Awesome Day!

This will be a long post because today was a really big day. I've split it up into semi-sections.

No Mans Land

The Alaska Highway goes through a whole lot of nothing. Between Fort Nelson (where I started this morning) and Whitehorse (where I am now) all of the towns, or whatever you call them, are unincorporated, except for one which was incorporated in 1986. When you pass through one of these communities it's just a few buildings along the road. They're like highway services compounds. In one pull-off you get an Inn, RV park, gas station, cafe, gift shop, bathroom, phone and maybe more, and sometimes all in one little building. One of them even had a makeshift post office and Greyhound bus station while another had a museum. They all also seem to have a resident old dog that lays around in front of the door. Every single one I went to had extremely nice people.

Since there is so little around and it's all very far apart, seeing animals along the Alaska Highway is really common. Today I saw deer, caribou, buffalo, stone sheep, mountain goats, swans, ducks, a beaver and some really big mosquitoes. I want to see a moose!!

The Road

There are a lot of pull-offs and rest areas along the highway. They seem to be pretty good about putting one where there is some really good scenery. The further north I get, the more primitive the bathrooms at the rest areas get. In the beginning it was nice visitor centers and now I'm down to these little outhouses (gross) that don't have doors! they have three walls then where the door should be is a little alcove which is solid wood on the botton 1/3 and trellis on the top! I had to go to the bathroom, but I took one look inside and walked right back to my car. I've used outhouses before, so that wasn't really the problem. I'm just not too keen on being able to wave to truckers as I relieve myself.

The road conditions have been really good. I was expecting some trouble with the roads because it's such a huge road through nothingness. I figured they wouldn't be overly concerned with making it really nice. The only trouble I've had is occasional construction (which usually means a gravel road for a bit), a few potholed and patched areas (which they clearly mark with little orange flags), and a few frost heaves. I thought I was lucky and wasn't going to see any frost heaves until. . . I went over one going about 70mph. There's a good possibility I caught air. I laughed to myself for at least a mile after that. I'm sure all the people at the rest area right next to where it happened laughed for a good bit, too.

Before anybody tells me to drive safe/slow down, let me just tell you I'm the slowest car on this road. There pretty much isn't a speed limit. They're posted, but they mean nothing. There aren't police. Period. They use community policing, which is pretty much citizens looking out for each other. I've seen one police officer today and it was in Whitehorse (which is actually a REAl city). People go as fast as they feel comfortable unless they're in a town or construction zone where they always obey the limits. That's the way it should be I think. Everyone passes safely and they'll even move over as much as they can to the right and let off the gas when you're approaching to pass to give you an easier time. People don't really pay much attention to the yellow lines, they just pass when it makes sense.

I, of course, was tooling along at a somewhat slow pace for most of the day. I was really enjoying the drive and didn't see the point in zooming through it. The views were incredible. Before I left for this trip I had a few moments where I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing and was almost certain I was going to lose my mind driving so much. I've found the exact opposite is true. Today I was enjoying my drive so much that I went a lot further than I expected to go because I didn't want to stop for the night. This morning I left at 7am and stopped driving at about 10:30pm. I could have gone a lot further in that time If I wanted to, but I stopped a LOT.

The Stops
Liard Hotsprings
Very cook. Because of the year round warmth from the springs, the area developed its own strange ecosystem. There were all sorts of weird plants and biotics, most of which were pretty vile looking. There is a network of boardwalks through the springs. They eventually lead to two pools that you can swim in all year round. The warmest one is a bit over 120 degrees! Just like in Yellowstone, the boardwalks in no way suggest you're not in a wild area. The GIANT, probably 10X6ft, sign at the entrance really lets you know that. The sign pleads with you be weary of and not feed bears, stating, 'a fed bear is a dead bear,' and that any bear that has been exposed to human food 'will have to be destroyed.' Most visitors probably look at that sign with careless abandon, strolling past it the same way you might speed by a deer (or insert any other thing native to your area, like a train, or pedestrian) xing sign. Not me. I'm a researcher by nature. I knew all about this place before I left home and in my reading I found that two tourists were actually killed by a bear on those boardwalks a few years ago.

Being the researcher that I am, I also looked into bear behavior and how to deal with them. One of the best things you can do is to make your presence known long before they see you by making human noises, like talking. The reason most bears attack is because they're startled by a person. Bears really don't care about humans and if they hear you they'll keep out of sight and out of your way. There were only a few other people at the park and they were all in first pool you reach on the boardwalks. I wanted to see the second pool, which was a 5 minute walk away. I was alone for the walk and a little freaked out about the bear thing, so I sang and whistled the entire way. When you're alone with nobody to talk to and be human with, it seems to me to be the best thing to do. If anybody heard me I'm sure they were really amused by my horrible singing voice. At least I didn't get eaten by a bear.

Watson Lake. The Signpost Forest!! I planned on going there, but I didn't realize how cool it could be. It sounds kinda boring. a bunch of signs nailed to stakes, right? No. a TON of signs nailed to stakes. There are rows and rows of them, enough to get semi-disoriented in the 'forest.' I found a few MA towns I'm not familiar with and I found a Manchester, NH sign. There are signs from all over the world. There are also license plates and other random items.

Something or other Falls. I forget the name. There was a sign pointing me toward a sightseeing area. I went because why the heck not? It was a little 2 km dirt/gravel (NONE of the side roads are paved) road that eventually led to a perch above a river where a waterfall was visible. The visibility wasn't great because there were trees all around, you kind of had to peek through the trees to see the falls. I was the only person there. It may have had something to do with the access road, which was a piece of junk. I was glad it wasn't a popular area because the last thing I wanted to do is run into a car on my way out. There is definitely only room for one car on this stinky potholed road.

Something or other whirpool river thingy. Yeah, I'm not good with names. This area was pretty neat. There was a great view of a river bend where I suppose a bit of swirling action goes on? There wasn't an information plaque, but I'm assuming that's what the whirpool part is. The thing that made this area cool to me was that off to one side was a receptacle of dead trees. It looks like every dead tree that floats down the river ends up in that one big pile. I have video and possibly pictures that will describe it better than I possibly could. The media I took of it may be a little choppy, there was a bug chasing me while I was trying to do it that I thought was a bee. You know how I feel about bees; If a bee comes around, I'll be gone before you know it.

Blueberry rapids. A great view of rapids from really high up. It was a huge area. HUGE.

Okay, I'm falling asleep. More tomorrow morning. Possibly pictures, too. I'll either add to this post in the AM or I'll just start another.