Trip Review: v.7665km Road Trip
In August 2011 I went on a rather epic road trip of over 7000km up the Dempster Highway into Northern Canada with time spent in Alberta, BC, Alaska, the Yukon & NWT. The route basically looked like this:
Day 1
We drove around 900km to Fort Fraser and set-up camp. Saw a beautiful black cub and some mountain sheep in Yoho National Park. It's such a great drive up to Jasper and I loved seeing the Columbia Ice Fields and Mt. Robson (3954m - highest in the CDN Rockies).
Day 2
We drove up to Smithers and camped at a Par 3 Golf Course. I like Smithers as a town, especially in the summer. We hiked into an old Gold Mine that was worked in the 40's to collect gold-tellurides so I picked up some nice mineral specimens while enjoying the great weather for a hike.
Day 3
We drove up to Stewart which is right on the BC / Alaska border with Hyder. The Stewart area is very rich in minerals and was a booming mining town back in the day. Now the population is only around 400 and many stores in town are closed. On the drive up we saw a couple of solo black bears and then a pair of black bears who walked right across the highway toward us. I got out of the vehicle and took photos from ~10 meters away. In Stewart, we crossed the border into the US side of Hyder and continued along a mining road to check out Grizzlies fishing Salmon and the Salmon Glacier, the world's largest glacier accessible by road. Wow, what scenery. A photographers dream. In the evening, we met up with a friend of my Uncle who is the longest living resident of Stewart. I believe he's in his 70s and has lived in the town his whole life. He's an old geologist / prospector type and has a really fun and quirky Australian wife who is still alive with energy despite her age. We crushed a few beers as they told stories of the town (including its snowfall records and how high the snow piles up next to the streets in the winter). The old timers also let me play with a few old revolvers. One was from the 1898 gold rush, another from some Mexico shootout in 1910, and the final one was a newer .44 Magnum that he carries "for the bears" when he's out prospecting. Pretty neat stuff!
Day 4
Had a quick greasy breakfast with a bunch of miners at the King Eddy hotel and then drove up to Teslin. This is where the highways get really quiet. I quite enjoyed the drive and the scenery really begins to change as the mountains become less rocky and more forested. Had a quick lunch at Deese Lake, which seems to be the biggest town in the area, and then crashed for a night at the Yukon Motel in Teslin. My favourite part of Teslin was the bridge that brings you into town!
Day 5
We drove up near Dawson City and camped out. It was a long day of driving but at least we had the opportunity to cast some lines into the Klondike River. Unfortunately, no catches!
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