Tuesday, June 12: Slept in a bit. Ron just got back from a drive into town; it’s like a ghost town compared to yesterday. Guess the pilot car started taking people out last night about 7pm, and, being eager to get on the road after five days, for some, off they went! Had a little breakfast in our room, then headed for the Signpost Forest. Found the sign for Superior in the nearly 80,000 signs there! An injured soldier was assigned light duty during the building of the Alcan Highway (1942); he was to freshen the painted direction/distance signs at the intersection of the airport road and Watson Lake proper. He decided to put up a sign for his hometown also, and a tradition was born! (Watson Lake was one of the big staging areas for the building of the Alcan; the highway roughly followed airfields across Canada and into Alaska.) Grabbed a scrumptious burger with the works at a local truckstop, then took a walk around Wye Lake—nice interpretive trail. Found a piece of wood to make our own sign for the Signpost Forest. Cooked supper in the rain under the hatch door of the Passat. Our host let us eat at the community table/gathering spot at the motel. Met lots of interesting fellow travelers there; some had been there since Thursday because of the washouts. One of the bikers had a helmet cam; can you imagine the film he must take?! We also had some good conversations with Michael, our German host; he loved our Passat! After supper we took in a beautiful show about the aurora borealis at the local planetarium, and then drove out to see the display at the airport about the airdrops that took place there during the building of the Alcan Highway. Off too bed early; don’t know what the road repairs will be like tomorrow.

Monday, June 11: High 40s, cloudy, sprinkles as we leave for Watson Lake around 8am. Not sure what we will find when we get there, though we did call ahead and make sure our host was holding our room. Sign in the highway--NO ROOMS AT WATSON LAKE! The road is good, just dodging potholes and bear poop. Drive aside Dease Lake for almost 30 miles, then it narrows to the river, which widens as it accumulates rain and melting snow as we both move north in the Arctic Ocean watershed. See a moose climbing a steep, sidehill and bear #16! Made a great stop in Jade City. Lots of pieces of raw jade outside. The owner's daughter tells us how he always loved jade and came to the Cassiar Mts in the 70s looking for it. One day he knelt down and prayed to God if he could find his dream, he would build God a church. An eagle feather floated down from the sky and landed on a bigchunk of jade and his dream began! Now they have a huge store, but most of their ore is shipped to the Orient and Australia. They go to China to work out designs for the pieces they want, then the finished products are shipped back. In fact, 92% of the world's jade comes from the Cassiars. Ron used the bathroom and the flusher, switchplate and frame around the lightswitch were made of jade. (And yes, the man did build the church.) Passed through an avalanche gate, one of many in these mountain roads; they drop them to stop traffic while they clear the snow. Passed the spot where the biggest gold nugget (without quartz) came out of a BC placer deposit. Spottted a Northern cousin of a sharp-tailed grouse. As we left the Cassiars and drove onto the Yukon Plateau (much easier going), we entered an extensive, recent burn-over--it went on for miles--and saw over a dozen hunting camps along the road. Turns out they were hunters--of morels!--for $8 a pound! Crossed the Yukon border and the flooded Lower Laird River (looked like the Nemadji in full flood!) then the crowded town of Watson Lake. Cars, campers and semis everywhere, even parked on the sides of the freeway. Took a nice walk after unpacking at the spartan, but comfortable Air Force Lodge (was barracks for the Royal Canadian Air Force beginning in 1942); the community has really responded to the plight of the "stranded travelers"--opened up the rec center for free, provided meals and other emergency social services, even provided beds in private homes when the motels were full. One of the guests here even saw the Premier of Yukon Territories at a community dinner tonight. Played a little cards in the commons area; Ron stayed to talk to the other interesting guests (old bikers!) while I retired to our room to play my computer game and crashed for the night.

Sunday, June 10: Turned off the light at midnight; sky was still light like just before sunset! Shades of things to come? Woke up at 4am--bright sun--here we go, into the land of the midnight sun. Slept in, had a relaxing morning, then took a little walk around town--lots of lupines in bloom. At population 450, Dease Lake was once a post for Hudson Bay Company, and an important delivery point for materials for the Alaskan Highway. Stopped at the information post to see what's to do here, and it really hit the fan. Ron reports: "I was nervous about the car breaking down on the trip. Who would have thought two days ago one of the most horrific series of wash outs and mud slides have made at least 14 places in the roads impassable. There is a website that we are watching for when the way north will be passable again. We are leaving for Watson Lake in the AM which is clear sailing. From there there are no roads open to Alaska. They are working 24 hours a day to make what they call a one-lane primative road. Long delays are in store but at least we will be moving. And that was just some bad rain storms, the usual snow pack run-off hasn't happened yet. I guess there has been a run on local grocery inventories and now they are out with no resupply available till the roads are passable again. I might have to run down an elk and gaff him with my Cutco sabre." So we spent some time with the maps and CBC news and decided to forge ahead, take it one day at a time. Maybe it's time to re-read a nice plaque we saw at 'Ksan. Took a drive down to Dease Lake, it's 30-miles long, and sat and watched some kids swimming--tough as Lake Superior swimmers. Just an aside: Canada is a real "green" place--RAPP (report all poachers and polluters) signs everywhere,also "BC is Idle-free!"--no semi's idling outside your motel room all night. Every place we've stayed recycles, and there are frequent wayside rests (with bear-proof dumpsters); Ron had to show me how to open them! A little tv and then z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z! (JUST A NOTE: YOU CAN CLICK THE PICTURES FOR A CLOSER VIEW!)

Saturday, June 9: Cloudy, 50s, no rain! One more trip down to the harbour before we head for Dease Lake BC. The tide is low and I fill my lungs with the scent of the cool sea air. it reminds me of our world cruise; I miss that smell! We are rewarded with another eagle sighting, and a kingfisher. We pick up the Cassair Highway at Mesiaden Junction. As the valley widens between the mountains we are again traveling through cut-over--lots of poplar as secondary growth. We see lots of bears (12 today, 15 total), one culvert Ron swears was a bear, and a moose along the roadside. We stop at Bell II (second crossing of the Bell-Irving River) for gas--and I buy a bell for my walking stick! We're a few hours from Dease Lake when traffic stops, crews hacking rights of way for a power line. Following another raging river between the mountains, beginning to see a pattern here! We can see the coastal mountains now, including an extinct volcano and a cinder cone, still heavily snow-covered. We cross Eastman River, named for George Eastman of Eastman Kodak fame; he hunted big game here before the roads came through. Lake Eddontenajon, water source for the locals, comes into view and goes on for miles into the First Nation town of Inkut where we see a "livestock on the road" sign, then a long, steep, curving descent to cross the Stikine River (it's huge) and then an equally steep, crooked ascent on the other side--and a moose to add to the "excitement." Crossed the divide between the Pacific and Arctic ocean watersheds. Down into Dease lake through the strangest, dry, perched boggy area--Gnat Pass--wonder how it got its name? Long day, nice kitchenette for our rest day.

Friday, June 8: Happy Anniversary to us! After breakfast Ron takes me down to Hanhart Harbour where the boat launch is (at high tide) at the head of the Portland Canal. Cruise ships used to come here. There is evidence of continuing logging operations here and a huge pipeline yard "for a hydro plant," a local pipeliner told us. I love the smell of the sea! We take a ride to Hyder Alaska on the other side of the Canal to mail some letters. (Hyder is on the Salmon River which runs into the Canal froom the west; Stewart is on the Bear River which comes in from the east.) Hyder is all dirt streets now, but we pass surveyors and workers preparing to blast to widen the road for paving. Apparently three gold mines and the hydro plant are going in up in the mountains by the Salmon glacier. We continue up the road into Tongas NationalForest to check out the wildlife at Fish Creek. There's an elevated, fenced walkway there so folks can watch bears feed on salmon in the fall. The road is closed; they are working upgrading the old bridge for traffic to the mines. They've left a footbridge open though. We spend some time strolling the expansive walkway, then head back for civilization. We see a young bear grazing on the fresh greens along the river, and skunk cabbage coming up in the low, wet places. Took another stroll out on the estuary and I see a new purple lily; one of the volunteers working on the gardens by the estuary tells me it's a a rice root lily which the First Nation people used for food.Walking back through Stewart we notice most of the buildings have a little history marker on them from early mining days. We go for a seafood dinner for our anniversary, then back to the harbour to see it at high tide--and there are eagles there fishing! What a nice day!

Thursday, June 7: Coming out of Houston BC in the gray morning, we are following the Bulkley River north. It is huge and swollen, and today’s rain is going to bring it up even more! We are traveling in its valley, and a strip of clouds like a roll of cotton covers all but the peaks of the highest mountains. The road is good, the ditches cut way back to give more warning of moose crossing. Stopped for gas in a cute little town that time forgot, Tyhee Lake, next to the raging Bulkley. Feels like any little small town in Wisconsin, then you look up and there are the huge snow-covered mountains. “We’re not in Kansas anymore!” Our first stop this morning on the way to Stewart BC will be the ‘Ksan Historical Village in the Hazeltons, the totem Pole Capitol of the World. We turn east off #16 and cross the Hagwiget Bridge over the Bulkley, one of the highest single lane suspension bridges in North America. Below the First Nation men gaff fish in the dangerous rapids. The ‘Ksan site, where the Bulkley and the Skeena rivers converge then flow to the ocean, is very moving in the mists of the afternoon; the buildings are decorated in the manner of the Peoples of the Upper Skeena River and the totems are really impressive. We visit the museum on the site; the artifacts are very different from anything we’ve seen before. The buildings are actually used as a four-year School of Northwest Coast Indian Art, besides a tourist destination. A few hours later and we are crossing another unique bridge, a one-lane plank bridge over the wild Nass River; we can see the original bridge right next to us, just a shell since last summer’s floods took it out. We were having torrential rains in Douglas County at the same time! We turned west at Meziadan Junction on to the Glacier Highway, and start to see snow on the ground, then the coastal mountains up close and personal with lots of snow, and the huge bear Glacier, streaked with blue! The air is so cool and sweet with the scent of pine and spring rain. We follow the Bear River into Stewart and find our lovely kitchenette at the King Edward Hotel. Stewart looks a lot like something from Northern Exposure, old clapboard buildings on main street and a hodgepodge of homes of various vintages and construction materials. After a bite of supper, we stretch our legs on a boardwalk out over the salt flats at the head of the 90-mile long Portland Canal (a fiord from the ocean); it’s low tide and we can see the pilings from old buildings that used to set out in the canal. The plants and animals of the estuary are interesting and some are familiar. We’ll check out Hyder Alaska across the canal tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 6: Every little town has its “jewels,” and Houston BC is no different. Spent the morning updating the blog, had a bite of lunch and then off to explore. Took a river trail (Morice River) two miles to the edge of town then back downtown to Steelhead Park. We saw a beautiful Steelhead Fountain there and colorful Spring gardens. Houston calls itself “The Steelhead Fishing Capitol of the World”; I guess fishing the Morice is pretty splendid for steelhead, Chinook and Coho. Too bad the river is swollen with so much rain; Ron would have liked to give it a try! But no one can dispute, Houston has the biggest flyrod in the world—it’s 60’ long and weighs 800#! The park also is home to a model of an ancient stone, silver-ore grinder, a gift to Equity Silver from its sister mine in Mexico. There are even familiar political debates here! All the talk of fish made me crave some, so Ron took me out for a delicious salmon dinner. And politcs is everywhere! What a nice, relaxing day this has been, and good thing too—lots to see between here and Stewart BC tomorrow!