I have to address the scale of everything here. Enormous. There are giant Mountains all around and the road stretches are really long. It's hard to get ahold of the magnitude of everything. I finally realized the true scale of what I was seeing when I could see a stretch of the road across Summit Lake where I stopped for a wildlife viewing area and a rest. I looked across the lake where I could see bits of the road I was on and which I didn't think was too far away. Then I saw a truck on the road, which not only had passed me what seemed like a while ago, but it also looked like a tiny little speck. Everything is really, really big. I've taken a million pictures, most of which I've been disappointed with because they look like tiny little mountains in the distance. They're not in the distance at all and they're not tiny. A lot of times I'll be climbing a hill and several times I'll think I'm almost at the top when I've really got a good distance to go. It's hard to tell when everything around you is so big and there aren't any other cars to judge the distance by. When there are cars ahead or behind I"m floored by the perspective it puts on the magnitude of things.
I've got a handle on what an amazing opportunity this is now. I'm just so lucky to be doing this. I really wish more people could do the same. I don't think I'll walk away the same person.
I really like Whitehorse. It's a cute little artsy city. I think it's big enough to be a city, but I'll have to check on that. I'm in a great coffee shop now that reminds me of this place Lindsey took me when we were in Saratoga. They don't roast their own beans, but the coffee is still damned good. They use Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters, so I'm assuming the place is near enough for the coffee to be consistently fresh, seeing as I'm in the land of the midnight sun as told to me by several highway signs.There is local art on the walls and I'm seriously tempted to buy one of the pictures.
I'm surprised by the accents I'm encountering. I came across some Native Americans when I was in Montana and I could barely understand them. It was like a Canadian Fargo accent on crack. When I got my oil changed in Dawson Creek I encountered a similar accent when I was talking to the mechanic. Well, he was talking and I was trying to pick out words and reply with neutral statements to make it seem like I knew what he was saying. It felt like an episode of Seinfeld. I think he was Native American, too, or some inuit descendent or something. Something aboriginal.
I'm finding a lot of aboriginal people, which I like. I stopped at a rest area in Teslin, YT and the owner was a Native American woman. She had such stunning features. The second you looked at her you knew she was native. Someone asked her how long she's been in the area and she replied, "forever," which I smiled to myself about. She could have said she'd been there her whole life or something like that, but she chose to say forever, which asserted her nativity. I liked it.
It was an interesting little place she was running, too. There was a gift shop and a wildlife display. I usually don't care much for some backwoods hicks' collection of stuffed trophies nailed to their wall. It doesn't bother me in the least, but I don't find it overly interesting so I wasn't about to go to the wildlife display. I did go, though, and was so surprised. It was museum quality and they had most of the native large animals. They were even set up in a display with the scenery the way they do it in museums. Like an action shot. There was even a moose, which was HUGE. I now understand why people say to brake for moose because it may save your life. They probably weigh more than my car. The other animals I can remember were arctic wolf, grizzly, black bear, polar bear (also HUGE), eagle, owl, beaver, wolf, caribou, rock sheep, and mountain goat. It was truly impressive. I should have asked how they acquired it because this was in the back room of your standard Alaska Highway No Mans Land rinky dink gift shop.
Showing posts with label alaska highway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alaska highway. Show all posts
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Some Random Stuff
-I'm officially on pacific time as of yesterday when I crossed the Alberta/British Columbia border. I figured since I spent a few days on Central and Mountain time each that I'd be feeling better about the time switch. I'm doing alright, but I'm definitely feeling it. One more timezone to go still.
-yesterday in Edmonton I went to the largest mall in the world. Well, I went to the parking lot. I thought I'd check it out since I was so close, less than a 1/4 mile from where I was staying. I got there, found a parking space and then I had a reality check. I realized that I hate malls, so why would I want to go to a mall on steroids? I promptly left.
-Also in Edmonton, I passed by the Molson brewery but I wasn't able to go for a tour because they were closed. I wasn't about to stick around another day for that. Plus, they make crappy beer.
-I got an AWESOME hat at a tiny little trading post off the highway. It came with matching gloves, too. I believe I was somewhere southeast of Valleyview, Alberta. This was a good view, but I took a bad picture:
I'm driving near the mountains again so the road is throwing in some mean hills every once in a while. I'm on the plains boundary and will be for a while before I actually hit the rockies. I'm going to have an easy driving day today, only 5 hours or so because I want to spend a little time here in Dawson Creek and I want to camp at my destination, which you can't arrive too late for.
I'm off to breakfast.
-yesterday in Edmonton I went to the largest mall in the world. Well, I went to the parking lot. I thought I'd check it out since I was so close, less than a 1/4 mile from where I was staying. I got there, found a parking space and then I had a reality check. I realized that I hate malls, so why would I want to go to a mall on steroids? I promptly left.
-Also in Edmonton, I passed by the Molson brewery but I wasn't able to go for a tour because they were closed. I wasn't about to stick around another day for that. Plus, they make crappy beer.
-I got an AWESOME hat at a tiny little trading post off the highway. It came with matching gloves, too. I believe I was somewhere southeast of Valleyview, Alberta. This was a good view, but I took a bad picture:
I'm driving near the mountains again so the road is throwing in some mean hills every once in a while. I'm on the plains boundary and will be for a while before I actually hit the rockies. I'm going to have an easy driving day today, only 5 hours or so because I want to spend a little time here in Dawson Creek and I want to camp at my destination, which you can't arrive too late for. 
I'm off to breakfast.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Damn you, Canada.
I've spent the last two days online trying to plan the Canadian leg of my journey home. Like I said, I want to get Canada out of the way before I fly home for the wedding, so I figured I'd speed through Canada and fly home from Seattle. On this home trip I will most likely be driving through Canada by myself and I won't be camping. I've had a lot of trouble planning for two main reasons:
1. There is very little civilization in Canada
I'd love to just tear through Canada and get it over with, but the logistics are a nightmare. I wouldn't be able to drive, drive, drive until I can't see straight and just stop where I am and spend the night. When I reach the point where I want to stop for the night, I might be 4 hours from civilization! Don't even get me started on gas stations.
2. There are very few roads in Canada
The roads are a laugh! There are two whole roads up through British Columbia. One of the roads is the Alaska Highway and the other one is, well, The Other Road. The Other Road isn't paved in spots and is strewn with one lane bridges. That's right, ONE LANE BRIDGES. Google estimates it takes about 20 hours to drive 460 miles on this Other Road. This is also only about half of the road through BC. To put it in perspective, that would be about the same distance as driving from Boston, MA to Buffalo, NY, which is estimated to take about 7.25 hours!
So, Alaska Highway it is. . .
Even South Park makes fun of the roads in Canada.
1. There is very little civilization in Canada
I'd love to just tear through Canada and get it over with, but the logistics are a nightmare. I wouldn't be able to drive, drive, drive until I can't see straight and just stop where I am and spend the night. When I reach the point where I want to stop for the night, I might be 4 hours from civilization! Don't even get me started on gas stations.
2. There are very few roads in Canada
The roads are a laugh! There are two whole roads up through British Columbia. One of the roads is the Alaska Highway and the other one is, well, The Other Road. The Other Road isn't paved in spots and is strewn with one lane bridges. That's right, ONE LANE BRIDGES. Google estimates it takes about 20 hours to drive 460 miles on this Other Road. This is also only about half of the road through BC. To put it in perspective, that would be about the same distance as driving from Boston, MA to Buffalo, NY, which is estimated to take about 7.25 hours!
So, Alaska Highway it is. . .
Even South Park makes fun of the roads in Canada.
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