After leaving Vancouver we headed North on Highway #99 through Squamish and Whistler then settled into Nairn Falls Provincial Park (PP) just south of Pemberton. These campsites are large, well treed and private; Yukon enjoyed chasing his Chuck-it ball and playing with the other camping female herding dogs.
The following morning, we continued up Highway #99 with Cindy on the edge of her seat going around the switchbacks and up Duffy's Grade until meeting Highway #97. From there, we headed towards Prince George. After giving up on a crappy PP we landed at Greeny Lake Recreation Site (RS) where Yukon could run about and swim. The lake had good Rainbow Trout (ergo, lots of fisherpeople) and our site was a huge pull through overlooking the lake. However, the weather has been rain and cold since we left Vancouver; seems like rain every morning.
We made it to Prince George around lunchtime and the pharmacy in Shoppers Drugs called Barrie to get me my medication. While waiting, we drove to Costco for supplies and the prescription was filled by the time we returned.
Leaving Prince George we traveled West on Highway #16 and took refuge at Cobb Lake RS. We felt lucky to get a decent campsite when arriving on a Saturday with the sun shining. There was lots of firewood for our evening campfire with dinner; but of course the rain came back again in the morning.
After a big breakfast, we headed West towards the Cassiar Highway (#37) in the showers and stopped first in Vanderhoof at the municipal campsite to dump and refill our water. Then we stopped at Burkley River RS that was misrepresented in our BackRoad MapBook since one could not get to the campsites with a vehicle, let alone a trailer, but we had a great walk exploring. We headed further West until we hit Tyhee Lake PP and selected a remote site where we scrounged lots of wood before using their great showers.
Yukon is waking up earlier now as the days grow longer (plus time changes); not sure how he will handle the land of the midnight sun. We left before 08:00 and had an easy drive to the Cassiar where we settled into the Bonus Lake RS.
A fire kept all the bugs at bay, and up here there is lots of firewood available. A German couple on bicycles shared our campground as they have a year to travel from Anchorage Alaska to South America; Yukon loved them since they play ball and dance. Just near bed time a couple from Ontario arrived on their way to Haines Junction and promised to leave early; we all agreed to let a third rig stay in our two site campground.
After a big breakfast, we took the short drive to Clements Lake RS where we disconnected Wild (our trailer) and drove twelve kilometres into Stewart for some supplies and reserved a time for an oil change for Storm. On our way we spotted our first young Grizzly on the side of the road; he/she didn't care less that we were ten feet away. At the last couple of lakes, Muskrats go on patrol around dinner time; our penthouse is great for watching the small animals and birds such as the Red-breasted Sapsucker. Some off road machines have ventured going higher up the road but only one with a snorkel made it past a washed out drainage pipe.
Staying three days near Stewart has allowed us to do our laundry at the King Edward Hotel and on the last day, Storm got new oil plus I picked up some fresh fast frozen Halibut along with fresh bread and sticky buns - yummy.
Left Stewart reasonably early and headed slowly North ending up at Kinaskan Lake PP. I assume because of the cold damp weather, the number of Bears and Moose alongside the roads have severely diminished compared to previous years. The well water in the park is awesome; cold, clear and clean - we filled all our water containers plus the camper.
Yukon got us on the road early (07:30) as we continued North with a stop in Dease Lake for expensive gas ($2.06/L). On again we arrived at French Creek RS for lunch and decided to stay the night. Our campsite is overlooking the fast flowing Dease River near the mouth of French Creek; with the sun shining this spot is heaven. Since the weather is warm with little wind, we decided to stay an extra day since nobody is in this rec site and Yukon can run around free. Leaving French Creek on our way to the Yukon we spotted four more Black Bears
Our trip North Through BC has been mainly cold and wet traveling through a perpetual Sping; hopefully, this will change as the Summer progresses into the Arctic.
The next Blog will cover our journey through the Yukon to reach the Demster Highway.
Tidbits:
- Bear 7:0 Moose
- Tall Douglas Firs are amazing
- Whistler gas Cdn$2.01/L (US$5.60/gal)
- Senior rates (sometimes given) make camping inexpensive but showers are rare
- Some locals still irate that Bear Lake was renamed Clements Lake
- BackRoad MapBooks are great for finding campsites; also ioverlander app
SPOT:
- Nairn Falls PP 2024 05 23: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50.29568,-122.81612&ll=50.29568,-122.81612&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Greeny Lake RS 2024 05 24: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=51.85391,-121.34726&ll=51.85391,-121.34726&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Cobb Lake RS 2024 05 25: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=53.95741,-123.56169&ll=53.95741,-123.56169&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Tyhee Lake PP 2024 05 26: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=54.70671,-127.03862&ll=54.70671,-127.03862&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Bonus Lake RS 2024 05 27: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=55.60810,-128.61853&ll=55.60810,-128.61853&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Clements Lake RS 2024 05 28-30: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=56.04903,-129.90213&ll=56.04903,-129.90213&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- Kinaskan Lake PP 2024 05 31: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=57.52954,-130.18925&ll=57.52954,-130.18925&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
- French Creek RS 2024 06 01&2: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iiASjndrC2do8fqH9
Ranger Deb
2024-06-04
Looks like you’re having a great time!! Love all the pictures!