Driving Through Canada: A Visual Treat

Sometimes I wish my camera was GPS enabled because it would remember the exact location where a photo was taken when I cannot. All I know now is that the following photographs were taken between Sikanni Chief, British Columbia and Kluane (Clue-ah-knee) Lake, Yukon Territory. After Kluane Lake, we reached the worst part of the Alaska Highway and I white-knuckled through it enough to not have picked up my camera. It was about 140 miles of slow going over pitted and gravel roadway—the stuff about which people warned us.

Before leaving Sandpoint, Idaho, I insisted that we imitate the idea our RV friends, Dean and Diane, used to protect the windshield of their car. Using an inexpensive, rubber-backed carpet runner, we cut-to-fit a cover for our windshield by adding grommets strategically placed and bungee cords to attach it to the car. Without this protection, I'm sure we would have had a banged up and pitted windshield at the least, or a broken one at most. The gutter between the windshield and the engine compartment was filled with gravel and we got one severe ding on the hood. The hit to the hood was so sharp that a quarter to three-eighths inch circular chip was made and the paint surrounding it is lifted from the primer. I'm sure the paint will start flaking eventually. I don't really look forward to traversing that area, again, but at least we know what to expect and, although it was bad, its not as bad as we were led to believe. Or maybe we were just lucky.

There are 62 photos and the captions will tell the story as I really need to get this blog posted while we still have true high-speed internet at our disposal rather than just a suggestion of it—and intermittently at that.

We stopped at this location for the view, but some of the tagging we found here was almost more entertaining. One spot along this K-wall said "#livingwithmybitches." All righty, then.

Yes. It was.

Although I don't feel it translated all that well in the photograph, you can tell the vista was sweeping and immense.

I can't believe someone else has the same spelling for their name as does my grandson. You certainly can't find it on souvenirs.

Rob decided he needed to show that we'd been there, too. Although it says R & L '15, it looks to me like it says R & L 1/5. A fifth of what? I told Rob he'd never make it as a tagger or a graffiti artist.

How rude!

When we came upon this bit of road work, the only thing I thought was Tonka Toys!

Big Tonka Truck.

I wish you could tell from the photo how much fun this young moose was having. She was jumping and prancing in a puddle—just the stuff viral videos are made of.

It was time for her to move on. What a treat to have seen her.

This is Muncho Lake. The color of the lake is between turquoise and jade—not really blue, not really green. And on this day there were few ripples in the water—about as close to glass as a large body of water could get. The reflections were stunning and I tried to take advantage of it.

The conifers in this area of northern British Columbia are spindly looking but they made an interesting reflection. Notice how the reflection starts some ways away from the bank? Cool.

Stunning.

This was probably the third or fourth Bison sign we saw. We kept looking for Bison but didn't see any. We wondered if we ever would.

Then we did and it was nap time.

And roll in the dirt time.

And then we arrived at Liard Hot Springs for the night. There were many things to get my attention… like dandelions.

And beautiful little bluebells.

And sweet little bunnies.

And peaceful walks to the hot springs.

And lovely wild roses.

And trees and bright green grasses and ferns.

And the prettiest hot springs I've ever seen decked out with a cairn.

And aqua water at about 140°.

And submerged benches to sit upon.

And views to take in.

And young families to enjoy.

And to feel welcomed.

On the walk back from the hot springs, coming from a pond just beyond some trees, I heard something that sounded like a large, heavy stone being plunked into the water. I remember saying to Rob that it didn't sound like a bird so I started peering through the trees and found this female moose feeding on the plants that grow in the water. I called out to her and when she turned to looked at us, I snapped this shot. 

I found this beautiful robin quite cooperative with my camera.

We pulled over to the side of the road to capture a shot of this black bear. Throughout British Columbia, and Alberta, they have signage to remind people not to mow down the dandelion flowers in the spring. Apparently it is one of the first foods that hibernating animals, and others, rely upon for good, healthful nutrition once the winter is over. Black bears are primarily plant eaters.

A handsome example of Bison also eating the dandelions.

This Bison was in ecstasy rubbing against these concrete blocks. You can see it was in the process of shedding its winter coat.

We arrived in the Yukon Territory. The Signpost Village in Watson Lake is quite extensive. We will leave our addition to the Signpost Village on our return drive.

Another cooperative robin! I got lucky.

I was surprised at how big the village is. It goes on and on.

I couldn't pass up this one. RIP Marine Rick Roethler. Semper Fi.

And, on and on.

More stunning views along the Alaska Highway.

This young Elk found something interesting in the road. We passed by very slowly.

The clouds were amazing, too.

And nobody else for miles.

We stopped in Teslin, YT, at the Tlingit Cultural Center but they were closed that particular day. We knocked on the door and two men of Tlingit heritage told us they were just finishing up cleaning the place for a special event and dinner for which the Yukon Territory's Governor General would be attending. They allowed us to step inside to take a look at the place when we told them that our son-in-law and grandson are part Tlingit. We didn't stay long but appreciated their hospitality.

Rob held up a photo of our grandson, Cayman, with the Raven totem. Cayman has been dubbed the Raven by his paternal family because he's a little jokester.

Rob rests against one of the Tlingit ceremonial canoes, which graphic's celebrate the Raven. Modern times have also reached the cultural center—the canoes were made of fiberglass.

More amazing clouds.

Looks like a fun honeymoon to me.

I love this shot. It would make a good postcard.

Avalanche!

Our campsite near Destruction Bay at Kluane Lake. In less than 24 hours, we'd be in Alaska.

More bluebells.

And more.

I took a walk around the whole RV park. Down a way was one little cabin, which was not currently rented; however, it appeared to have at least one tenant.

Many would think this is a chipmunk but it is a squirrel. Damned adorable if you ask me.

And Crayola crayon's Spring Green shown in pine needles.

Our view of Kluane Lake.

Kluane Lake is huge.

We had neighbors from Anchorage who were on their way to Whitehorse for a dog show with their 14 Papillons. Also with them were their two English Bulldogs. I think their trailer was all of 28 feet long.

This one was Toby and the only one whose name I recall. He's the alpha of the group. He's getting older and has some cataracts.

These dogs were just adorable. They'd pretty much climb all over each other competing for your attention. If one got a pat on the head, they all wanted a pat on the head. 

All of them had the sweetest, little faces.

Stand by for the next blog post of our time in Alaska. I'll try to make it soon.