Made it to Whitehorse! I arrived last night, met my friend Terry (we travelled together in Laos) just outside of town and we headed to his girlfriend's place for some dinner and beers. I stayed and will be staying with them for a couple days. They convinced me to alter my plan and go with them to the Atlin Music Festival on July 6th, which sounds like a hell of an idea to me. I think between then and now I'm going to make a run into Alaska and jump on the ferry from Skagway to Sitka, and spend some time in that latter town everyone raves about.
And now for the history! After my last post from Grande Prairie, I hit the road bound for Tumbler Ridge. I took a shortcut through a gravel road to Highway 52, a highway that saved some distance to Tumbler Ridge and looked on the map to be more scenic. It was a piece of shit. The "highway" turned out to be a gravel road that was just starting to be graded this year. It was nothing but a pot-holed washboard that offered views of nothing but trees. About two thirds of the way through, however, the highway turned into a nice paved road that did have some nice views. I ended up heading north of town about twenty minutes and staying at Gwillim Lake Provincial Park, which was a very nice campground. The next day I hiked to Bergeron Falls, which turned out to be pretty nice, but unfortunately I couldn't get to the base of them since the water level was too high.
The day after that I hit the road again, finishing off Highway 52, which turned out to some of the nicest highway I've ever driven. The views of the Peace Valley were incredible, and I had a perfectly sunny day to capture them with my camera. As soon as I hit the Alaska Highway the weather turned to shit, but broke for me when I reached Stone Mountain Provincial Park, where I camped. The campground itself wasn't that great; there were hardly any trees and it was right next to the highway. A crazy highlight of it was when I was sitting by the fire, reading, when I look up and see a moose about twenty feet away, looking straight at me and obviously annoyed. I instantly put the Escape between him and I. The next morning I hiked up the Summit Peak, which offered amazing views of the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately booming thunderheads forced me off the lightning prone ridge before I could reach the peak. After I got back down I ate a quick lunch and took off, bound for Liard Hot Springs.
Liard was awesome. Except for the fucking droves, wait, LEGIONS of misquitos that occupied the area. I've never soaked myself with so much repellent in my entire life. I now look like a smallpox victim. The hot springs were pretty awesome though; they're entirely natural, not set in concrete or anything like that. The campground is decent, too; the sites are all separated by forty feet of thick trees. The only downer is the invasion of the American RV retirees in their gigantic tour buses.
And here I am today! The drive to Whitehorse was decent, saw and photographed some buffalo on the road, and listened to some live comedy. Bye.
And now for the history! After my last post from Grande Prairie, I hit the road bound for Tumbler Ridge. I took a shortcut through a gravel road to Highway 52, a highway that saved some distance to Tumbler Ridge and looked on the map to be more scenic. It was a piece of shit. The "highway" turned out to be a gravel road that was just starting to be graded this year. It was nothing but a pot-holed washboard that offered views of nothing but trees. About two thirds of the way through, however, the highway turned into a nice paved road that did have some nice views. I ended up heading north of town about twenty minutes and staying at Gwillim Lake Provincial Park, which was a very nice campground. The next day I hiked to Bergeron Falls, which turned out to be pretty nice, but unfortunately I couldn't get to the base of them since the water level was too high.
Liard was awesome. Except for the fucking droves, wait, LEGIONS of misquitos that occupied the area. I've never soaked myself with so much repellent in my entire life. I now look like a smallpox victim. The hot springs were pretty awesome though; they're entirely natural, not set in concrete or anything like that. The campground is decent, too; the sites are all separated by forty feet of thick trees. The only downer is the invasion of the American RV retirees in their gigantic tour buses.
And here I am today! The drive to Whitehorse was decent, saw and photographed some buffalo on the road, and listened to some live comedy. Bye.
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