Fort Nelson, B.C. June 22nd

The days are starting to run together especially when I don’t have a chance to make entries into our blog.

We left Prince George for Dawson Creek on the 19^th and the route towards Dawson Creek was filled with wildlife. We saw 3 black bears and had a chance to stop to take pictures of one of them. He/she was eating some vegetation along a creek and the sound of the water and the fact that we were down wind kept him from detecting us.

The shoulders of the roads are narrow to nonexistent so it’s almost impossible to get any pictures. In between the bear sightings we spotted two moose grazing on a hill alongside the road but we were past them before we could slow down to get a better look.

We decided to stop in Chetwynd, famous for it’s chainsaw sculptures, to make camp at another beautiful Provincial Park, Moberly Lake, and use that as our base camp for exploring the area instead of going all the way into Dawson Creek. As we opened the truck doors we were greeted by swarms of mosquitoes! I ran for the package of “Off” and we sprayed ourselves so we could set up camp and not get eaten alive! Thankfully, the mosquitoes weren’t so bad once you were out of the forest.

On Wednesday the 20^th we headed out for some sightseeing at Chetwynd’s “Little Prairie Heritage Museum”. They had a typical furnished log cabin and other out buildings containing artifacts from the original settlers. Two young guys walked with us, in case we had any questions, and we ended up explaining the use of a lot of the items to them!

We left for Dawson Creek and the Alaskan Highway Milepost “0” marker. It’s an 1 ½ hour drive and we saw more wildlife, deer, fox, moose and a bear that had been hit by a car.

We arrived in Dawson Creek and another traveler took our picture in front of the famous marker. We “paid it forward” by doing the same for someone else. Next we visited the art museum and then the visitor’s center where we watched a movie on the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942. What a job! It had started to rain AGAIN so we left for camp.

I don’t think we’ve had more than a few hours of sunshine since last Sunday and it’s getting very tiresome and muddy!! The clouds are very impressive and almost look like a huge cottony blanket being pulled to earth by the trees. But I’m eager for some sun.

Last night we pulled into a Fort Nelson campground and ran into some folks we had met at the visitor’s center in Dawson Creek. They’re from Virginia and are on the way to Alaska too.

Gotta run….. I’ll update the next time.