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13 June 2006

Yesterday was a beautiful +25.
I even slept with the windows open.
Lazy morning, coffee, breaky and reading.
I will wait until 1 pm for a possible flight to Nahanni Park.
At 10 am I went to all 3 companies to check on a possible flight, no changes, I tell them I will be at the info centre from noon until 1 pm just in case there is a flight.
A little shopping, 5 minutes and I am done in the only ''big'' store in town
Back at the campsite, I read the local paper, which covers all of the NWT.  Even the little hamlets next to the North Pole!
At noon I am at the info centre and I wait!
An employee comes and let me know that they can set up a flight for $1000.00.  I say ''no thanks you!''
By 1230 pm I am on my way to the Liard Trail towards B.C.
The crossing of the Liard river is without any problems.



and I backtrack for 60 km to Checkpoint where the Liard Trail starts (or ends).



They say that ''Liard'' is a French word for black poplar, I will have to check that out when I get home!  The Liard Trail is 390 km long from Checkpoint to the B.C. border.  The trail was open in 1984 with this description, when dry, it is dusty, when wet, it is muddy!  It is named Liard because of the river it follows.  Speaking of dust, I complained when it was raining because of the mud. Well! Now I complain because it is dry and the dust is getting everywhere there is a small opening in the motorhome.  All my cupboards on the floor are full of dust, even my outside storage are full of dust!
Chocolate!
I stop at the Blackstone territorial park at around 3 pm.



I have been on a gravel road since 130 pm and it was not so bad, I could drive at 80 km, even some 90 km stretches.  The park has a nice info centre, for being in the middle of nowhere.   The campground is small, only 19 sites without power but we have showers.  I wish we had power because with a +32 with no wind...



All the buildings in the park are build like a tipi, it gives it a certain style...



Before diner, I hiked 2 trails for a total of about 3 km but I could not get to the Blackstone river because the trail was flooded.
Here is a picture of the Liard river, I the background, on the left, you can see the ''Nahanni Butte'' and the mountain range Nahanni, which is part of the Mackenzie range.



Back at the campsite, I had a cold beer... ant I take off on my bike to go to the Blackstone river by the road, a little ride of 14 km.  Back at the campsite it is a nice +29 and I have a few cold one.  I finish the evening inside as when you have taken your shower, the bugs get you in no time.
Oh well!
It is 1030 pm and it is still +26

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14 June 2006

WOW ! It was hot last night. +31.
I finally went to bed at 1 pm because  it was so hot.  But that's OK!
I'm up at 8 am and after getting ready I went to the info centre and got a free coffee, they have free coffee at every Territorial Parks.   I go to the back of the info centre and sit with the operator of the campground. He tells me that the river is very high because of the melting snow in the mountains. The Nahanni river carries lots for debris (tree) which end up in Liard river, which in turn end up in the Mackenzie river and the arctic ocean, which is funny because there is no tree up there.  But they have drift wood !

 

Almost no bugs, dam I feel good !
With regrets I leave at 930 to carry on to Fort Liard, 120 km further south.
Just an other 150 km of gravel.  But nice scenery.

The last 40 km before Fort Liard are just terrible.  maximum speed is 60 km, even my q-tips are making noise
Fort Liard has for language the South Slavey, the ''Acho Dene Koe'', which means '' Place of Land of the Giants''  When you get to Fort Liard, you can see the Giant sleeping.  Can you see it?

I visit the hamlet, the info centre is super. The natives of Fort Liard are world renowned for there Birch bark Baskets and quillwork from Porcupine needles that they make.  Very pretty and very expensive!  Out of Fort Liard, only 36 km of gravel left, I can't wait to hit pavement! 
Here I am in B.C.

220 km later I hit Fort Nelson. It is the capital of the forest for BC. I am camping at the Westend Campground.  All campground in Fort Nelson are geared towards the traveler of the Alaskan Highway.  Good news, I have wireless internet on y site... +32 so I am staying put, having a couple of beer, surfing and answering e mail.  Forecast for tonight, Thunderstorms.  more to follow...

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15 June 2006

No severe thunderstorms last night!
Just some rain. This morning it was over!
Here are some pictures of the entrance of the campground and my site, a little tight but OK.





I treat myself to a nice breaky at Mag & Mel. Good eggs and bacon. Hummmm !
OK ! To Fort Nelson Museum.
WOW ! I spend over 2 hours in there
Inside there is lots to see.





I start with a 30 minutes video on the construction of the Alaskan highway. The movie must have been done at about the same year.
For those the have seen my ''Whoop miIl'', well, I saw one in the museum!



Even an albinos moose...



Any body used those roller skates? I think I used them when I was a kid!



For the military, here is the Pre-Hermann Nelson.



Old Chain saws. 



Lots of old car in the garage.







Most of those cars belong to the bearded man, Marl Brown. He is the one that founded the museum, works and restore most of what you see in the museum.
A 1908 Buick.





Which still runs, Marl wants to take it to Whitehorse in 2008 when the car will be 100 years old. A trip of about 1000 km.  He started the engine and it took only a quarter of a turn and it went.
WOW !
Weird to see the valves spring outside.
While visiting the outside of the museum you can tell lots of individual and company given items to the museum.
There is even an old culvert made out of wood, it is 50 years old and it is in the museum now. WOW!



Of course, there is machineries that was used in the construction of the Alaskan Highway. Which I am sad to say was first made y the American, but right after, made better by the Canadians. Sounds familiar?





A 3 wheeler, all wheel drive, home made.



I loves the museum. If I lived closer, I would spend lots of time here.
130 pm, I fill up and hit the road toward Fort St-John.
Almost 400 km... of nothing... except beautiful sceneries.
Chocolate! the BC roads are nice.
I set the cruise control at 90 km on the way out of Fort Nelson. I travel by the, and into the Rockies.
Just plain... Beautiful l !



A little bit of rain here and there.



Not much traffic, I would say that 4 out of 5 vehicles are RV, all on there way to Alaska.



The road is nice, I catch myself smiling.
Chocolate is it beautiful.
To my brother... You should be here with me now....!



Hé! Jérémy!
Bikers!


 
I get to Fort St-John at 6 pm.
I found a site at the Sourdought Pete's &RV park.
Being a Good Sam member I get a site with electricity for $16.
Not bad.
This campground is open year around, and you can tell by some of the regular.  It is also a stop over for the people on there way to Alaska, which means it is almost a parking lot.
For supper, deer steak, potatoes and some green stuff.
Easy night, update the blog and bed time at 1230 am.
It is weird, it gets dark at 1030 pm here, I was used to not getting dark at all in the NWT.

Bin coudon!
Dam! life is good :-)
Take time (make time?) ...... to live.........

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16 June 2006
 
Here is a picture of my campsite in Fort St.John.



and one of the campground.



I went to visit the museum of Fort St.John.



30 minutes later I was out! OK but that's about all!  I go back to the info centre to update my blog.  I ask some information about the dams located on the Peace River.  It is only 100 km away!  Like I said, nothing is in concrete.
I leave for Hudson's Hope at 1030 am.
I get to the info centre in Hudson's Hope at 1140.  They tell me that there is a guided tour at 1230 pm and 430 pm for the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. The other dam is the Peace Canyon Dam.
I decide to go to the 430 pm tour of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and find an campsite as soon as possible because they fill up fast here on the week end.
Lots of road construction here for the last 20 km or so!
So I made a mistake/got lost, and find myself at the visitor centre for the dam, I did the 1230 visit.
The 2 dams produce about 33 % of BC's electricity. Both dams are 23 km apart. They were constructed here  because the Peace river canyon made a perfect building place for dams and reservoirs.
The dam I am visiting is the W.A.C Bennett Dam.



The tour is about 1 hour long and very interesting, it is worth the detour.
We can still drive on the dam.  COOL!











On the way back to town there is one hell of a hill to go down, I mean really go down.
The truck  in front of me is going at a break neck speed of 20 km/hr!  Let me tell you that I am using my breaks to stay at 20 km/hr.



I camp at the ’Dupont Ent. RV Park’’ in Hudson's Hope.



Yes ! the owner is Jean-Nil Dupont and he is French so we shoot the poop for a while.  After dinner, I went for a bike ride in town, 10 minutes later I was done.
Back to the info centre, I ask about the town of Tumbler Ridge.  They have falls in that area.  Oh well ! Tumbler Ridge, here I come (tomorrow)
Tomorrow I will visit the small museum in Hudson's hope and then tour the Peace Canyon Dam and go to Tumbler Ridge.

 
Useless information.
The dam was completed in September 1968 at a cost of 1 billion $ in 1968 dollars.
It is a earth dam, at the base, it measures 850 m wide and at the top only 9m. It is 2 km long and 183 m high.
There is 10 generators working to produce 2,725,000 kilowatt of electricity.
The reservoir, Williston Lake, is the largest lake in BC and the 9th largest reservoir in the world.
During the digging for the base of the dam, the found dinosaurs tracks.

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17 June 2006

Up at 730 am, Breaky with banana bread with Almond. I also have some wild blueberry jam from the Farmer's Market here in Hudson's Hope.  Hummmm!
The museum does not open until 9 am.
It is 815 am.
Get myself a coffee and go watch a softball game in town, there is a tournament this week end.
9 am, off to the info centre to update my blog.  I can not connect to the internet with my laptop ???
Oh Well !
I go to the museum.
It is small but nice, I spend 45 minutes in there.
Off to the Peace Canyon Dam for a visit  I got the Royal treatment because I was the only one here. The tour is a little of info centre and Museum.



View of the  ''Peace Canyon Dam''



You can not go inside the dam. But I still spent over an hour in there. Super!
I am surprised to find out how riches this area is for fossils.
Here are some of the one that lived here.



The guide recommended to take a look at a small municipal park by the river where you can take a walk on the river's edge.  Many people are camped on the shores of the river.
Up stream!



and down stream...



By noon I am off to Tumbler ridge.  Nice road, nice sceneries.
the road is an up and down kind of road because I am in the Rockies.  I figure I will be taking lots of gas but when I fill up in Tumbler Ridge, I still got 12 m/g ???
I forgot!
Just has I was starting a downgrade of 10%, a deer jumped out of the ditch on my right side and decides to have a race with me.
I hit the brakes and he decides to cross the road in front of me.
A motorhome does not stop on a dime, more so when you are on a 10% down hill road.
I almost touched him with my bumper but missed him...
My heart was racing...
Now I have to ''fix'' all my cupboards.
Once in Tumbler Ridge, I went to the info centre and she tells me that the road is 40 km of paved road and 12 of gravel, all I have to do is follow the signs.
As I read the information on the road for the falls, it more like 20 km of paved road and 43 of gravel.
She also told me the gravel road is well maintained.
Lets go!
After 10 km, I CAN NOT TAKE IT NO MORE!!!
My max speed has been 25 km/h.
The road is just one long wash board.  It is so ruff I think the motorhome will fall apart.
I get myself back in town at the Lions Campground by the Flatbed creek.



I signed up for the guided tour of the river side tracks tour for tomorrow morning.
Easy night and a nice campfire.

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18 June 2006

Before I start my day I have to talk about  the history of Tumbler Ridge.
25 years ago Tumble Ridge did not exist.  The village was built for the workers of the mine.
Even the roads or tracks did not come here.  So it is a young village.
Lets carry on.
At the info centre I ask where I can get internet.
Well! the Library.
But! it is not open.
I drive around the village to find a connection that is open.
None!
Got back to the info centre and decided to get myself a coffee.
I meet this francophone couple from Québec and find out we are on the same guided tour at 11 am.
His name is Jean-Guy but I forgot her name :-(
The guide tells us where the trail starts and we have to take our vehicle to get there.
Jean-Guy offers me a ride and I take it.
Our guide is good looking young lady (They all look young to me).  She has the equipments to scare the bears.



I am talking about pepper spray, whistle, etc.
The trail is about 3 return.  Mostly sunny day.
TO get to the dinosaurs tracks she talks a little bit about the dino tracks and the plants.
The trails goes by a very old cabin (I forgot to take a picture, not much of a cabin).
But she tells us this cabin has a very particular story.
25 years ago when the village was being built, there was lot of transient worker.  At the same time, in southern BC a double murder was committed.  You see it coming don't you?  Well! Our killer lived in that cabin for almost a year and was, kind of, hidden in Tumbler Ridge.  Someone must have recognised him and the Dawson Creek RCMP came and got the killer.
At the creek, we are on a flat rock where we can see almost 200 tracks of Ankylosaur, Ornithopod and Theropode. 



WOW !
The tracks are about 90 million years old.
At this point I was wondering why I had paid $12 for this tour.
Well, let me tell you at that point she got going and did she knew what she was talking about.



She knows  a lot.
The tracks were found by 2 boys that were tubing down the creek. One of them tipped and got to the shore and notice  dino ''tracks''.  Back home they tell there parents which ... have big doubts about the story. Finally pictures were taken and sent to the Royal Tyrrell Museum so they could study them.  In the fall of 2000, the response back was... they are tracks of dinosaurs.  But they will not be able to check them out until next spring.  This is the only site in the world with fossils and tracks side by side. Also! it is the only place where you can find 26 track in a row of the same Ankylosaur in the world.
The guide ask us to check all the rocks and see if we can find fossils.  We found quite a few of them.
In the creek there is a rock with fossils of ocean life from way back when.




Back in the village, Jean-Guy let me off and I do some shopping for food.
I decides to got and see the Quality Falls which are a little out of town.
Nice falls of 7 meter high





Really nice falls!
I am staying in Tumbler Ridge for an other night.  On my way to Dawson Creek there is an other fall I want to check out but it is a hike of 10km I think and they are pretty far from here.
Evening by the fire and some chicken wings!