The Northern Rockies

Day: 46-49

Mile: 5503

Over the past several days we have traveled through the Northern Rockies, passing in and out of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. It is beautiful and remote, which means no cell or internet service.

Here are some highlights from the past three days.

We visited the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum. They were getting a few of their old cars, like this 1949 Packard, ready for the Canada Day Parade on July 1.

We also learned from the museum staff that the entire town of Fort Nelson was evacuated for three weeks during the May 2024 fires. They were sure they would lose the entire town until a second fire on the other side of the town caused a fire storm and the wind formed by the storm pushed the first fire away from town. Very close call.

There are still several fires burning in this area. The smoke did not distract from the beauty of the drive. It actually gave it a rather surreal look.

We met one couple on a hike we took to a waterfall, who were trying to get to a wedding in Dawson City, not to be confused with Dawson Creek. Dawson City is up towards Fairbanks and the highway they needed to take, the Klondike, is closed due to fire.

Once the smoke cleared we had a beautiful, if a bit rainy, drive to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. There was one thing that prevented us from seeing the sights. The sign below was on a picnic table at a trail head down to the Liard River. We chose not to see the river.

We made an overnight stop in Liard Hot Springs and had a good soak. Our entire campsite was surrounded by an electric fence.

We placed our sign in the Watson Lake Sign Post Forest. It was started by an Army soldier working on the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942. Anyone traveling the highway is encouraged to leave a sign. You will find signs here from all over the world.

We did find Sally and Bruce’s sign, which they left the day before on their way through Watson Lake. Sally and I found some materials and made our signs a couple days earlier while camping together at Fort Nelson. We went small.

The journey continues today as we head towards Tok, Alaska. We will have little or no cell service on this stretch. It’s one of the most remote parts of the trip. So far, the roads have been empty of traffic, with lots of wildlife along the way. Bears, long horn sheep, forest bison, caribou; we even saw a wolf. Photos aren’t great as I take them while driving, however, I will work on that for another post.

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