I got the deer and goat. Anne suddenly woke me up with "A Fox is in the Road."
I didn't know my left from my right, halfway sleeping, looked up and we were parked in the middle of a 5 lane highway at 1:30 AM and there was a fox running circles in the road chasing a mouse. It was such a peculiar site. No photo though. I was too frustrated with being in the middle of a 5 lane at 1:30 AM.

We went to a Super 8 hotel, no vacancy.
Tired from driving, we stopped at a McD's and bought several coffee's
then headed on towards Dawson's Creek 70 miles away.
We reached Dawson Creek at 2:30 AM and all campgrounds were closed.
We inquired at a Days Inn but it was booked. Frustrated and tired
we kept driving...had no place to go to. We drove 15 miles further to
Pounce Coupe, found a pull off and aired up the mattress.

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