Travel Day

We left Dawson Creek mid-morning and headed toward our stop for the night in the Canadian Rockies. Along the way we drove thru Taylor, Fort St. John and then Fort Nelson. Most of the towns along this part of the Alaska Highway were established by the Hudson Bay Company before the highway was built and today their economies are based on oil, gas, lumber and pulp.

The original "Mile Zero" was as Fort Nelson where the army started building the Alaska Highway. Up to there a road had already been built even though it was a very rough,primitive gravel route. Today Fort Nelson is a major transportation hub for the area with air service, railroad and the Alaska Hwy. And "Mile Zero" is in Dawson Creek.

We camped at Summit Lake on Stone Mountain in the Canadian Rockies which is the highest point on the Alaskan Highway. Arrival was after 7 pm so we had a late supper. But having been cooped up in the RV all day, we decided to take a 'short' hike. It turned into a 90 minute trek! We walked up a gravel road about 1.5 km through some patches of snow. Then a path thru the woods and back down to Summit Lake for another 1.7 km. You have to remember we are in the mountains and the ground is beginning to thaw from the long cold winter so it was very wet and marsh-like, especially along the lake. So 30 minutes up and 60 minutes to come back down and around to the campground. And all of this was done with the sun shining from 8 -9:30 pm! Right now the sun is setting around 9:50 pm and rising about 5:00 am.