Not too far out of town we started to climb in elevation. Nothing but angry gray skies and low cloud cover. Before we knew it, we were in the soup - mountain soup that is. Climbing up over 1/2 mile we hit fog. Fog so thick you could cut it with a knife. Ed and I were only about 30 feet apart and that's all I saw. Everything else was cloaked in a mountain mist. Thankfully, it was early Saturday morning and there wasn't much traffic either way.
By now, the temp dropped to 40F. In addition to the fog, we were passing through winding roads with rock cliff walls lining the way. All along the route were warning signs of falling rocks. And they mean it. There wasn't nary a turn we went around where there wasn't some debris on the road. BC even has road rangers that ride the highway clearing the road of the rock debris. Some of the stones were quite large looked like they weighed 50-100 lbs. Most were smaller and not a problem navigating around.
We finally came upon some of the mountains we saw far in the distance from Fort Nelson that resembled the Great Pyramids of Giza rising up out of the landscape. They looked even better up close.
After riding through the rain and cold for about 2 hours, we came across a roadside stop called Toad River. Campground, gas, restaurant, gift shop. Place was pretty unique as it had hundreds, if not a thousand or more baseball style hats from all kinds of businesses form all over the world stapled to the ceiling and walls. I've never seen anything like it before. Truly a sight to see.
Too bad my bike can't claim the same!
After warming up, we headed out. On the way just passed Toad River, as I was coming around a turn, the engine noise of Big Red warned and startled 2 Rams - you know, like the kind used for those Dodge Truck commercials. The were just about off the road and into the woods by the time I came upon them.
Signs for Moose, Wood Buffalo, Bison, and Bear lined the highway. Not too far along and we came across 2 separate herds of Buffalo and some lone Bison. I even got to see a Moose standing at a pond on the side of the road. A black bear crossed the road right in front of Ed.
At one point we passed a mountain with what looked like bare tree poles sticking up like toothpicks. No other vegetation at all. Looked weird.
We certainly saw our share of BC wildlife today as well as spectacular scenery. Snow covered mountains, pristine aquamarine colored rivers, streams and lakes. Nice winding roads. Only thing that could have enhanced it was if the sun was shining. Not too much longer and we got our wish. The temp eventually climbed to 65F. Felt good, but didn't last long. We got to Watson Lake and saw the Famous Sign Park. Thousands of "borrowed" signs from many municipalities around the world. Some as far as Bejing and Australia. Amazing. Had lunch and 2 1/2 hours from our destination for the night - Teslin in the Yukon Territory. On the way, the Alaska highway weaves itself through the BC and YT borders several times, so for a while, we were gaining and losing time several times within 100 miles. One thing we didn't know about the Yukon, is that we crossed another time zone. Now on Pacific Time.
We also passed an official marker on the road before we got to Teslin that had no signs describing what it was, but it had to be the marker designation the point of the Continental Divide.
When we got to the hotel, we met 2 other riders from Miami, Florida. Retired Firemen. They had already been to Fairbanks and were headed home.
Another Time Zone, another Canadian Provence, another few mountain ranges, 495 miles today. Getting closer to the Alaska border, maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday. Passing through Whitehorse, YT tomorrow. Last big outpost before Alaska.
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