The Alaska Highway... an old friend

Mucho Lake

I remember well our first trip up the Alaska Highway in 2010.  It was such an adventure.  Every turn was a complete unknown.  Now it feels like an old friend.  We have our favorite stopping spots.  We treat ourselves to spaetzel and schnitzel at the Wolf's Den in Whitehorse.  We know that the best wildlife concentration is between Liard Springs and Toad River.  Contact Creek always has the cheapest gasoline.  We love strolling along Muncho Lake.  And to keep from experiencing a complete sugar overload, we enjoy splitting just one of the enormous sticky buns at the Tetsa River Lodge.

After leaving the Dempster, we felt more than a bit melancholy.  We were heading home at the time of year we normally are heading north.  We had already missed the salmon runs in Valdez and Haines because we were too early. Now we would miss the fall colors.   We would also miss the bird migrations and first snowfall.  In many ways it also felt like we were being pushed home.

Around Liard Springs, we finally saw some wildlife.  We stopped to photograph a herd of wood bison.  Nearby, we also saw a sow with twin cubs, but she disappeared into the forest before I could roll the window down.  Further south, we saw stone sheep grazing.

Stone sheep grazing

We planned to spend several days enjoying Muncho Lake.  I was missing Roxanne so much... this was one of her favorite spots.  We took a stroll, and I could almost see her bounding before us on the trail, looking back to see if I would give the signal so she could dive in the lake.  Tears were stinging my eyes when we heard distant thunder.

We decided we better turn around.  We barely made it back to the camper before the skies opened up, and it began to rain.  It rained all night.  And during the night, we saw something we had not seen in a very long time... darkness.

We stopped by the Northern Rockies Lodge the next morning and learned the forecast predicted rain to continue through the next several days.  So we drove on...  The rain followed us nearly to Fort Nelson.  Here the terrain changes quickly from mountains to pasture land.  By the time we arrived in Dawson Creek, we were surrounded by fields and fields of canola and their stunning yellow flowers.

Canola fields near Dawson Creek

The next day, the rolling hills gave way to prairie.  It felt comforting somehow to be back in farming country. Both David and I come from rural backgrounds, and we reminisced about childhood days.  The scenery looked like a beautiful quilt pattern with patches of yellow canola flowers, rows of olive-green wheat, and all dotted with enormous rolls of caramel-colored hay.

With reports of dozens of forest fires and road closures in British Columbia, we turned east.  We would take a different route home this trip, traveling through Saskatchewan and Manitoba before entering the Lower 48 somewhere in Minnesota.  From there, we would spend a few days with David's mom in Missouri before heading home.  We looked forward to this new route... we had only skirted Saskatchewan once a few years ago, and we had never been to Manitoba.  A new adventure certainly was waiting for us.