June 4-6, 2009

June 4, 2009

We drove Northwest of Jasper along the Yellowhead Highway to Mount Robson Provincial Park. We saw a moose along the river in the distance but wasn’t close enough to get a picture. We saw Yellowhead Lake and Moose Lake, and had a picnic lunch at the Mt. Robson Visitors Center. The scenery is spectacular – a picture of Mt. Robson.

Our site at Whistler campground.

June 5

We left Jasper in the sunshine and warm but the further North we got, the colder, rainier and more grey it got. As we turned north on route 40 to Grand Paririe, we started to hit a little snow. Didn’t last long but really woke us up. It stayed rainy and grey until we got to Grand Cache then it started to clear. We also got our first real windshield chip today, but a trip to WalMart and a windshield repair kit later we were fixed.

The land here is somewhat hilly, swampy and covered with trees. There are some really big oil and gas complexes and some large lumber mills such as the one we saw in Grand Paririe. We are off to Dawson Creek tomorrow and the beginning of the Alaska Highway.

This is one big wood pile - it is about 2-3 city blocks long (couldn't get it all in one picture).

June 6

Cold again. We left Grand Paririe and headed to Dawson Creek. It was only about 80 miles so it didn’t take that long. Along the way we went through Beaverlodge and saw how it got its name. That’s one big beaver at 15 feet tall!

Dawson Creek is a lot like Grand Paririe in that there is a lot of oil and gas industry here. They have a couple of nice museums that we toured and got our picture at the beginning of the Alaska Highway (like everyone else passing through). There is a steady stream of people there so you don’t have to wait long to get someone to take your picture.

The sun came out and it warmed up some this afternoon. We are really anxious to start on the Alaska Highway tomorrow.