Post #2 June 21, 2024

Hi everyone,

After a side trip to Seattle to visit with Stephen and Adrian we got on the road to BC on Tuesday morning, 6/18. We pulled into Prince George some 550 miles later for a one day layover. Prince George is a Loveland-Colorado-sized town on the Fraser River in BC. The terrain is surprisingly similar to Colorado – lots of aspen trees.

After another 500+ mile drive and the first of the dreaded ‘frost heaves’ we are laying over today in Iskut, BC on the Eddontenajon (Ed-done-ten’-a-john) Lake. There is a lot of indigenous (or as the Canadians say “first peoples”) influence in this area. Along the way we sighted a northern gray wolf loping and black bear grazing near the highway. Today after lunch KJ reported communing with a Loon on the lake. This place is really remote. The caretaker told us that the owner used to have 30 llamas that he used for backpacking with guests. During an especially harsh winter a few years ago wolves picked off the entire herd one by one. As we did a short hike today he advised us to keep our “heads on a swivel”. I practiced with the bear spray and we talked (more) loudly as advised.

Tomorrow we leave by 6a for our last long drive, 566 miles to Kathleen Lake in the Yukon Territories. We’ll spend 2 nights there “boon-docking” (no AC power, water, or sewer hookups) before we drive a few scenic hours to Haines, AK and take the ferry to Juneau for a week at Mendenhall Glacier State Park. Juneau is of course the state capital of AK, but did you know it’s only accessible by sea or air? There are no through roads to Juneau.