When I last left off, we were in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We then began a journey through British Columbia which is remote and truly beautiful. We didn’t have cell service or wi-fi most of the the time. On our journey we saw bear, moose, caribou, woodland bison, and a lone goat by the side of the road! One of our fellow travelers ahead of us reported “goat on the right” but since the transmission was garbled we heard “goat on a bike”! By the time we got there the goat had apparently gotten off the bike and was just standing by the road.
Our accommodations were a bit rural but absolutely stunning! Our first stop was Sikanni River, and the views were amazing! We were camped quite close together, but a short walk down to the river and it made up for the parking. We did have to watch out for bears as a mamma bear and 2 cubs had been spotted that day, we did not see them. We were just there one night, and moved on to Toad River, which was again remote but beautiful. We saw a moose grazing in the shallow riverbank and although my photo did not do it justice, she was magnificent. I’m beginning to think I should have invested in a nicer camera (and lessons to go with it!). But I also included a picture a friend took!
The British Columbia wildfires are pretty much behind us now, as we headed into the Yukon Territory. While on our way to Watson Lake some of us stopped at the Liard River Hot springs. The water from the source is about 126 degrees, but the further downstream you go the cooler it gets. The ladies in the group chose to stay around 99 or so, the men hung out slightly higher. It is set in a lush forest and there are electric fences to keep the bears IN and away from the surrounding campground. It felt a little like taking a bath at Jurassic Park! We had a great time and rejoined our caravan on the road to Watson Lake.
We stopped in Watson Lake for 2 nights and visited the Signpost Forest on the first day. The story is that during the building of the Alaska Highway a serviceman was homesick while assigned light duty recovering from an injury. He erected a sign for his hometown: Danville, Ill. 2835 miles. Visitors have added their own signs and now there are over 80,000! Additional signposts are added as needed. As I mentioned in a previous post Kristin designed labels for us and our friends the Martinizes so we could post our own. Our travel group posted a sign that we all signed and some of us in the group brought our own signs. We posted ours in a location we could hopefully find again if we ever return to Watson Lake!
While in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory we also learned some valuable lessons:
1) Liquor stores are government run and at least in the Yukon Territory are closed on Sunday and Monday. We ran out of alcohol in our trailer on Saturday and had to wait until Tuesday to go to the store! We won’t let that happen again! There is apparently no limit on the amount of alcohol we can bring back into the United States, which we will be crossing into on July 3, however we are limited what we can bring back into Canada and we will cross back into Yukon Territory on July 6, albeit for one day! Oh! Fun fact all the alcohol we usually purchase at home is “imported” here a lot more expensive. We found the whisky that Canadians drink, (40 Creek) and gave it a go, it was delicious!
2) Food is very expensive in the Yukon Territory; we will be eating what we have in the freezer for a few days.
3) Fuel prices vary dramatically. We have seen (and paid) between $1.68 to $2.08 per liter. In American, that is $4.89 to $7.91 per gallon! However, after calculating the conversion rate, we paid between $3.78 and $6.00 per gallon. Again, traveling in Canada is challenging my math skills, especially if we don’t have wi-fi! But not to worry, I built a spreadsheet with the conversion rates saved and one of our fellow caravan members put a cheat sheet together for mileage conversion etc. Since they are very fancy, the printed one out for all of us.
Oh! also, when traveling in British Columbia and the Yukon sometimes Woodland Bison just hang out next to the road. We had to stop as one of them decided to just stand in the middle of the road for a while!
While in Watson Lake we also went to the Northern Lights Centre, which was just across the highway. And when something is across the highway you can walk as the traffic is not what we think of. There are crosswalks, but no traffic signals, just go you’ll be fine! We learned about the Northern Lights and what causes them. The bad news is we won’t be able to see them as it almost NEVER gets dark here! Sunset tonight is 11:04 p.m. and sunrise tomorrow is 4:13 a.m.
Tom and Patti's RV Adventure 
Enjoyed your post! All of it!
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