Wednesday, August 1, 2012

June 22, 2012 - Chetwynde BC - Campground

We left Mt Robson in great weather.  There were no plans to stop, nor anything really worthwhile along the way to Dawson Creek.  We were cautious about the gas, but planned to stop every 100 miles or so. 

We ate breakfast in McBride, and exchanged some money for Canadian.  The exchange rate is almost even so it is no big deal.  We saw a biker in the gas station when we filled up, said hi and moved on.  The drive was spectacular.  All around was snow-covered mountains, forests, lakes and rivers.  We noticed that all of the waterways were high and overflowing their banks in some areas.  It was obvious that there has been either lots of rain, snowmelt, or a combination of the two. 

We were warned about the moose and antelope, but saw none.  We did see two bears about 50 miles apart, just munching on some greenery along the road.  We gassed up in McKenzie and moved on.  The next service is 150Km away and they give you plenty of warning.  We proceeded to Princed George to fill up, stock up on supplies and figure out where we would stop, since we are past the original target stopping location. 

Don’t you know we saw the biker from McBride in the parking lot.  He came over and struck up a conversation.  He was telling us some horror stories about both McBride and Dawson Creek.  He said Dawson Creek was shut down for four days ago and McBride was closed for a day just last Saturday.  The region had a very heavy snow for the winter, unusually warm weather, and rain.  The result was two feet of mud in McBride, and a similar situation in Dawson Creek from the rivers, streams, etc.  It sounded like the old story of “you should have been here last week”, that we hear often. 

We took off and decided to stay in Chetwynd, since Dawson’s Creek is just beyond what we care to do today.  No provincial park with showers is nearby, so we opted for a commercial campground.  It is marginally acceptable, but they have clean showers with plenty of hot water.  We have noticed a distinct difference in the length of the days.  Last night in Mt. Robson, the sun didn’t set until maybe 11 PM and it was beginning to get light at 3:30 AM.  I can only imagine what it will be like when we get to Fairbanks.

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