The Very, Very Long and Winding Road

Day 9, August 23

Woke up after a nice evening at Pyramid Lodge and saw that the smoke had finally cleared and blue skies and beautiful views of Pyramid Mountain greeted us. Decided we had to knock off another body of water so jumped on our boards as the sun crested the mountain. #98 Pyramid Lake! Time to pack up the boards for the long drive ahead.

Treated ourselves to the lodge’s breakfast before heading out to tackle the Yellowhead Highway thru Smithers which connects to the Cassiar Hwy and finally the AL CAN Hwy at the Yukon Border. The roads and campsites through out British Columbia are nicely maintained and CLEAN. Maybe it’s the strategically placed rest stops with trash cans that are also emptied on a regular basis that keeps these highways free of trash. A bit of a long travel day to get from Jasper to just outside of Smithers (for those of you who know the Nordic ski instructor, Ingrid, this is her home town). The campground was also well maintained but did have a rather bothersome guest hang out at our campsite.

It wasn’t a big issue as he seemed mostly interested in the huckleberries but it did make going to the bathroom rather challenging! Ron got up the next morning and the bear actually did a mock charge. I fear he might need some prunes this week! I wish I could have taken the photo of Ron filling the van with water as I did patrol around the van with bear spray in the event our friend wanted to hurry us along!

Day 10, August 24

Another big day of travel, taking us north on the Cassair Highway. It’s a very long and at times very narrow, winding road – it also seems to be a very popular site for huge RV’s towing jeeps….so can get rather slow and boring following behind an RV only going 45 mph. Not a lot of great views either as it was our first really rainy travel day. Stopped in Bell 2 to gas up as we were advised to always fill up when you have the chance and thank goodness we have been following that advice. As we progressed along the highway we were thinking of camping somewhere around Dease Lake but discovered it to be a bit sketchy around the area so kept moving thinking there was gas as the road sign indicated another 150 km farther….CLOSED read the sign….made me a bit anxious, especially when Ron was trying to assure me all was fine BUT not letting me see the gas gauge! We made it to our final stop for the night at a beautiful BC campground called Tā Ch’ilā which translates to “holes in blanket” named by the Kafka Dena Elders because the local landscape is riddled with small lakes and glacial kettles (had to ask our Geology expert, son Cam, for the definition of that term). I am impressed how each of our campsites have been clean, raked and very level – and even the bathrooms have been well maintained.

We’ve been enjoying audio books that take place around Alaska. Our friend Suzanne recommended the book the Golden Spruce by John Vaillant. It could not have been a more perfect book for our journey as the author manages to weave stories of the First Nation tribes in this area, the impact of traders coming for the sea otter skins and then moving on to start logging Canada for it’s very tall, straight trees needed for mast poles on sailing ships. Intertwined is the mysterious disappearance of one man who spent many years in this area. It was easy to immerse yourself in the story as we drove right through clear cuts and rivers that were all just mentioned in our story!

Day 11, August 25

Up and behind the wheel by 7:30 (just and FYI, many of our fellow travelers have moved out earlier than us!). Today we head to the end of the Cassair Hwy and finally cross into the Yukon and start our journey along the Alaskan Highway… but not before a stop at the Sign Post Forest in Lake Watson. We remembered to bring two of our license plates (but not nails) to be able to stop and leave behind our plates. Traveler’s tip – the visitor center has nails!

Not going to lie, I did get a bit emotional placing the PAWC license plates on the sign post…but nice to have the first van’s plate with 100 H20 there as we now work towards 200 bodies of water we’ve paddled!

Camping in the Yukon is a bit different than British Columbia. Campsites are still very nice but a more rustic. Trying to figure out the payment calculation is also a challenge. Decided to just over pay in US dollars as we are upset with the news about the current tariff war as we drive through this beautiful friendly country.

Let’s all listen to our favorite Dolly song, “Jolene” as we say goodbye to this American Icon.