Welcome to Red Dog Adventures

We got up early this morning and headed for Alaska. The border was 52 miles from the RV park. The crossing was easy with very few questions and we were on our way. We were very excited to have finally made it. It took us 10 days, driving about 200 miles per day on average. We stopped for lunch in Tok Alaska. We chose Fast Eddy’s because it was crowded and offered easy on and off. Lunch was awesome. We even had real fountain Diet Coke for the first time since entering Canada. We hare hopeless, huh? We initially thought we would stay in Tok in a highly rated RV park but it was so early with the time change that we decided to go on to Delta Junction. Tok also had cheap diesel fuel but I thought Delta Junction would be even cheaper, I was wrong. We ended up dry camping in Delta State Recreation Area. The park provided no hook ups but nice long and wide back-in spaces in the woods. When we setup the temperature was 75 deg F and I thought it was probably at its peak. Wrong again, it hit about 80 by 10:00pm. We were able to sleep comfortably but it was warmer than I would prefer for dry camping. By the way, I got up at 3am to go to the bathroom and it was very light outside. We made preparations in Washington by making sure we had foil insulation panels for the windshield and most windows. It is already paying off big.

Twenty-six years ago I stayed in Delta Junction at US Army base Fort Greely for work. Fort Greely is the home of the Army Cold Regions Test Center. Back then I was here in the dead of winter with a high of -25 deg F. It was so cold the Army wouldn’t let us use our own coats or boots because they were not considered adequate for the conditions. I’m glad its not cold now. In the winter it gets very dark by 3pm.

Just a few words about roads on the Alaska Highway. We found nearly all of the road to be in good repair with a few gravel/construction sections along the route. The longest gravel section was about 15 miles long but was very smooth for gravel. Other gravel sections were pretty rough but not too long. Just about any time it wasn’t gravel we could set the cruise at the speed limit without worry. The road from Whitehorse to Tok is not so great however. The road has very rough patches and pot holes. Worse than the rough sections are the undulations where the road has sunk. The road will oscillate up and down suddenly, enough that at any speed above 45 mph you are very likely to bottom out or nearly get airborne in our big coach. It might not be too bad in a car, but in a big rig it is very uncomfortable and very tiring. The undulations can be hard to see so often you are surprised by them.

Today I got up and made reservations for the Discovery Yukon Lodge and RV park before we hit the road. This park is about ½ way between Whitehorse and Tok Alaska. On the way out we stopped by the Whitehorse airport so I could see the iconic DC-3 airplane setup as a windvane. This windvane is a real DC-3 operated here into the ‘60s. They mounted on a pole in perfect balance so that it always points into the wind. Very cool. In between Whitehorse and Haines Junction we saw a mama and cub grizzly bear on road. We were lucky to get some pictures as they headed back into the woods. Amazing. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the RV park. The grounds were really nice and the park is located up against some beautiful mountains. The park also has a grass airplane landing strip. No airplanes used the strip while we were there and Maverick loved such a huge area to run and play off-leash. The management were super nice as well. The park was 20 miles from the nearest town so we just hung out at the coach in this very peaceful place.

 

We took our time getting ready this morning and I made reservations at Pioneer RV Park in Whitehorse. We stopped on the way out of town to get the cheapest diesel as recommended by the super nice RV park manager. Along the route we stopped at the Rancheria Falls park. It is a 10 minute hike, partly on a boardwalk, to get to the falls. They were very pretty and Maverick really enjoyed the trail. The park had a really nice, large parking area that made it easy for multiple big-rigs to park. We arrived early at the Pioneer RV Park. This park has some really nice amenities. It has a super nice RV self-wash station and a oil change station where you or the park can change the oil in RV’s including big-rigs. We got a nice wooded lot on a hill away from the highway. We had 30AMP electric and water, but no sewer. Not a problem for us. The road in was pretty tight for a big-rig but I managed without much difficulty.

Once setup we drove into Whitehorse. Its the biggest town we’ve been in for a while. We stopped by the SS Klondike paddle-wheel steamer that used to carry cargo and people on the Yukon River. We arrived at 5pm just as the park closed so we couldn’t tour the inside, but we decided a nice walk around was enough for us. Next we headed downtown to eat at the Klondike Rib and Salmon. We heard the wait can be as long a 2 hours and there was a 40 minute wait for us. We walked around some nearby shops while waiting and just about 40 minutes we were seated outside on the patio. We really splurged and got both a half rack of ribs and Fish and Chips. Both entrées were excellent and service was very good. This is a great restaurant. After dinner we shopped a Canadian store similar to Walmart. It was weird. We did drive by Walmart and were shocked to see what had to be about 100 RV’s dry camping on the Walmart parking lot. We’ve seen people park at Walmart before but never like this. On the way back to the coach we stopped a horse sculpture representative of Whitehorse for a photo op.

We got up early because the entire overflow parking area started driving out at 6am. The closer we get to Alaska the more it feels like a race to get there. I’m sure many people are on a tighter time schedule than us and are trying to get to Alaska quickly. The drive to Watson Lake is only about 2 ½ hours. We left about 8:30AM. This drive was quite pretty and we saw lots of wildlife. First 3 bison, 2 Black bears, one Black, 7 bison with two babies, a brown Black Bear, 4 Bison with 4 babys, a whole herd of Bison and another 2 Black Bears!! Wow! In total we saw 8 Black Bears today and many Bison. Best wildlife siting day ever.
We arrived in Watson Lake about 11:30 and had no problem getting a 50A full hook up site. Our satellite has been unable to see any satellites since leaving Dawson Creek. The satellites seem to be too low on the horizon for our antenna to see them. This park has a coin operated RV wash and we were in need. During the trip out of Dawson Creek it was raining and the road grime coated the coach and car in a thick mud coating. The wash was really good and powerful but if you didn’t use a brush it dried with a muddy coating. By the time we finished the coach and car looked great.
We ate across the street at Kathy’s Diner and the food was good. After lunch we explored the road sign forest. This iconic Alaska Highway attraction features an amazing number of signs posted since the creation of the highway. Attached to the Signpost Forest is a nice Yukon visitor center.  The Visitor center had lots of interesting history about the construction of the Alaska Highway and the hosts were very informative and provided lots of literature about the Yukon and its wildlife.  Next we next drove to Williams Campground. The lake was very scenic and Maverick really enjoyed running around off leash. We then explored the Watson Lake airport and attached lake recreation area. The airport had a neat memorial to a Lincoln Bomber crew that crash landed in the lake. We made it back to the coach by 4pm and have exhausted just about everything in the town of Watson Lake.

So today we had a choice of driving over 7 hours to Watson Lake YT, or stopping earlier for dry camping. We stopped at Muncho Lake for lunch. We got out the lawn chairs and setup right on the lake edge. Lunch was awesome in 70deg F weather and beautiful scenery. After lunch we drove on to the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. During the drive was saw two small Black Bear near the road. How cool! As expected, we found the main campground already full. The park has “overflow” parking that is a large gravel lot. We paid our fee and parked in overflow.

The park namesake is the natural hot springs. After getting setup we decided to try them out. It is about a 10 minute walk along a wood boardwalk. The hot springs are quite large and has super nice dressing rooms and decks. The hot springs were really hot and we couldn’t stay in the water too long. The springs were really beautiful, clean, and not too crowded. It was a really nice experience.

On the walk back we were noticing how hot it was. Back at the coach we fired up the generator and started the A/C. Donna cooked dinner and we watched a movie. After the movie it was time to kill the generator. It was at this time we both realized it is still hot outside and we need to turn off the A/C. Funny it didn’t dawn us before now. We worried about sleeping tonight with it being too hot. I should also mention the parking lot is attached to an active rest area and the combination is super dusty. We didn’t want to open the windows as a result. Luckily it was cool enough, even with windows shut to sleep comfortably. We have taken for granted since we left in January it would always be cool by late afternoon. We have to pay closer attention, even this far north.

We left Dawson Creek about 9:30am and headed out on the Alaskan Highway (Hwy 97) toward Fort Nelson. Not far out of town is a small section of the Old Alaskan Highway. On this side road is the historic Kiskatinaw Bridge. The bridge is 531 foot long curved wooden timber bridge. The bridge is the only original timber bridge built on the original Alaskan Highway that remains intact and is still in use today. I heard from another traveler that the bridge took as long to build as the entirety of the Alaskan Highway. The drive was uneventful and took about 5 hours. We arrived about 3:30pm and I filled up with Diesel on way into town. I had made reservations at the Bluebell RV park. It is just a gravel parking lot with full hook-ups. The price was about $21 US so pretty affordable. There was a much nicer park called the Triple G but would have cost more than double and we didn’t feel it was worth it for one night. Right next door was a Bostons Pizza. The same restaurant chain we had in McKinney TX for a while. We ate an early dinner and the pizza was exceptional. After dinner we explored town and stopped at a city trail to let Maverick explore. He had a great time.

\Today we took our time getting around. Before leaving the coach I made reservations for Fort Nelson for tomorrow night. I worry if we arrive late tomorrow we might not find a spot. There are a lot of RV’s now that we made it to the Alaska Highway. We hopped in the Jeep and headed out to the town Tumbler Ridge about a 1 ½ hour drive from the coach.   While enroute we saw a juvenile Moose grazing along the road.

We arrived at Tumbler ridge about 11:30.  I had read how this was a very special paleontology site and a UNESCO Global Geopark. Also not too far away is a spectacular waterfall. Once we arrived the reality fell far short of the hype. First we stopped in the Peace Region Paleontology Museum. Our first clue was the person at the desk asks us why we came all the way out here. She also asked how we knew the museum was even open. The musuem was shut down for 3 months renovation and today was the first day back open. I guess we were “lucky”. We paid $8 each to visit the one room museum. It was interesting, but the fossils they found weren’t great and many were just dinosaur tracks. It turns out that last year the funding for the paleontology efforts had fallen through. They no longer even work the area to uncover new fossils. We also discovered that the road to the park with the waterfall is largely washboard gravel and would take much longer than we expected. Ugh.

We ate lunch at the local hotel restaurant and the food was good. Lunch was at least better than yesterday. The drive to and from Tumbler Ridge was quite scenic and we saw a juvenile moose feeding next to the road. After getting back to Dawson Creek, we stopped by Walmart and then headed back to the coach. Tomorrow will be an extra long day for us with a drive between 5 and 6 hours.

Today we drove a little longer than usual, about 4 hours. We usually like to keep the drive to 3hr or less. Because stops are getting a little more sparse, and there is less to see, we are pushing a little further. Our first stop was the Bijoux Falls Provincial Park. The park is right on the highway with a large parking lot large enough for us to turn around and park with the Jeep in tow. This waterfall was very beautiful as it cascades down. The waterfall is directly accessible from the parking lot so its super easy to enjoy for everyone. There was one other car in the parking lot but we had the falls to ourselves. How cool is that?! After enjoying the falls we hopped back on the highway and continued our journey.

We arrived in Dawson Creek BC about 12:30. The population of Dawson Creek is 11,500 but has quite a bit of services including Walmart. We snagged one of the last available full hook-up, 50A sites at the Mile 0 RV Park. Once parked we headed to lunch without even setting up the coach. We ate lunch at the nearby Rockwells Bar and Grill. Definitely a locals kind of place. We ate outside in beautiful weather, but the food was fair at best. Not our favorite meal. After lunch we drove around and found quite a few better looking places to eat so our choice for lunch was premature.
We drove around Dawson Creek and stopped at the visitor center with the Mile 0 signs. Dawson Creek is the start of the Alaskan Highway. We were there with many RV’rs and tourists. Later we realized the actual Mile 0 marker was in an intersection a block or so away.

I picked up a windshield repair kit from Canada Tire. Canada Tire is kind of like Walmart used to be before the supercenters. We headed back to the coach where I spent over an hour washing just the windshield and front of the coach. The amount of bugs we accumulated over the last two days is staggering. Once really clean, I used the windshield repair kit on the two star impacts we suffered two days ago. It really worked well and made the cracks much less visible. The repair should keep the cracks from spreading. I think the windshield should be good for the long term. The repair looks as good as the professional chip repair I had done on my truck windshield a while back in Texas.

We arose today to beautiful weather. It didn’t take too long to get the rig ready, even with a McDonalds’s Diet Coke run. We were on the road by 9:30 am and headed North on Hwy 97. The road was mostly two lane in good condition and other than a few short stretches was reasonably level. By about noon we found ourselves in Prince George. Prince George is a nice town about 90,000 population. We kept our eye out for a good lunch spot where we could park the coach easily. We found Moxie’s Grill. The grill is a trendy, modern restaurant. We sat outside in 70 deg F sunshine. The service and food were really good and we really enjoyed lunch. After lunch we continued on the road. Our stop for tonight was Tudyah Lake Provincial Park. I was really aiming for Wiskers Point Provincial Park but as I passed it at 60mph I realized I had plugged in different park. We arrived at 3:30pm and decided to check out Tudyah and were happy with what we found. We parked the rig near the boat ramp in this pretty park. The parks in this area are dry camping and we planned on that. Maverick was overjoyed with a park, a lake, a babbling creek filling the lake, and trails. All within 50 yards of the coach. The temperature is 70 deg F and skies are clear. Pretty nice digs if you ask me. After setting up and chilling for a little bit Maverick made it clear we REALLY needed to check out the park. We walked to the creek and around the lake. We intentionally made lots of noise because one of the reviews talked about the bears they encountered. The only down side is that this place is a mosquito haven. They are huge and swarming. Around 5pm we decided to start the generator so we could enjoy some satellite TV. Its rough out here in the back country.

This morning we ate breakfast in the nearby downtown. Kamloops has a population of about 90,000 and has a nice downtown. We got a late start again partly due to breakfast and partly due to the extra time to dump the holding tank and refuel. Our route today took us Hwy 1 to Cache Creek and then North on Hwy 97 to Williams Lake. The drive was fairly scenic and pretty easy. About 1/3 four lane and about 2/3 two lane and there are 3 or 4 decent little towns along the way. On the way into Williams Lake we stopped and refueled so we would be ready for an earlier departure tomorrow. We arrived at the Stampede RV park about 3pm. The RV park is really part of the Stampede rodeo and horse racing arena and is right in town. The park is really quite nice and has full hook ups. The big downer is we have experienced the dreaded rock to the windshield. Many RV’rs report cracked or broken windshields on the Alaskan Highway. I was really surprised as these roads seemed as good as 90% of the roads we have traveled since leaving home. The rock was even kicked up by a compact car and not the usual logging truck. Oh well, things happen and we will deal with it. The crack isn’t terrible and isn’t in my direct line of sight so we will let it go for now. After getting set up we drove through downtown, shopped at Walmart, and ate at Dairy Queen. Williams Lake is a town of about 10,000 and is situated beautifully on a lake. Not a lot to see otherwise. The weather today in Williams Lake is about 60 deg F mostly sunny and some light scattered showers.