Fort Nelson, British Columbia, CanadaFort Nelson
We check out Palmer Lake Rec Site
It’s 12 km before Fort Nelson and Gine
said we check it out, maybe we want to stay here during the night – Paul was
not so impressed as he doesn’t want to backtrack.
Where should we stay for the night
- so we can have pizza??
First we stop at the visitor info, so
we can get some wifi!!!! And then it is on to the very important task of laundry
– as in the meantime we have quiet a bit of it. Hanging around there for a
while a quick stop at Save-on-food for a dessert. And then the question is
where should we stay: Paul would like to stay in town but there are no parks
and otherwise there are always signs stating “no overnight parking” – which is
a bit annoying as there would be so many perfect stops and we can’t really get
it what there problem is. Gine said there is free camping near the river, we
did find the road and the way to the river: but Paul said he doesn’t want to
camp on the stones and would rather camp at tim hortons. Ok so we check it out,
and there are also several trucks parked in front of the chevron – so maybe we
set up with the truckers tonight. And we really hope it is cooling down soon!!!
It is super hot and we are not used to it anymore.
Waiting in front of the Visitor info
We thought we are smart and go to the
Visitor info for some internet for morning coffee: ok the internet is not the
fastest – but we also learned that the Hwy is closed at the Sikanni Bridge as a
tanker exploded on the bridge and they have to access the structure of the
bridge before re-opening. It’s funny one couple told us they will go back via
Watson’s lake and Dease Lake onto Hwy 16: I said no even before checking: that
would be like driving 2200 km instead of 400. Gine said to Paul it would be
closer to go up to Fort Liard in the NWT territories and down via Peace River
as this is only 1500 km…. let’s wait and see what the engineers have to say.
- It happened at 8.30 last night, a tanker trucker carrying flammable liquid got involved in a collision on the bridge, when the RCMP arrived the tanker was completely engulfed in flames and toxic smoke came out. It is believed that the driver perished in the accident. They are not able to search the scenery as it is impossible due to the hazard as on Friday morning. It started a brush fire near the scene
- Hwy 97 stays closed with no anticipated timeline to re-open engineers are contacted to check out the bridge structure – you are advised to look for an alternate route and not come close to the area as there is no cell phone service available
- Update at 12 pm, then update at 6 pm – then update at 9 pm: and we are still waiting for an update
What is it about Highway 97:
- Hwy 97 is from Watson’s Lake to Dawson Creek the Alaska highway: this part is 965 km
- It is the longest continuous numbered route in BC and is 2081 km long – it is by the way the longest provincial highway in any province in Canada
- It runs from Osoyoos in the south to Watson Lake
- It got its name from the US Route 97 which runs from California to Washington State and connects there to the Highway 97 in Canada
Fort Nelson’s Heritage Museum
So what is so special about this
museum – I think it is on how it started:
- In 1957 when the Alaska Highway was just a trail, Marl Brown worked as a mechanic for the Canadian Army at the Mile 245 maintenance camp
- Seeing many items being thrown away, he started saving them and by the 1970s he had acquired so much stuff that a museum was needed
- The Fort Nelson historical society was founded in 1977 and in 1987 the museum opened the doors
- Marl was the first curator and did it until he died, he was the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave at night – it was his passion and his life’s work his dedication ensures the museum will be enjoyed by future generations for many years to come
Ok before heading in, Gine thought how
about a short cut, except it was muddy and she nearly got her flipflop stuck.
Outside you can see already a lot of
old vehicles from the building days of the Alaskan Highway as well as Marl’s
racecar the Hurricane 1, we also were there at Mile 300. We looked at a
gigantic crankshaft and yes engines!!!
It consists of 8 buildings – today we
could see the main building and then 5 other ones
The main museum building: ok when you
walk in you think it is a huge collection of clutter, and you need to take your
time to look a bit closer and you discover a lot of cool things:
- Like old houseware, and a silver tea set they found in a well and no-one knows who it belongs too – they are still waiting for someone to remember something,
- Several old uniforms from Mounties, first nations, stewardesses – a torch from the 2010 olympics, money from all over the world, old displays from the movie theatre, old cash registers and books, old typewriters, old cameras, guns, dolls and toys, old oil lamps
- A General store display: with most items from the 50s – many came from an old store, inside it looks in old films and the outside is made from an old army bunkhouse
- There is a collection of old boat engines and up on shelves lots of cool old radios, or a display of forestry tools and chain saws or what Paul really liked a manual with “Facts and features for used car salesman” from 1946
- Also it is always important to look up here, funky lamps, signs,
- Also very impressive is the display of the stuffed animals: a moose, grizzly, wolf, black bears, lynx, beaver, wolverine, owls, birds, fox and stone sheep
The Car shed:
- ok if you put the cars bumper to bumper you get a lot of them inside a small space even it is nearly impossible to walk in between them. But they had some super cool old cars. We also learned that all of them are still driveable and are brought out for the Canada Day Parade. Also that half of them belong to the Historic society and half of them to his family and they are still trying to figure out which belongs to whom
- As well when you look up you can see lots and lots of lisence plates, wheels, chain saws hanging above the cars, road signs and oil canisters. When you stand in here you are nearly overwhelmed in what you all see – you really have to look at the pictures later on what is really all there. In here is also the little workshop where Marl stayed until he died.
- One old Fort T from 1926, went back on the road in 1975 when it was outside -20 C to celebrate the northern highway: and how you do that Marl Brown drove 354 miles in 35 hours from Fort Nelson to Fort Simpson (and yes half of it is gravel) – he used home-made snow chains: now that is an adventure.
- Outside of it were a lot of old tractors and then we walked around to more old vehicles from the days of building the Alaska Highway
- And as we walk along all those old vehicles we come to a overgrown area with even more old vehicles – one we didn’t even know what car it was and through a fence we found even more old vehicles: it would be so amazing if we could take one of them home – they are so cool – it’s a shame they are sitting outside and rusting away. (oh and also look up you can see more rusty metal staff in the trees)
The old church: this is an “old”
Anglican church
- It was once used as a ware house and then in 1956 bought by the Anglican church for 150 $ and then they had to move the church in 1958 as the building was in the site of a road allowance and then in 2013 she got moved here.
- This interesting historic building has a few cool old organs inside. Here we also discovered the best dust pan made of a lisence plate.
Hudson Bay house: was a house built in
the 1940s for the manager of the Hudson Bay company, it was locked, but the guy
here opened it for us:
- Inside we saw an old 50s style old world kitchen and dining room, with a little play table, living room, old radio and magazines and Eatons shopping catalogues from 1972 (ha that is not even that long ago), upstairs was the main bedroom and a kids room and a super cute bathroom, including an old washing machine, calendar from 1966 a little play-farm build from painted cigarettes
- What I think is the most amazing this house was built in 1943 – life was a bit different out in the northwest
The Telegraph house:
- it was full of old phone stations, phones, fax machines, Teletype machines, and lots of staff I have no clue what it is
- Next we visited the old postoffice – with a big wooden box ready to send to Port Alberni – we had a lot of fun checking it out.
The Mile “not-anymore-0” town: Fort
Nelson
- With 3400 people it is a small town – but a big one when we are thinking of the towns we were in the last little while
- Here is the historic Mile 300 , originally it was the Mile 0 on the Alaska Highway and only after opening it to the public Dawson Creek became Mile 0
- The North West Fur trading established fort Nelson in 1805 and named it after the British Lord Hortario Nelson who won the Battle of Trafalger
- At the moment the town is at his 5th site: as it was moved because of floods, fires and feuds
- Until the 1960s it was a military town – the Muskwa Garrison pulled out.
We spend a day in Fort Nelson
As there is only one tourist
attraction the museum and we likely spend the whole day here, we did all
leisurely and talked with fellow stranded RV-travellers – and discovered we
actually met some of them previously too.
Ok let’s get propane: Chevron no – Husky:
the propane tank said no propane – Petro Canada no, then Gine said I will ask
inside and see there, they only have one spot in the town to get propane – so
let’s go there first as they close soon. Then filling up gas, when getting a
new WD40 we discovered the largest of the three sizes is the cheapest
(what!!!!), then some expensive shopping at Save-on-food, where a lady told us
that the store is full and people go nuts as the highway is closed and they
don’t know when supplies come back (I didn’t think it was that bad). And back
at the visitor info: it’s 5 pm and next update will be 9 pm. Gine said let’s
also dump and clean the kitty litter box (as the last kitty litter was crappy)
and see there a day went by.
Where to stay?
We talked with fellow travellers, as
there is everywhere in town a “no overnight parking” but we decided that it is
extended circumstances and that we will both stay here – so at night we were
overall 4 RV’s waiting…
We decided that we will continue on
regardless tomorrow – question is only: which direction will we take.
8 pm: they say the road will be single
lane open starting tomorrow but only for light vehicles pick ups and passenger
vehicles – let’s hope we are a pick up. Guess we are heading south!!!
And we leave heading south
We get up and check again – this morning
same notice like last night, that means we are heading south. As soon as we
left we were out of cell phone reach and we were always wondering on what they
consider “light pickups”….
But we had a highlight early on today
as we saw a black bear near the road. Also on the drive south today we came by
several areas where wild fires happened in the past – todays weather is sunshine
– dark clouds – rain and sunshine the light is super amazing. We did stop at
one time for breakfast and after around 2 hours we came to the Sikanni River:
Waiting at the bridge
As we approached there were signs:
Accident and then we were like the 3rd ones standing in line – we talked
to fellow waiting travellers and the sign-lady. And we learned that the truck
didn’t check the breaks, then went along the side-concrete pillars until it
went through and exploded and burned – the truck was carrying oil and coolant. It
happened on Thursday evening around 8.30 – by the next morning it was still
burning so severe that they still couldn’t go close to the vehicle. All what is
left is some metal – no remains from the driver. It burned so hot, that they
are not sure on how damaged the bridge is, even it is at the moment temporarily
open with a single lane – they still don’t know on how long. And not big trucks.
The plan at the moment is that the Assessment team checks for an hour, then
they let the traffic through and it is closed again for an hour. As we wait we
walk to the campsite and from here we have a view on the black bridge. The real
extend we only could see when we drove over: by the way we needed to keep long
distance, so that only 1 or 2 vehicles were on the bridge at the time. It is unbelievable
on how black and burned the bridge is.
2025-05-22