June 16 to 22, 2019 ; Liard River to Kerry Lake, BC

Sunday ; Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park

Warm, mostly cloudy, a bit of sun around suppertime, raining intermittently.

This morning we left the “hidden” firefighting service airstrip where we boondocked overnight about 10:45 AM and continued southeast on the Alaska Highway. At 11:05 AM we arrived at the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. How fortuitous ! Their check out time is 11 AM and at the time of our arrival there were five vacant campsites. Within about ten minutes the campground was full … again !

We selected our site, went back to the office to register, then went to the hot springs. AHHHHH … how wonderful ! After soaking in the hot springs … which range from extremely hot on one side, to warm on the other side … for about an hour, we returned to our campsite to have lunch.

And a nap for me and the animals, of course. After a nap we refilled our freshwater tank at the hand water pump across the road from our campsite, using the “gas can” method. Around suppertime we returned to the hot springs for another long soak. The hot springs pool was much less crowded around 6 PM than it was around noon. And the water seemed hotter. < shrug >

The people in the hot springs pool were mostly American RV’ers on their way to Alaska, some Canadians, a few Brits, and a few Germans. Northwestern Canada seems to be an extremely popular travel destination for Germans. In Watson Lake we chatted with a couple from Germany who were travelling in Northern BC and the Yukon in a rented truck camper for the fourth time in the past eight years. “So much to explore” was the woman’s quote to me.

Saw two more bison this morning on our very short drive to here.

Monday ; Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park to Tetsa River Regional Park

Very variable weather today. Sunny and mild in the morning at Liard River Hot Springs. Sometimes sunny and mild as we drove, sometimes overcast and raining. Mostly clear and mild in the evening, but occasional brief rain repeatedly throughout the evening.

We were ready to vacate our campsite this morning at 10:45 AM. We pulled out of our campsite and drove to the hot springs day use parking lot, then walked the 0.7 km. boardwalk to the hot springs pool. We soaked in the hot springs pool for our third and final time, for about an hour, then left the provincial park around noon, continuing southeast on the Alaska Highway.

We stopped frequently to check out fishing opportunities at rivers as we crossed them. All rivers, creeks, streams, etc. were flowing too high and too fast for fishing. Maybe next year I will have an opportunity to fish in this area late in the summer. We viewed MANY bison and MANY mountain sheep, both Stone Sheep and Dall Sheep. There were too many to count ! ! ! Especially the bison. Shortly after leaving Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park we came across a herd of buffalo that must have numbered in excess of fifty. And we came across herds of sheep a few times that numbered a dozen or more. So … our “tally” of wildlife viewing for this trip is … kaput !

We stopped to have lunch at a rest area beside Muncho Lake. We refilled with diesel at Toad River Lodge. We stopped for the night around 7 PM at Tetsla River Regional Park, a small, unserviced campground. I lit a campfire and grilled salmon burgers on the fire for supper.

Tuesday ; 15^th anniversary of retirement / full time RV’ing ; Tetsla River to Fort Nelson to Bougie Creek

We started our retirement / full time RV’ing life fifteen years ago today, leaving our Ottawa, Ontario home for the last time and heading out in our new ( to us ) truck and fifth wheel trailer to an Escapees RV Club rally in Kingston, Ontario. Fifteen years of happy, healthy retirement is far more than our four parents were able to have. We feel extremely fortunate !

On June 18, 2004, our first day of retirement and full time RV’ing, the weather was … perfect ! Not so on our fifteenth anniversary today. It was a cold, miserable, heavy rain day. And every time we stepped out of the truck to do an errand … it began to rain heavier ! Every chore made us colder and wetter.

We left the Tetsla River Regional Park campground around 11 AM and continued east on the Alaska Highway towards the small city of Fort Nelson. Before reaching Fort Nelson the truck’s windshield got smashed by a rock flipped up by an oncoming vehicle. BANG ! Like a gunshot sound ! The rock smashed into the bottom edge of the driver’s side of the windshield so hard that when the glass shattered, both outside layer and inside layer, the shattering inside layer sent tiny shards of glass flying onto the dash, and onto my left hand on the steering wheel and my left pants leg !

At the Fort Nelson Visitor Centre we dumped our black and grey waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank. Good thing ! The black waste tank was getting pretty full, and the freshwater tank was getting pretty empty ! We usually refill the freshwater every day, but were unable to refill yesterday. Which may have been a good thing also. That resulted in the freshwater tank being run down pretty low, getting rid of that sulphur smelling water from the Liard River Hot Springs underground well / hand pump.

After using the sani-dump station at the Visitor Centre we parked and had a late lunch in the camper. While Joanne was preparing lunch I phoned ICBC ( Insurance Corporation of British Columbia … the province’s auto insurer ) and our insurance agency in Keremeos to discuss the broken windshield. HMPH ! Guess I’ll be paying for the new windshield ! After lunch I used the Visitor Centre’s free Wi-Fi to check e-mail and post my weekly journal to my blog. Lots of pictures to post, so I was very glad that the Visitor Centre’s Wi-Fi was fast. I picked up some books to read at the Visitor Centre’s book exchange. We were finished at the Visitor Centre about 4 PM and headed out to run other errands in town.

At Husky Fuels I refilled the truck with ( finally … reasonably priced ) diesel and refilled an empty propane tank. At NAPA Auto Parts I bought some bulbs to replace a burnt out taillight bulb on the camper … and some spares. Joanne wanted to replenish groceries at a “civilized” / big city grocery store, so we bought quite a bit at Save-On-Foods, a BC supermarket chain.

We left Fort Nelson about 5:30 PM, continuing east and south on the Alaska Highway, with no particular destination planned for tonight. We stopped to have supper and boondock overnight around 7 PM, at a fishing access spot beside a bridge over Bougie Creek.

And the relentless heavy rain continued to fall !

Saw a couple more bears today as we drove.

Wednesday ; Bougie Creek to Charlie Lake Provincial Park

And the relentless heavy rain continues ! ! !

We left our overnight boondocking spot beside Bougie Creek this morning about 11:30 AM. < blink blink > Well ! That little creek certainly did turn into a raging river overnight, didn’t it ? ! ? Good thing we didn’t wake up this morning to find our truck in the river ! We spent the day driving in heavy rain, south on Alaska Highway 97 towards Fort St. John.

We stopped for the night around 7 PM at Charlie Lake Provincial Park, just a short distance north of the city of Fort St. John. Before stopping at this provincial park we went to check out a BC Forest Service remote wilderness campground ( too muddy ) and a regional park campground ( couldn’t find it ).

While selecting a campsite I spied a batch of “shelf mushrooms” on a tree. I thought they were Oyster Mushrooms or perhaps Chicken Mushrooms, but … we were unable to positively identify them using our mushroom book. The only “positive” identification we could make was … NOT edible Oyster Mushrooms.

Thursday ; Charlie Lake Provincial Park to Fort St. John to Hudson’s Hope

The day started out cold and raining, but slowly improved throughout the day, becoming mostly clear and mild by evening. Tonight when I took Ozzie out for his last daily walk at 11:15 PM it was beginning to get dark. Until a couple of days ago we were far enough north that it remained daylight until after midnight.

We refilled our freshwater tank and left Charlie Lake Provincial Park this morning around 11:30 AM and drove about 10 km. south on Alaska Hwy. 97 to the affluent ( oilfields and hydro-electricity generation ) small city of Fort St. John. We spent half the day running errands in town. First stop was the Visitor Centre where I used their free Wi-Fi to check e-mail. You know … some of these Visitor Information Centres operated by local Chambers of Commerce ( as opposed to the “official” Province of BC Visitor Information Centres ) completely “miss the boat” ! Like the Fort St. John Visitor Centre, located at the town’s spiffy new sports and aquatic centre. Off the main highway. Not visible from the highway. With difficult access to the parking lot and no parking for motorhomes and large RV trailers.

After the Visitor Centre we loaded the address for a local restaurant … incorrectly printed in the tourism guide … into our GPS and went off to buy lunch. Fort St. John is one of those cities where all roads are numbered, with avenues running north / south and streets running east / west, making it extremely important to specify avenue or street correctly ! ! ! So … our GPS took us to a residential house ! We phoned the restaurant, got their correct address, loaded that into the GPS and it took us directly there. ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE VISITOR CENTRE ! ! !

Ever since we left Ottawa fifteen years ago Joanne has been searching for her “holy grail” ; a donair as good as the ones we used to get in Ottawa. Today she found it ! Because … unlike the donair restaurants in Ottawa, with Lebanese owner / operators this donair restaurant in Fort St. John is owned / operated by a Moroccan. Moroccan donairs are subtly different than Lebanese donairs. They were excellent. After eating our lunch in the camper in the parking lot I wanted to go back into the restaurant and order two more donairs to put into the fridge for lunch tomorrow. Joanne nixed that idea.

After lunch we refilled with diesel fuel at Safeway’s fuel bar, then went into Safeway to replenish groceries. Last stop in town was Dollarama to replenish some supplies.

OH ! Almost forgot ! The Safeway check out lane had an impulse purchase display of the recently resurrected Cuban Lunch chocolate bars ! < blink blink > WHOA ! ! ! Haven’t seen a Cuban Lunch chocolate bar in about fifty years ! I bought four ! HMPH ! Not cheap !

We left Fort St. John about 3:30 PM, backtracked north on Alaska Hwy. 97 to where we began this morning, then turned west on Hwy. 29 towards Hudson’s Hope. At Hudson’s Hope we checked out their municipal campground, King Gething Campground, then went off to find and check out two other local campgrounds ; Alwin Holland Campground, and Dinosaur Lake Campground, both within a few miles of the town of Hudson’s Hope.

Dinosaur Lake was created when the Peace Canyon Dam was completed in 1980. I fished in Dinosaur Lake for an hour, catching nothing. Before leaving Dinosaur Lake we drove to a nearby viewpoint to view the Peace Canyon Dam. By then it was about 6 PM, still too early to settle into a campsite and have supper, so … we drove about 30 km. / 20 miles to see the massive W.A.C. Bennett dam. We viewed one side of the dam, drove across it, and viewed it from the other side. What an impressive structure, one of the world’s largest earth filled dams ( as opposed to concrete ).

Driving to and from the W.A.C. Bennett dam we saw another six deer ! We returned to the town of Hudson’s Hope and selected a campsite at King Gething Park. We had been here two years ago on our way to the Northwest Territories. Our motivation to return was … this was the first … and only … campground that Emma has really liked. She fell in love with this place. And from her behaviour tonight, it was obvious that her feeling hasn’t changed ! Maybe it’s because the campground is / campsites are lush, thick, green grass. As a Yuma resident cat for the first thirteen years of her fifteen year life, she hasn’t had much exposure to lush grass ! After walking Ozzie at 11:15 PM I took Emma out for a “midnight stroll” around the campground. She loved it ! HA HA HA !

Friday ; Hudson’s Hope to Cameron Lake

Sunny and mild. At last ! ! !

Our plan was to take a day off, and stay at King Gething Campground in Hudson’s Hope, but around noon I decided on impulse to head to Moberly Lake Provincial Park, about 40 km. / 25 miles away. We didn’t make it !

This morning we did chores. I changed the batteries in our walky-talky radios in the truck that we use when Joanne is guiding me to back up the truck and camper. We drove over to the campground’s sani-dump station, dumped our grey and black waste holding tanks, and refilled our freshwater tank. Back at our campsite I removed our small generator from its storage compartment and ran it for ten minutes, its monthly “exercise”. Then … as we were preparing to have lunch, I glanced through an area tourism guide, and decided I wanted to head to nearby Moberly Lake Provincial Park.

So … off we went, heading southwest on Hwy. 29. Before we got to Moberly Lake Provincial Park we decided to check out the small regional campground ( operated by Hudson’s Hope ) at Cameron Lake. It seemed so nice we decided to stay ! We selected a lakeside campsite that enabled me to fish from our campsite. We took Ozzie for a long lunchtime walk, then while Ozzie ate his lunch ( that takes about thirty seconds ! ) and Joanne prepared our lunch I got my fishing gear ready and began to fish.

We had a leisurely afternoon. I napped after lunch, then worked on downloading from my camera to my laptop and processing my photos of the last few days. By then Ozzie was ready for another meal … HA HA HA … so we took him for another long walk, then fed him his supper. It was around 6:30 PM by then. Time for me to light a campfire while Joanne prepared a meatloaf wrapped in foil and potatoes in foil for me to cook over the fire.

While cooking supper over the campfire I fished and worked on my laptop, writing this journal entry sitting at our campsite’s picnic table. HA HA HA … rugged outdoorsman multi-tasking !

Saturday ; Cameron Lake to Chetwynd to Kerry Lake BCFSRS

Mix of sun and clouds, warm temperature, a fairly nice day.

We left Cameron Lake Campground this morning around 11:30 AM and continued southwest on Hwy. 29 to the town of Chetwynd, checking out Moberly Lake Provincial Park on the way. We refilled our freshwater tank at Moberly Provincial Park Campground. When we arrived in Chetwynd the first thing we did was find their municipal sani-dump station and emptied our grey and black waste holding tanks.

Since 2005 Chetwynd has hosted an annual International Chainsaw Carving Competition, so it’s no surprise that there are many outstanding carvings throughout the town. We parked at the Visitor Centre and walked around the main part of town admiring some of the most recent and outstanding carvings. While Joanne prepared lunch in the camper I used the Visitor Centre’s free Wi-Fi to check e-mail. I exchanged some books at their book exchange. We had a late lunch in the camper in the parking lot of the Visitor Centre then drove to a few other locations in town to see some of the previous years’ winning entries. We also did some grocery shopping at the small grocery store in town before departing around 3:30 PM.

From Chetwynd we headed southwest on Hwy. 97. We stopped to check out a number of provincial parks, but none of them inspired us to stay. Finally, around 7 PM, we stopped for the night at Kerry Lake BC Forest Service Recreation Site remote wilderness campground.

WHEW … I’m tired. Too much driving ! Saw another dark coloured fox today. Wasn’t a Red Fox. Obviously wasn’t an Arctic Fox. Maybe that’s the summer colouring of a Silver Fox ?

DSK