Stone Mountain Park

 Another long day of driving along what is possibly the most boring stretch of the Alaska Highway and possibly of all of BC.

But first we stopped at a viewpoint over the Peace River now flooded by the Site C dam. We talked to a local couple on motorcycles who said that they had cycled the bridge below before it was flooded and it was way above the river below. They were surprised when the reservoir had filled in just 6 months covering islands that locals used to boat out to for picnics. 

We remembered we had driven this way in 2029 and it was all under construction with giant earth movers clearing the land to be flooded. For now there is no access to the waterfront until the banks are stabilized.

So we drove on, stopping for gas - 1.77 at Charlie Lake, 1.99 at Pink Mountain, and 2.05 in Fort Nelson. But mostly it was just straight highways, slightly rolling terrain, boring pine and black spruce and work camps for the gas industry. Occasionally the road would dip down to cross a river (ooh, topography!).

No wildlife to be seen even though the highway verges were lush with green grass perfect bear habitat. Finally after Fort Nelson we spotted a bear, then another one, then 3 bears. 

Then we started driving up in elevation as we returned to the northern Rockies that we'd crossed at Pine Pass, finally reaching our destination for the night at Summit Lake in Stone Mountain Provincial Park.

It was busy!  It pretty much filled up by bedtime.  I'd say by nighttime but it doesn't really get dark.

We neglected to get a photo vut Summit Lake campground has the best outhouses ever.  They are composting toilets built high off the ground so you ascend a big staircase.  They are built of all wood, they are spacious and they don't smell. Quite palacious.

We all walked down to the lake and Leah spotted a caribou swimming across to the highway where it then browsed on the green verge.

North to the Alaska Highway

 

We left home on June 13 to drive up to the Yukon and take the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyuktak, NWT.

But first we had a lot of driving to do. Generally we try to avoid driving more than 3 or 4 hours (Google Maps time, it takes a lot longer in real time) but we have a lot of ground to cover so the first 2 days were big driving days. Cr

Leo had done a bunch of prep prior to leaving including sealing the truck canopy from dust and getting a hitch welded to the trailer to hold our ebikes.

Tall bluebells, Moberly Lake

Alas it became apparent soon after we left home that the bikes were too heavy for our trailer, affecting its stability so we turned back 20 minutes out of town and dropped them off at home.

After that delay we drove north to Prince George and on up through the Pine Pass.  

Our travelling companions, Mark and Leah, saw four black bears on the drive, we only spotted one.

We arrived at Moberly Lake around 6 pm. It was Saturday so the park was busy with families enjoying the warm, sunny weather.

Bird of the day was the black-throated green warbler, heard but not seen, but it still rates because we were now east of the Rocky Mountains and we don't see them in most of British Columbia.