Atlin the Epic Journey

We started our day with breakfast on the houseboat. Rob was in a hurry to get going so we cleaned up while he drove. When we got back to shore we split up vehicles, Mom, me and the kids into my van for a day of exploring while Dad and Rob went for a day of plumbing. 

We had a handy map because there is no cell service, and no internet there. Fortunately there are not a lot of roads. Up we went up warm spring road to warm spring beach. It is a good beach for throwing rocks. There are a lot of rocks there. We started collecting ones that have jade flecks in them to tumble in Roy's rock tumbler. So many rocks. 

We hadn't found the warm spring yet so after about an hour of rock throwing we moved on. The road is very twisty but not a lot of signs. We found The Grotto. By then it was time for lunch so we had our picnic and went for a tiny hike.

 The path ended at the stream edge so we didn't keep going, especially since right across the stream from us was a bear den. (Mom has pictures). Back to the van to keep exploring. 

After I passed an unlabelled road turnoff for a second time I wondered what it was so with a bit of maneuvering we went back and found the warm springs. The kids hopped in for a wade. 

They didn't want to do more because it was slimy. 

It is a different ecosystem there. The flowers are different along the stream than the rest of the area.

After the warm springs we went to the hiking trail we had seen. Monarch trail. 

At the beginning before we were all tired. 

Evander hung out in his backpack. 

About half way up. We had been going about 30 minutes so far. 

We reached the highest point and we're starting down. 

I also made it. 

After we got down we took the beach trail down. We had seen stretches of real beach when we were hiking and wanted to see them and we were hot. It was super windy down at the beach but no one was bothered by it. We really enjoyed the dollar store buckets we brought for digging and water moving. 

See the funny twisted trees. I kept looking at them while driving which made mom nervous so I took a picture when we were stopped. 

With digging accomplished we set off for our final destination, the water falls. 

We went back to the trailers and watched a movie while we waited for the guys and supper. We were able to share supper with the Smallwoods. They are  friends of the family Rob was doing plumbing for. Then we drove back to Snafu Lake to have a place to sleep somewhere in the middle. Mom and I were done with Atlin, they are gearing up for a big music festival and there was a lot of people showing up and we needed groceries. Tomorrow is shopping day. 

 

Sunday at Watson Lake

Sunday morning came bright and pleasant. Texas toast with grape jelly was in order while we packed up and dressed in our nicest camping clothes. Saying goodbye to the campground we headed back into town for church. 

We went to the Watson Lake Community Church and got to double the congregation ( I might be exaggerating a bit). It was pot luck week. Niles says we have the ability to sniff them out, so we stayed for lunch and contributed our ham. It was nice to have dessert. 

Dad, of course, met someone that he knew and Rob made friends. Somewhere in between Evander eating all the cheezies and Niles' third piece of cake, Rob and Dad changed our plans, what few plans we did have. We were going to go to Whitehorse and then to Skagway but there is this house in Atlin, it belongs to a woman with six children whose husband just died and the church has been trying to finish he house for her but they can't get a plumber. You can see where this is going. We have a plumber and our only plan is to get to Skagway. Atlin is closer to Skagway than Whitehorse and it has things to do.  So off to Atlin we go. 

On our way we passed kilometre 1000. We actually didn't see 1000. Rob jumped at 1002, because I had wanted to stop at 1000 but none of us saw the sign. We will look on our way back. 

Here is kilometre 1004 instead. 

We stopped at the continental divide,

And at Teslin, 

More pictures from Teslin, 

Pretty. 

Mom and Dad were also at Teslin. We also got frozen beverages there and stopped at a museum before moving on. It is a pretty spot. I saw I Black Bear cub but Rob was too slow to take a picture. 

We stopped for the night at Snafu Lake. Super soft sand and still in the Yukon. Why is that important you ask? Well the territorial government sites are only $12 and they are in nice places. 

Nice place. Evander got so dirty and the other kids liked playing in the water. The phrase is, "it's not as cold as Heritage".  We are hoping the forest fires clear up over in Saskatchewan so we can go to Heritage. I was shocked to hear that they had evacuated La Ronge. No smoke today but we had a campfire for you. 

Hot springs

Rob started the day with fixing the hitch so it was getting late in the morning when we were finished packing up. When we had gotten to the site the night before we had been told that if we wanted to stay a little later to use the hot springs that would be alright so we took advantage of the situation and went for it.  

Dad walking the very long board walk. That is just the first section. 

Hot springs. Patience is the short one in pink. 

Evander really liked the hot springs. 

After the hot springs and a quick stop at the play ground we headed back to the vans and started to Watson. Today was the day we would cross into the Yukon. 

Because it has been a long trip and we didn't have too far to get we stopped at points of interest. This one I think was called Whirlpool something. 

There was a big pile of logs on the side that had been hurled up when the water was higher. It was a great place for skipping stones because the way the rocks had broken off left many very flat pieces. Xavier got one to skip about 20 times. It went so far. We spent a fair amount of time there because it was enjoyable to walk across the rocks and throw things. 

Look at the technique. 

My arms just aren't long enough. Maybe I need a stupid stick. 

Watson Lake is home to the sign forest. It also has a very nice information centre and is home to a northern lights centre. 

We lost Rob for a moment in the sign forest but we did manage to meet up again.

 There are over 76000 signs in the sign forest. 

I still have a short arm problem. 

And someone brought a piece of home for us. (Not from us). 

We found the Watson Lake campsite just out of town and got set up. I was excited because there were lots of sites and they were only $12 a night. Rob was very excited because it was real camping, in trees, with fire. Yes, no fire ban. We made real camping food, potato packets and roasted smokies, popped popcorn and played at the nearby playground. I sent Patience to bed at 9:30. She wasn't tired and really it wasn't dark at all so I could understand but we were planning on going to church in the morning so she still had to go. 

Mom got a nice picture of the birds that came to eat the blueberries that fell. 

Niles Fell Down A Mountain

I started the day with laundry at 7. Might as well take advantage of the situation. Honestly the part of the camp ground was the laundry and the kids liked the play ground. Evander really liked the play ground. He was waiting by the gate in the morning for it to open. And there was toast because we could plug in the toaster. 

It was smokey in the morning. You can hardly see the mountains in the distance.

We had planned on a long day. We left early and went to Fort Nelson. Again the kids were super travellers. Not that excited about Fort Nelson we stopped at Subway for lunch, and decided that the kids were being so good that we would keep going to Liard and have time to go to the hot springs before bed. 

We were making good time and the view was nice. Xavier took about 200 of the same picture for me.

Here is one version. 

Here is another. 

We had just passed a sign saying that Liard was 200 or so kilometres away ( I can't remember), going downhill in a no passing zone when we went over a bump, then a big BUMP and a BANG, SCRAPE! Rob pulled over very fast. The trailer had come off the hitch. Mom said it looked scary but really the chains worked and it was all so fast that I didn't worry. 

There was the trailer, on the ground, no ball on the hitch and we are in the middle of nowhere. I started walking down the way we had just come to find parts because we weren't going anywhere without a hitch. I managed to find the front of the battery cover and a bolt. A particularly useless bolt, as it was stripped and flattened but our bolt.

 In that time mom had gotten the other kids out of the vans and away from the vehicles. They had found wild strawberries. Delicious. "Staberry, mmm," says Evander. 

A highway worker, Gordon Grove, stopped to help. He had a very useful jack and everything was going swimmingly. Rob had a ball and they were getting things put back together.  Suddenly Patience started crying because Evander had dropped a big rock on her foot and Evander was crying because Patience was crying so I went there to calm everyone. (Her foot is fine). Niles was helping look for strawberries because Evander needed staberries. I looked down for a second for a strawberry and then I saw Niles slipping down the side of the slope.  I was holding 

"Niles! Niles! GRAB A TREE! A TREE!"   

I heard jumping a running and Rob was at the slope side and Gordon had jumped down the slope to Niles. Dad had a piece of tie down and was sending it down the side. Niles got up the side again and so did his sandals no worse for wear. He is a bit more cautious about edges now. Rob didn't like that situation at all and refuses to wear his sandals at all now because when"Niles fell down the  side I was wearing these shoes and I couldn't move fast enough,". 

We hooked everything up again and got ready to go. Rob still needed a part but was sure it would hold until we got somewhere. 

Somewhere was Toad River. Not that things fell apart but we stopped to check and get gas because it was there.  I also got ice cream because ice cream makes things better. It was terrible ice cream but it was the only ice cream around.  There were also many hats and photo ops. 

From there we kept going on to Liard. We saw some animals,

(Rob yells, "Camera! Camera!") 

But we finally made it to Liard.  Being on vacation we had forgotten that it was Friday and had not planned ahead for camping so the provincial parks all had campsite full signs. There was a private RV park and lodge so we stopped in there to see if they had spots.Sometimes just having a spot is worth much money. 

We took their spots and made supper around 8:30. Evander got tired with Dad and Rob after supper so they decided to clean up and put the small to bed. The rest of us wanted to go swimming at the hot springs so off we went. 

The park is really nice. It has a play ground before the hot springs so the kids had a quick play before we went in. It is about a kilometre walk into the hot springs on the boardwalk. After swimming a bit we went back to bed. It might have been 11:30. Patience can't even tell.  

  

On to the Alaska Highway

Our plan for the day was to make it to Fort St. John. So we packed up, let the kids play at the playground one more time and headed out. On the way we passed through Chetwyn. Apparently it has a chainsaw carving contest every year. All the statues looked really nice but we weren't going to stop... We weren't until a train stopped on the tracks in front of us so we decided gas and a look around were in order. 

Xavier didn't want to walk with us. 

I don't know why. We are so cool. 

Then we drove to Dawson Creek. Yes, that Dawson Creek. The one the starts the Alaska Highway. :) 

They are ready for lunch. Enough with the pictures. 

We had lunch at Dairy Queen. They have lunch and ice cream, and as you know ice cream makes things better. Everyone felt better after and there were no dishes to do so that made me happy. I'm going to really like having a sink that is attached to hot water near to where I am. Ah camping, it makes you appreciate your home. 

Time for a quick run through the art gallery, and bathrooms and then onward. 

Nice use of an elevator. The art spirals up the side with a walkway and the stairs down show pictures and a story about the building of the Alaska Highway. 

We passed through Taylor on our way to Fort St. John but not only was there a horrible bridge that has as a road open steel grating, Rob laughed at the face I made while crossing it, but there was road construction all the way through town so we didn't stop for pictures and just kept going. 

Then after a quick stop at Dollarama for binder clips for the windows we found a campsite. Having decided that we were going to have power and water we found a private campground. We stayed at the

Fort St. John Rotary RV park. It had power, it had water, there was a playground, it was a giant parking lot but power and water. We decided that $1 for three minutes of water was too steep for showers but laundry was worth the price.  Although I only managed to do one load before it closed for the night. We made spaghetti for supper, again sinks are so useful and re packed the coolers to see what needed to be done. Then I did some trailer cleaning before going to bed. I know what a life. 

Tomorrow is a long day. We are going to push to Laird Hot Springs I think. Something like 650km.