Day 9: Jasper, Alberta to Kitwanga, British Columbia - Saturday, 5/18/24

 Photo of the day:

Our first bear picture of the trip.  He was just grazing on the side of the road!

We headed out at 7:30 Saturday morning towards Prince George, British Columbia, along the Yellowhead Highway, and the sun and blue skies made an appearance!

On the way, we passed Mount Robson. The visitor center was closed so we snapped a quick picture and continued on. For trivia buffs, Mt. Robson is the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies and is 12,972ft (3,954m) tall.  Unfortunately, the peak was covered by the clouds.

Dave saw a moose in a river so we back-tracked, using an ill-advised 5-point turn on a two lane highway, and found there were actually 2 moose (meese?), but we could not stop for picture. Shortly after, Lynda saw a bear so we back-tracked again (this time at a turn off) and were able to get a picture of this guy.

Before getting to Prince George we saw 2 more bears. But since that’s old news now, we didn’t stop for a picture...or really because it’s hard to stop on a two-lane highway with some traffic. (On a related note, Lynda will not be leaving the vehicle for the remainder of the trip.)

Alena said the sightings do not count unless there is a picture, so Lynda sketched out what we saw:

illustrated by Lynda Sidwell (No copies without the expressed written consent of the artist).

Once in Prince George, we stopped for yet another gas tank fill up. We’re averaging anywhere from 8 to 11 miles per gallon, depending on the day and the wind.  Mileage is better in Canada with a 62 mph speed limit and us being afraid of getting a speeding ticket.  

We stopped at a McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat and to steal their Wi-Fi to post our update from yesterday. Can you believe you can’t get free soda refills at McDonald’s in Canada- only coffee?!

When we started the second half of our trip for the day from Prince George, we found that the wind had completely shifted directions and we were getting blown all over the highway, so Dave stayed in the driver's seat.

 

(Every 20 to 30 km, they have a passing lane and we found that drivers here are much better at passing and getting back into the right lane than in the US.)

We saw several signs advertising the world class chicken races in Fort St. James. Unfortunately, this was 60 km out of our way, and we already missed the daily 11:30 am race, so those who are interested will just have to check it out on YouTube sometime.  

We have seen this billboard several times along the route.  Anyone interested in joining Dave to start a 3 (or 4) Burley Men Company to compete?  Could be a brewery?

Logging and saw mills are a big industry up here. We passed several operations like this along the way with rows and rows of log piles.  It is hard to imagine there are any trees left!

Another one for the trivia buffs… Endako Mines in Fraser Lake had been the largest molybdenum mine in North America until 2015, and molybdenum is element number 42.  (I got conflicting info on the internet, and today Colorado holds the N.A. record.)

Fraser Lake

As we drove through Burns Lake (population 2117) we saw this guy busking to no one. 

We passed several huge pretty lakes on the Yellowhead Highway.  These looked more like lakes we have by us … not the crazy aqua green-blue color.  We do not have pictures of these since Dave had the pedal to the metal to get us to our 500 mile daily goal for the next few days.

This is actually the view of a smaller lake next to a rest stop in Topley, British Columbia - population 80! (It is also the site of Dave's nap after he had already driven 405 miles/652 km.)

We couldn't not stop in Houston for three reasons - not necessarily in order:

1. it is nothing like the Houston we know
2. it was time to stretch our legs for a bit
3. they boast the largest fly fishing rod in the world!

This fishing rod is 60 feet tall and weighs 800 lbs!

We took another short walk to stretch our legs to see the Bulkley River - so pretty.  

Here is the sign as we turned from the Yellowhead Highway onto the Cassiar Highway in Kitwanga:

And, after a long day, we arrived at our campground for the night at Kitwanga RV Park.  In the distance we have a view of some pretty mountains.  This is the most populated/congested camp we have stayed at so far but it is a nice area. There are 40 campsites, and we are 1 of 6 Great Alaskan Holidays "Minnie Winnies".  The neighbors to our left (not pictured) are doing the same trip as us and are from Wisconsin. 

Here is our dinner for the evening - pizza on the grill!  Lest you think all our meals are perfectly prepared, these pizzas ended with the bottom of the crusts heavily charred.  Dave scooped off the sauce and cheese and put it in a tortilla.  It was pretty good.

Tomorrow we cover the Cassiar Highway.  Supposedly no cell coverage and lots of opportunities to see wildlife.  We are looking forward to it!

Total Distance Traveled: 535 miles/861 km

Previous: Day 8: Banff to Jasper, via the Icefield Parkway

Next: Day 10: Kitwanga, British Columbia to Watson Lake, Yukon