The last leg before U.S. border–Last post!

We stopped at the top of Rogers Pass before going down into Golden, B.C. and just had to include a photo of Mount Revelstoke, a beautiful, beautiful mountain outside of its namesake town.

This trailer shot is no “Flat Stanley”.  We were really there.

I had seen photos of the country and mountains around Golden and could hardly wait to see them.  However, it was so smoky from fires all over the country, we could hardly see them.  Disappointedly, I took some photos but I’m sure they are so much more than what the camera could capture.

Leaving Golden the next morning, we traveled in an absolutely gorgeous valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia River from Golden to Fort Steele, B.C.

We spent our last night north of the U.S. border at Fort Steele, B.C. in a beautiful campground.  We opened our special bottle of homemade wine given to me by a good friend/winemaker and toasted our wonderful adventure.  The geranium, “Gertie” made the trip all the way with us.  I scattered Mom’s ashes in Cook Inlet, Alaska.  She said anywhere beautiful, she loved the ocean and loved mountains.  It was all there in one beautiful package. 

I hope everyone enjoyed coming along with us on this great adventure.  Cross one off the “Bucket List”.  From here, we travel into Montana, Idaho, back into Nevada and then Connie home to California.

p.s. We shouldn’t have any problems getting home.  We had two flat tires on the 5th-wheel 20 minutes apart leaving Missoula and then discovered a problem with axle supports and had to camp in the Stevensville, Mont. Les Schwab parking lot, have a welder come the next morning to fix that and then, because we were totally out of spare tires, had to buy 4 new trailer tires.  Glad we are heading home.

 

 

 

Gettin’ closer to home

When we arrived in Prince George, B.C. I knew I better do something about the ailing slides.  We have been babying them for a while.  I managed to whine enough to get an RV repair shop to look and found out the hydraulic pump was thinking about retiring.  They put a temporary switch in to regulate the amount of power going to the pump until I can replace it, gladly took my $331.00 and wished us well on our trip.  Following directions to the repair shop, I made a wrong turn (just didn’t know it at the time) and drove about 1/2 mile and came face to face with a locked gate.  No place to turn that rig around so we had to back up, curve and all, all the way back to where we started.

In Chetwynd, B.C. we found some chainsaw carvings that knocked our socks off.  Really.  Take a look.  The town has an annual contest with contestants from all over the world.  They are given a “ginormous” chunk of wood and given 2-3 days to create their carvings.  Amazing stuff!

Found a farmer’s market in the next town.

Then we stopped at a place called 3 Valley Gap where they brought old buildings in from different places in the area to make a town.  It was really neat.  Boy, did our feet hurt when we got through!

Now we are off to Golden, B.C. at the edge of the Canadian Rockies.

Moving’ on down the road

Leaving Liard Hot Springs the next morning, we encountered our first Wood Bison in the wild.  A cow, up high on an embankment, so of course we stopped.  She took offensive to us looking at her and both Connie and I had ignored the information so freely offered, and got out of the truck to take a close-up.  Connie stepped out of the truck on the passengers side and I went between the truck and trailer.  As soon as the cow saw us out of the truck, she started charging down the steep bank.  I ran back to the driver’s door, yelling at Connie, “get in the truck, get in the truck”, hoping the cow wouldn’t charge the truck.  As soon as we ducked in, she veered off and went loping down the side of the road.

A fish and game man drove toward her from the opposite direction and chased her with his truck back up on the hill where she belonged.  At first we thought it was some jerk but then he stopped and told us that they try to keep them in the general area because they do go south to the farmland and because the Wood bison have a nasty disposition and have been known to gore local horses.  Down the road we found a bull but he didn’t have the time of day for us.  He was having breakfast and none of us.

Had we known what a beautiful site awaited us down the road, we wood have driven a little faster.  It’s name is Muncho Lake and the color is amazing and when we drove up on it, there wasn’t a ripple one on the surface.

Connie and I were so taken with the reflections of the mountains on the lake surface.

Down the road from the lake, we saw a few caribou.

Tune in later for next post as we travel to Dawson Creek and back to Prince George to complete yet, another full circle on our way home.

 

 

From Haines Junction to Liard Hot Springs, B.C.

 

We stopped in Haines Junction and realized it had poured there earlier.  Now, just mud.  The RV park had an amazing view of mountains (I know; mountains, mountains, mountains) after the clouds left and persistence paid off, especially with the telephoto lens.

notice the glacier on 1st photo.

On to re-visit Whitehorse where we saw some places that we didn’t have time to see when we went through with the tour caravan, like a wonderful museum and Miles Canyon.

I have never heard of an albino moose.  This cow was mounted along with numerous other animals.

Also at the museum, was Sam McGee’s actual cabin which was taken apart at its original location and re-assembled just outside of the museum.  We have learned a lot about Sam McGee on this adventure.

A re-constructed miner’s tent was so cool but so unbelievable as how they lived in it in the winter.  Burrs

A painting showed and explained how the town of Whitehorse got it’s name.  When the Yukon river was angry and formed white caps, they resembled white manes of white horses.

A long ago Royal Canadian Mountie cabin to show how they lived out in the field.

We scouted out Miles Canyon on the Yukon and the pedestrian swinging bridge.  This is a very narrow section of the river which is bordered by rock walls.  The local young jump off of the rock walls into the swift-running water so far below.  Connie and I both commented about the fact that there were no fences to keep people from falling over the edge.  Wouldn’t see that in the states, eh?

Notice the color of the water – it was just gorgeous!  Notice the fear on Connie’s face on the “swinging” bridge.  I guess I “might” have walked a little too heavy.  My bad.

Back into British Columbia from the Yukon Territory.  A few steps closer to home.

More than one person told us not to miss Liard Hot Springs, so we didn’t.  A long, long walk on a boardwalk to the pools from the parking lot but once there, our aching bones thanked us.  It was really hot; hotter than a hot tub so we didn’t go to the mouth of the springs once we got in the pool.  Farther down, it had a chance to cool down a little.  Sure felt good.

We camped at the Provincial Park at Liard which meant we boon docked and got to have our first campfire, even if it was in the rain.  We were determined.l

Connie’s lesson for this post is:  Remember to turn off the cell phone alarm when we don’t have to get up and get going early or Jane may throw the damn thing out the door since she doesn’t know how to turn it off.  Damn smart phones are smarter than they should be.