In the Yukon

Smithers

After Prince George we drove to Smithers, a cool little town in the shadow of Hudson Bay Moutain. We walked the neat downtown area in about 20 minutes. Two places of interest were Smithers Brewing Company and Bugwood Coffee. We stopped at the brewery and bought their attempts at an American Wheat and a Brown. Both are very nice and I’d recommend them to beer snobs everywhere. Then the coffee place. They roast the coffee somewhere in Smithers but also have a stand right downtown. On the way out of town we stopped at the stand but we really should have stopped by the place where they roast the beans. Apparently a forest had been decimated by some sort of insect. The people who started Bugwood Coffee decided to build the roastery (if that is a word) out of the wood from the dead trees from the insect forest. It would probably have been a cool building. The coffee was great. I’d recommend it to coffee snobs everywhere.

Another interesting thing happened in Smithers. We stayed in the scariest, dingyest motel ever. The Capri Motor Inn. Not a good choice. But it was only eighty-six dollars!

Here we are with Hudson Bay Mountain in the background.

The Drive To Dease Lake

We drove up Highway 37 and stopped for lunch on what looked to be a forest service road. We are still eating pasta salad that I made last Saturday with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. I’m starting to wish that it was already gone. When we were dishing up the salad, we were swarmed by mosquitos. We hurriedly put the salad in our bowls, returned the remaining salad to the cooler and sheltered in the car. And killed the mosquitoes who had the foresight fly in before the doors were closed.

Continuing the drive up Highway 37 we saw ranges of snow-covered mountains on one side and slightly smaller snow-covered hills on the other. In most places the view was obscured by the trees along the side of the road. (But the trees were interesting too–some sort of skinny spruce.) These mountains were different from the mountains that I’m most familiar with, the Cascases, because they are not volcanic. Instead of individual peaks there were often ridges made of granite extending for miles. Good pictures of this extraordinary terrain were difficult.

When we arrived at Dease Lake we checked into the hotel which wasn’t dingy or scary. That’s a five-star review for the Northway Motor Inn.

Then we walked around a nearby lake. Maybe 3.5 miles. It was a nice day.

Leaving Dease Lake

After checking out of the very fine hotel in Dease Lake we filled up the car and headed north on Highway 37. During a mild acceleration out of the parking lot things shifted a bit in the back of the car drawing my attention. Something was missing and I asked Arlene, “Did you get the whiteboard?” Arlene had not retrieved the whiteboard. We have been following bicycle races and a few weeks ago during the Giro d’Italia we had the idea of summarizing the standings in the race each evening on a whiteboard just to serve as a reminder. Now, the Criterium du Dauphine is in progress and we are using the whiteboard to track what is happening in the race. We had checked out of the hotel and left the whiteboard on the desk leaning against the wall. So we drove back and retrieved it.

Then We Saw a Bear

After driving for an hour or so we saw a bear. We hadn’t seen another car for 10 or 15 minutes so we just stopped in the middle of the road (our lane, at least) and tried to get a picture. Arlene leaned out the window with her phone and took this picture:

With all of the stuff in the car I couldn’t get a good view through the back, so I used the side-view mirror and managed to get my own nifty little shot. Notice not only the bear but Arlene’s hand holding her phone and her reflection off the screen. I like it.

We also saw a fox and a sign that warned of big-horned sheep. We didn’t stop immediately to get a picture of the fox but noticed that it had a little critter in its mouth for a snack and then it was gone. So that’s one lesson learned. Of the sheep we only saw the sign.

Has The Trip Started Yet?

In our fifth day of driving we finally arrived at the northern border of British Columbia. What we we’ve learned so far: British Columbia is much bigger than I imagined and Alaska is really a long way from Bainbridge Island. Although not clearly visible in the picture the air was thick with the smell of wild fires to the east.

Rancheria Falls

We stopped for lunch at a trailhead to this falls. The trail wasn’t long and it was mostly on a boardwalk/bridge. I have a picture of it because it looked as if it had been built by a band of roving surrealists. But that picture is on my other camera (that is still in the car). Arlene took a picture of me standing by the falls.

So not super big, but it was cool because the water was so churny in the middle that it seemed like some weird fluid flow thing was going on. It would probably be easier to figure out if we could remove all the water.

Marsh Lake

This was our destination for the day. We’re 1500 miles into the trip. The place we booked to stay is less like a hotel and more like a Bed and Breakfast. We’re staying here because it was the only place I could find months ago when we were reserving lodging for this whole trip. It was probably more expensive than some other places, but it’s nice.

The lake is just out the window.

We’ve decided to join some of the other lodgers in the morning for breakfast. Talking to people… more scary than the bear sighting?