Teslin (07/24/2005)

Our fourth week in Canada was the beginning of our caravan trip to Alaska with my sisters (Sandy and her husband Dale, Christine and her husband Steve) and our friends Connie and Bob. We arrived at the RV Park in Prince George right after Bob and Connie. We were meeting the others the next day, so the 4 of us had some time to check out Prince George. It has (a Fabric store for me), a Costco, and Wal*mart so we were able to reload for the ‘big‘ trip. Unfortunately, when the others arrived Sandy was ill and eventually had to go to the local ER for treatment of the Flu and Asthma. She and Dale were gone until quite late that night but luckily the ER was able to get her on the road to recovery and we were all able to leave the next day as planned.
We were originally planning to travel from Prince George, on the Cassiar Highway, to Kitwanga but we spoke to several people who found the road terrible and did not see any bears (the reason for traveling that direction). It turns out that the bears are there when the salmon are running which is in late August. So we decided to change our plans to do the Cassiar Highway on the way south instead of north. So we left Prince George, on the Alaska Highway, for Dawson Creek. Since so many of us were up late we did not get an early start. It was a long travel day. At one point we saw a mother moose and her baby in the river alongside the road. Rich had just finished saying that it looked like moose country and there she was. I walked back to get a picture and as she was moving away her little one splashed up to her and they both splashed away. Dawson Creek is surrounded by agriculture, lots of big farms, and fields of canola (beautiful yellow flowers). In Dawson Creek we stayed at a small crowded private RV Park. During the afternoon a truck came in and unloaded 200,000 trees which were to be planted in the area. That’s a lot of boxes of 2 year old trees.
The next day we drove 200+ miles to the Prophet Creek Provincial Campground. This was a small campground (40 sites) and we were the only campers for most of the afternoon. Towards evening several other vehicles came in. We had an early dinner, celebrated the beginning of the trip with Champagne and a fire. The weather has been pretty cool and damp so far and the dogs (especially the small white one) have been having a blast in the mud.
The next day we drove 200+ miles to Muncho Lake. The drive was difficult, with a lot of steep climbs and descents. All of the drivers and some of the passengers were quite tired. Early on there was lots of fireweed by the side of the road. I never understood why it is called fireweed - it is pink/purple not fire color at all. Someone explained to me that it needs lots of sun and is frequently the first thing to grow after a fire, hence the name. In this case there is a wide path cleared of trees by the side of the road for the fireweed to grow. After a while the scenery included hills, then mountains, as well as some wildlife. We saw caribou, moose and lots of trees including white spruce (the ugly tree - looks to me like God just glopped the paint on the canvas). Once again the weather was less than desirable, fog at the top of the summits and it poured most of the afternoon.
The next day we stopped at Liard Hot Springs. It was a gorgeous natural site with steaming marshes and a lush forest. It had two pools with wooden decks. Some of our party went in the pools, while others of us used the time to explore the area. Leaving the pool area we saw lots of Bison. Then we drove to Watson Lake, famous for its Sign Post Forest. Apparently a young soldier working on the Alaska Highway in 1942 became homesick and planted a sign pointing to his hometown with the mileage on it. Now there are more than 10,000 signs and the city maintains the site. We saw signs from Austria, Russia, Israel, Suaharita (our new hometown), and Hemet (where my folks lived). That night the group split up with some of us spending the night at Baby Nugget RV Park and the others spending the night at a local Provincial Park. The next morning we met at the restaurant at Baby Nugget for breakfast.
The next day we stopped at Rancheria Falls Recreation Site. We walked up to the falls, they were gorgeous. We spent that night at Mukluk Annie’s. They had free camping sites and a free boat trip if you had the Salmon Bake / Barbeque Rib dinner. The food was served family style in a big room with lots of tables. You could easily imagine that this was how the road builders ate. We had a cool time and the food was awesome. The boat tour was on 72 mile long Teslin Lake. Also awesome. We started the next morning with all you can eat blueberry pancakes and then drove to Whitehorse, where we stayed at the Hi Country RV Park.

PLEASE NOTE: The following photographs were mostly taken by Sandra Scotto. Some were taken by Sue Norris, Christine Sheridan, Dale Scotto, Bob Mulholland, and Connie Mulholland.