A Beary Nice Day....

Day 4:

This day could be nicknamed, "A day of ridiculous weather."  Or, you could call it, "Crazy and outstanding animal sightings"  Another possible title might be, "What on earth was I thinking, taking the Cassiar Highway?"  Regardless of its name, the day was long with lots of driving and stunning scenery!!

I set my alarm for six o'clock so we could be on the road early.  I woke up at 5:15 and turned off all my alarms, quickly doing all the morning chores, folding the port-a-crib, closing the slide, unplugging and so on, pulling out of the park shortly before six o'clock, the time I had originally meant to wake up.  Stopping at Petro-Canada for 70L of gas, we were on our way, Jenny joining me in the cockpit with an overpriced cup of coffee.

The Snethen motor-home pulls over in the side of the Cassiar Highway.

We started out in Watson Lake, where we back-tracked several miles on the Alaska Highway, turning Southbound on Highway 37, known commonly as the Cassiar Highway.  Being so early in the morning, everything was dark.   As the light began to increase, we passed the remains of a major forest fire which had lain waste to a huge region of forest.   Before too long, the darkness subsided and our visibility was not a major obstacle for the rest of the day.  "My eyes are getting better.  Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur." (RoTJ, 1985)

Daniel plays with rocks at the Jade store in Jade City.

We stopped only twice for longer than half an hour.  The first was at Jade City, where we learned that 90% of the world's jade supply comes from the region.  It was very interesting to visit and we learned a lot about geology.  Our second major stop was when we had to wait for the pilot car at the section they were ushering us through the road hazard area.  I arrived shortly after three and they were sending cars through southbound only on the even hours.  The kids and I got out while we waited to throw the balls around.  We also stopped for less than half an hour at Dease Lake where we purchased 70L of gas (yes, the third time in a row we purchased 70 liters of gas), Iskut and the Bell 2 Lodge (which evidently was extremely snooty and expensive.)

The Snethen motor-home lines up in the staging area, getting ready to be piloted through the washed out section of the Cassiar Highway.

The weather was the major hazard for the day.  We knew that parts of the road had been washed out due to heavy flooding, but that was much farther down the road and they had pilot cars leading people through on even hours.  We also passed several over-flooded lakes and rivers.  At various times, the weather changed from rain to snow (at one point it was raining and snowing at the same time!!) to high winds and even some stints of fog.

Besides the weather, the road proved itself a worthy opponent.  If you've never been on Highway 37 in Northern British Columbia, let me just testify that it is not for the faint of heart.  In the northern half of the road, no lines had been painted.  And trust me they were not needed because I made it my goal to stay as close to the center as possible.  First of all, it was much bumpier than the Alcan, except perhaps the portion driving past Destruction Bay in the Yukon.  Some sections of the road have sheer drops of five meters or more without guardrails, and although the Milepost says the paving has been completed, a kilometer remained in gravel which just happened to coincide with two switchbacks and a metal-grated bridge.

A mama bear watches after her three cubs in the forest of Northern British Columbia.

After five years living in Alaska, I have seen exactly one bear and (two months ago outside the barracks building on post at Fort Richardson when I just happened to be walking out the door.)  For the past three days on the Alaska Highway, we have seen exactly zero wildlife, a disappointing statistic to say the least.  However, today on the Cassiar, we witnessed one moose and a bear and another bear and another.  We just kept counting.  Bears thirteen through sixteen was a mom and three cubs.  Bear nineteen looked like it was an albino.  Daringly jumping out with my camera, I started taking pictures.  A local man (who was also getting pictures) explained it is a Kermodei Bear, essentially a rare breed of black bear native only to this region of British Columbia that is simply a different color.  All total, we counted twenty bears on the Cassiar (although Ben says maybe a couple more that were not confirmed) most after the piloted area.

The Kermodei Bear, or "Spirit Bear," is said to bring good luck.

After passing through three washed out rivers, they ushered us to Bell 2 Lodge.  The prices were very expensive there and the service was very crude.  I drove the final 150 miles or so as quickly as possible, stopping only once to photograph the unusual bear.  Finally driving into Kitawanga, we pulled into the Cassiar RV Park, at the end of the highway where I proved my ineptitude at parking an RV in the dark and  where Rebekah and Jenny met Fred and Ralph in the laundry room while they were doing the dishes. 

According to Ben's mileage log, we had travelled 461.9 miles since we started at the beginning of the day in Watson Lake, Yukon.  Wildlife to date:  1 Moose, 20 Bears.