Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 4 June 26th, 2012

We got off to a better start on our fourth day on the road. No more rain fell overnight and the tent was dry when we packed it up. We were also fortunate to have a warm bathroom with running water to clean up in before we left. We stopped in Williams Lake to get more Canadian money and have a recommended breakfast at Tim Horton’s and, of course, gas, then continued north to Prince George, where we got ice, gas and a phone card. We wandered the “strip” for a while, looking for a pay phone to use before decided to just use on in “the next town.” That actually turned into a bit of an ordeal and we didn’t find one until Fort St. John, late in the evening. The night before, in camp, we decided it would be worth it to drive a few more miles in order to go through Dawson Creek and visit Mile “0” of the Alaska Highway. It was definitely a good decision as it allowed us to cross the Canadian Rockies twice. There was amazing scenery as we crossed the continental divide before traversing a good amount of Canadian prairie coming into Dawson Creek. We also saw our first black bear, an adult grazing in grass along the highway. We wasted little time in Dawson Creek before turning west, hoping to find some trees to camp near. We stopped briefly in Fort Ns John to use the payphone then had dinner a few miles west of there before continuing on, looking for camp. First we tried the Sasquatch, which seemed run down and fairly exposed to the wind, then Pink Mountain, which didn’t seem to have a campground as much as a large gravel lot next to the gas pumps. No thanks. Finally, at the bottom of suicide hill, we crossed the Sikanni Chief River and found a small campground, complete with laundry and free showers. This was our first real experience with the late night sun as at 10:40pm it was still plenty light out. This was also the first time we would see an interesting Mercedes bus/coach/camper. The front half was seats while the back half was some sort of dormitory/sleeping area. It had 15-20 passengers and seemed pretty self-contained. A very cool rig indeed and the first of many we would see multiple times on the road.