En route Through BC to The Alaska Highway

After staying put in Vancouver for a week we had a week of moving more quickly. Our first night was at the Cayoosh Creek Campground in Lillooet, BC. The ride there was amazing (including the cover photo for this post).

Next we were off to a Harvest Host (HH) stay at Cask & Cleaver Brewing in 100 Mile House, BC. It was fascinating to follow the highway through various “Mile” towns (150 Mile House, 100 Mile House, 70 Mile House etc…) Karl pointed out the disparity that they use kilometers for measurements and speed limits, but there were a bunch of towns with mile names! Our research says that it originated in the 1860’s during the Cariboo Gold Rush - during which towns got named for how far they were from Lillooet (which was Mile 0 at the time), and apparently some of the towns decided to keep those names. I thought that was an interesting fact - and I hope you did too!

We had a yummy dinner at the Cask & Cleaver Craft Brewery. Unlike most Harvest Host locations, we couldn’t pull into their parking lot until the place closed at 8PM because of their limited parking. Luckily we found a spot where we fit on a side street and killed time walking around the city-like neighborhood before dinner. We found a dollar-store and I picked up a little something for myself to have for Canada Day, because when we were in Canada a few years back for Canada Day (on July 1st), I felt bummed I didn’t have anything to celebrate the Canucks! I later realized we’d be in Alaska on July 1st, but I’ll still be honoring the Canadians wherever I am! We had dinner at the brewery and I had the best damn poutine ever!!! We’d tried this Canadian delicacy previously in PEI - well Karl did anywayand I sampled some of his... But since the brewery’s smoker was cooking away outside on the patio all afternoon and the smell was amazing, I HAD to have me some smoked chicken poutine! I’ve included a pic of the description for clarification purposes for my blog-ees. Here’s some pics from that drive to 100 Mile House and of dinner. Oh, and I also included a pic of my first Tim Horton coffee on this venture that I got the next morning before we hit the road because when in Canada…

The next day we were off to Quesnel, BC and a campground called “Robert’s Roost Resort”. The word “Resort” was a bit of an exaggeration but it was a quaint little campground and we had a great spot right on Dragon Lake. Lots of the people were there to fish and boat as a lot of the folks were from relatively nearby and this was one of their summer go-to places. Karl and I walked around a lot to get some steps in and had to dodge a lot of goose poop, because given that we were on a lake there were lots of happy ducks and geese (and seeing them waddle around the grounds and into the water with their little goslings was pretty cute).

Since this was a three night night stay, the woman in the office suggested we drive out to Barkerville if we wanted to experience some of the historic culture. Since one of our days was forecasted to be a rainout, we seized the opportunity to take the drive out to Barkerville and experience some of the culture from the gold rush days at this living-history museum. The hour + drive there was scenic, and I took a picture of how the trees grew along the road because I thought it was pretty fascinating as it was like a big wall of trees protecting the road…In Baskerville we meandered along the 125+ heritage buildings and learned about the amazing histories of the Indigenous people who owned the land and the impact that the gold rush and the process of colonization had on them. It was informative and eye opening and quite fascinating to learn more about the Gold Rush’s impact on so many cultures and societies and lands. We especially enjoyed our stop in the printing shop where the gentleman showed Karl the process they used “back in the day” and how they still use it today for honor the history.

Our final day there was a rainout. My hubs was brilliant and used this day to stew us up some fresh rhubarb that the campground had growing and were only too happy to share with us. He had developed this plan in his mind when he saw the forecast, so we had stopped at a grocery store when out and about the previous day and bought some strawberries and also the smallest pack of sugar cubes we could find. Karl has to watch his sugar intake so a handful of the cubes were added to the concoction once he had spooned out a big containers worth for himself, and then left the rest for his bride - cuz he’s a good guy like that! What a great treat we got to have in our fridge for the next couple of weeks (pic included)!

Our next reservation was at Whiskers Point Provincial Park on McLeod Lake, BC. I was excited about this stop because the name basically made me giggle! A nice little park and our first encounter with the NEED for mosquito spray! The views were beautiful, the fresh air wonderful, and the people we ran into were friendly. They were serious about their bear warnings here (using various languages on their signs in case it wasn’t clear) but we didn’t have any encounters! This was a lovely, peaceful stop on our journey.

And then we drove to Chetwynd, our last stop before the Alaska Highway! Again, beautiful scenery lead to our destination. Also pictured here is a truck carrying lumber - a VERY common sight on our journey. Even though I’m only just mentioning it now, it has been a consistent part of the landscape on the roads. Seeing all the logging trucks made me appreciative of their natural resources, as well as their willingness to share. Oh, and this is a good time to point out that we’ve noticed that MOST of the trucks hauling things have tandem trailers (as opposed to a single). I guess with all the distance they travel on these two lane “highways” you have to make it worth it in terms of time, fuel, man hours etc…

We stayed at the Caron Creek RV Park in Chetwynd - our first stop without a reservation. Luckily we’d gotten our walking in at Whiskers Point. So we used the campground to rest, get some nice hot showers and enjoy the lilacs that were blooming all over the place!

Next stop…The Alaska Highway!!!