Heading home and some observatiions

Left the Sleeping giant this morning. Tried not to wake him. I did run into, well almost run into a little fox. Coincidentally enough the song "fox on the run" was playing on the radio. Like Buck he was not very afraid of humans or cars.

The drive was uneventful as the rain found me again for the Hwy 11 drive. Took my time and made it to North Bay. Thought about pushing on and getting home by midnight but thought better of it. The only place I spotted moose on my entire trip was between home and north bay. Why tempt fate.

Observations:
- why the hell are there so many cars with cracked windshields in Alberta? It was like every fifth car had a cracked windshield?
-is it me or is there a lot of rain this summer? One good thing about it was it helped to keep down the bug guts on the windshield.
- why is it the first big bug always hits right in front of you so you have to stare at its remains until the next stop?
- most expensive gas was BC along Alaska highway $1.41litre. Cheapest sask 94 cents litre.
- sask drivers will speed up behind you and then follow at two car length distance even though it's clear to pass. Is it prairie etiquette? Are they just being polite?
- BC drivers are just....well I'll leave it at that.
- I saw more police today on the road than I did my entire time west of Ontario? The speed limits are lower so is it a cash grab?

That's all folks. Hope you enjoyed following along for the ride.

Travel to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Up with the sun errrr I mean TRAIN!! At 5:30. I did not notice that there were train tracks outside my room. Once my heart started beating I got out of bed. Took my time getting ready and packed up. I wanted to get to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park by dinner time. Only 875 km away so no big deal. Since leaving Saskatchewan I have had nothing but sunshine so I hope that continues for my last night of camping. Overall drive was uneventful. But I did make a few stops along the way.


Time travel exists! I went back in time one hour taking one step, then came back to our time by taking a step back. Isn't it amazing. I have pictures to prove it.

 I went 1 hour into the future.

Also  I had to make a pilgrimage to the Terry Fox lookout along the highway and looking out into the lake at sleeping giant. I then stopped at the mile marker where he ended his run after the cancer had returned. A tough, brave man.

Where it all ended.

The view from the lookout where you can see the sleeping giant.

I finally reached my destination after 9.5 hours of driving. Damn this country is big. Turned out to be an OK park. Not as nice as Blackstone Territorial. The campground is in the middle of bush on a lake.
Buck stopped by as I was preparing dinner. Obviously he is used to being offered a snack or a meal as he just sauntered in....you are not supposed to feed the wildlife because it makes them a nuisance. This one family was throwing loaves of bread at him and then feeding him by hand. They won't be around when he gets to become a nuisance to campers and get turned into venison stew. But they will always have the picture. Sigh. I can be a grumpy old man sometimes.

Heading for North Bay in the morning and then home on Monday.

Saskatchewan gets the Manitoba Treatment

not that I have anything against Saskatchewan but I sort of drove across it today. Not a lot of pictures unless you wanted to see fields of canola or wheat, herds of cows or potash factories. It started out as a slow meandering drive until I got a call from home around noon. Those of you who know my dad know that he hates using the phone. So for him to call to see where I am at and when I will be back meant that something was up. He did not volunteer any info and said ok don't worry.... Worry about what????  So I had my daughter Lauren drove over to see what was up. Well apparently nothing. But by this point I had driven 1100kms. Over 11,000 kms for the trip so far.

But that's alright. I had already decided the night before that it was time to go home. I had seen what I wanted to see, did what I needed to do and now it is time to go home. Life goes on.

So here are some Saskatchewan pictures.

A potash plant.

Canola fields as far as the eye can see.

Red Deer, Drumheller and Little Fish Provincial Park

After leaving the glacier I headed towards Red Deer to have lunch with my cousin and childhood friend Jacques. We had not seen each other in 37 years. Last time was the summer of 1979 when a buddy and I were hitchhiking across the Maritime provinces. We had a great time.lunch was a nice little Chinese buffet. An excellent break from my campfire cuisine.

After lunch I headed for Drumheller to visit the Alberta Badlands. Scenery is still gray and somber. But still some breathtaking views.

I toured Drumheller

and decided to head out to Little Fish Provincial Park about 40 east. I got there in the midst of a heavy thunderstorm. When the clouds broke I fixed myself a steak supper (life's rough) and waited to see what the weather would bring before setting up camp. Well the rain started and kept on coming.

Off I went in search of motel. I ended up in Hanna, Alberta which is the proud birthplace of Nickleback.....yup my life is complete. I can go home now because nothing will ever top this. I might go out later and see where the plaques are commemorating Nickleback historic events....you know where they tipped their first cow etc....it's actually a very nice looking little town. But I would take down that sign.

The Athabaca Glacier

I was looking forward to getting back here to see what has changed in the past 5 years. It has receded about another 100 ft I believe. Not a lot of people there but it may have been too early for them.

The glacier front with the river starting. On my last visit this was all under ice.

An ice cave. Very cool colours. Hope they show well in the pictures.

I believe this is the rock where I got a picture of Chloe in front of the glacier. But I will check to be sure.

If you look closely you can see my truck way down there.

Jasper and the ice fields parkway

Well the rain stopped about 3 am. I was up at 4 but waited till 6 to begin packing things up. I hit the road with a fresh brewed coffee in my hand and headed south down the ice fields parkway. It was still cloudy/foggy so not all the mountains were completely visible. But even with that the scenery was spectacular as was the driving down those winding mountain roads. Here is what I saw before reaching my first stop the Athabasca Glacier. 

Caraboo boo....

Mountains.

Mountains shrouded in mist.

The Athabasca River.

Jasper in the rain part two!

as I lie (or is it lay) here listening to the rain on my tent I gaze wistfully upon the weather network forecast. Wishing that it was true.  

I did manage to get my lamb cooked using an umbrella. Lol

To Jasper after chores.

Well it was a day of chores

and then a short 4 hour drive to Jasper. Mostly in the rain. Still great scenery. Coming up on the mountains from the west is a whole new experience.

Crossed the Fraser River about 20 times.

Set up camp at the Whistler Campground in Jasper. Only basic sites left. They are booked solid for the summer. Oh well I have been camping without electricity since the start of the trip why change that now. Still raining though even though the stupid weather network says it's sunny. Got a camp set  up and a fire going (with wet wood).roasting a potato over it right now and it is now pouring rain. I hate the weather network. Going to have some lamb shoulder chops once the rain lets up. But it better do so soon as I have the bottle of BC Malbec opened and poured in a glass....

The freewheeling Pierre Duchesne

Sorry I stole that title from an album I had as a kid. I wonder who will get the reference without googling it? So I packed up my lakeside campsite at six am. I had a long day of driving ahead to get to Prince George 950 km. But wait. Maybe I should try fishing in the lake for some salmon. Now I did not have a B.C. Permit nor did I have any salmon lures but I gave it a shot..... Oh well an hour later and no fish and time to hit the highway.

I passed the accident scene and there was debris everywhere. I tried looking online to see if it was a black pickup in the crash because one passed me the day before driving like a maniac.

No animals today. But lots of scenery.

The highway is very narrow and there is no buffer between road and forest so animals can just leap out. Which is why the speed limit is 80 kph. Trust me I was at or under the limit the whole way. Did not want to kill Bambi or yogi or bull wrinkle or me.

These are part of the coastal mountain range in Northern BC.

I checked into The Sandman Hotel. Looked nice from the road. I ate in the pseudo Japanese grill (they serve tacos). Tomorrow is laundry and oil change day and then off to Jasper which is only 2-3 hundred kilometres away.

Leaving Yukon into BC and the deadly Cassier Hwy

Left the campground on a sunny Yukon Morning. Within minutes I was in BC driving down Hwy 37, the Cassiar Hwy part of the Northern Circle route. This highway or better yet paved  path is much more dangerous than the Alaska Highway and scared the hell out of Chloe during our 2011 trip. In 2011 a family of four was killed along the highway as we were driving down. The scenery is amazing  but wildlife was restricted to black bears. Sorry Nat, no bison. I am sure there will be more.

A forest fire picture. How desolate!

I was heading for Meziaden Provincial Park for the night. Unfortunately I did not make it. About 500 km into my drive I came upon an accident scene. Traffic was blocked in both directions. Another fatality on Hwy 37. We waited in line for about 1.5 hours and finally an RCMP officer came down and told everyone the highway would remain closed until morning. The only option was either drive back to the Alaska highway and cut down thru Fort Nelson or camp for the night. I had just passed Kinaskan Provincial Park about 3 km before the accident. So I turned around and hightailed it towards the park. Many other people just set up camp on the road. Not me! I made it to the park ahead of a caravan of rv's all wanting to do the same. There were only 35 spots. I got one right on the water. The park was filled. $20 for a site and firewood. But no water or electricity or showers!

The lake.

So I set up camp. I quickly learned that tent campers are different from RV campers. RV campers head inside to eat and relax. Us tenters  stay outside, sit around the campfire and socialize. I had a pleasant evening with a gentleman from Whitehorse and a young lady from Washington state. She was returning home after tenting in the Yukon. Made me feel like a wuss. Sitting around the campfire having a beer or three. The RV people sat inside and watched videos or whatever....

On to BC and the Yukon

Well I planned that well. Instead of taking the long route following nicely paved highways and taking three days to get to Watson Lake. I took the shortcut using the notorious Liard "Hwy" it should be called Buffalo trail or something like that. But once again no traffic and awesome scenery. Hard to believe have far north you are when you are driving down this .....path.... Saw more Buffalo, killer sheep, and total arseholes. The Alaska highway lived up to its reputation as a dangerous road, not because of the road but because of the people on it. It's only two lanes, lots of gravel in construction zones, plenty of mountains, wildlife and did I Mention "arseholes" ( this was not the word I used when I encountered these choice individuals).

 The so called highway had its moments. Coming over a large hill and seeing this.

Some of the scenery along the Alaska Highway.

Mmmm. Bison burgers

Just doing the John Travolta thing from Saturday Night Fever.

Excuse me. Just 

As I passed this group a couple  got out of their RV to take a picture of another herd 200 metres down the road. The herd I had just passed were trying to catch up with the smaller herd. I warned the couple that they would soon be trapped between the two herds. Fricken granolas smiled and kept walking towards the herd. Darwin at work.

So there are lots of sheep. But people should not stop to take a picture in an 8% downhill grade especially when they are in front of me and a transport truck is behind me. I hit the brakes and the truck hit his brakes and his horn. Needless to say they accelerated quickly. I am sure that driver said more than just arseholes. I know I did.

Ok so they are cute. I should have brought one home for Elizabeth.

Yup another bull heading the other way.

Sign post forest. Google it. It's an interesting story. I stopped by to add a new sign next to the one Chloe and I put up in 2011.

My Yukon hotel.

Yellowknife to Blackstone Territorial Park on the Liard "Hwy"

Left Yellowknife in the wee hours of the morning ready for an exciting drive back down the Yellowknife Hwy, Mackenzie Hwy and then the Liard so called highway. The Yellowknife highway had no traffic. Over 320 km and I passed 10 vehicles. Saw lots of wood Buffalo from the Mackenzie herd. You must be getting sick of seeing Buffalo pictures. I did see a bear but he was shy and hit the bush before I could come to a screeching halt. The pictures below show the bridge over the Mackenzie River a major engineering feat (not often do I compliment engineers but in this case it is well deserved).

My poor truck took a major dust ate on the drive to the park and I thought it was sealed up pretty tightly. There is even dust all over the interior.

This is the view from my campsite at Blackstone. Pretty sweet  eh!

That's Nahanini butte in the distance and the river is call the Liard River.

The face of an unhappy fisherman. The River was too high and muddy due to all the rain.

The campsite for the evening. Grilled a nice steak over that fire. Just as I finished up some major thunderstorms hit. Holy crap batman is it ever loud in the river valley. But I was warm and cozy in my super truck tent.