7/18/15 ROUGH ROADS TO TOAD RIVER

The day started when Joe got up at 4:00 AM.  We are now on Pacific Time and haven't adjusted to the time changes yet and we have one more time change to make as we cross into Alaska later this week.  The sun had already been up for an hour.  We were the first RV out of the gate at 5:30 AM, so we are guaranteed to be 1st on the highway today.  The roads out of Fort St John had recently been resurfaced and paved with nice smooth hot asphalt mix, but that didn't last long.  We soon caught up with rough pavement that had been damaged by heavy truck activity  when we passed through the oil and gas fields. Whenever we see approaching trucks, we move off to the shoulder of the road to in an attempt to avoid flying rocks. 

Departing Fort St. John, BC the road moves in a northward direction until you reach Fort Nelson (4 hours later) where it turns more westward.  We crossed the Sikanni Chief River Bridge that is at the bottom of a gorge.  There were some large trucks going down an 8% grade hill we had to maneuver around. This morning we started out averaging about 62 mph. As the roads conditions deteriorated moving north and west could only move between 45 and 55 mph at best-  and often slower.

As we move further towards the Yukon Territory on a clear day,  flying insects and large bugs covered the windshield.  The terrain in this part of British Columbia is steep rolling hills with steeper grades when we descend into and rise out of river valleys.  We also encountered high cross winds off the mountains to our west after crossing the Sikanni Chief River.

The dogs have picked out their favorite places in the moho while bouncing down the road.  Sugar gets under the driver seat chair.  Shiloh lays up in the passenger foot area.  Shiloh and I have had issues with her choice of position. Shiloh called "shotgun" the minute we left home and she refuses to give up the front seat!!

Good view of the mesa-like topography of Mount Yakatchie seen about 50 miles south of Fort Nelson.

We passed through a recent forest fire area and many places were still smoldering as approached the south side of Ft Nelson, BC.  The fire had crossed the highway and burned both sides of the road for about 5 miles and was evidently quite intense.  We saw hot shot crews still working the smoldering remnants of the forest fire. This section of the Alaska Highway had been closed as a result of the fire the week we left Georgia. 

It was raining as we passed through this area which clearly is helping put an end to the fire.  It has rained every day on our trip.  I think we brought it north with us. 

Trapper's Den in Ft Nelson, BC is a favorite stop for us. This shop specializes in furs, clothing  and outdoors books and equipment. We saw lots of things that we liked and might stop in on our way home to do some Christmas shopping (or order on line?). Check out the web site http://www.trappersden.ca/

  

Gas prices have steadily gone up as we get further along on the Alaska Highway.  The  rate for gas is $4.26/gallon or $1.12/liter in American dollars in Ft nelson when we fueled up. When we fueled at the campground later at Toad River we paid almost $1.50 per liter. Fuel seems to become quite a limited commodity the further north and more remote the area along the ALCAN.

We crossed the Muskwa River just outside Fort Nelson.  This happens to be the lowest point on the Alaska Highway - elevation 1,000 ft.  There were campers parked on the river's edge.

There is a lot of road construction between Fort Nelson and  the Toad River Lodge(where we camped this day).  Traffic is frequently stopped due to construction.  To repair a rod section they simply plow up the old road for about 5 miles leaving you to drive on dirt and stone until they have the new base prepared. During this period the roads are kept wet with a truck spraying water to keep the dust down which means you get this fine grit plastered to every surface of the moho and toad.  Not a pretty site.

From Fort Nelson to Toad River, we hit gravel patch areas of the highway every few miles.  One lengthy section was receiving a complete overhaul and was completely plowed up with a machine that chews the road up like a roto tiller.  Highways in this region are  nothing more than surface treatment / chip seal (technically BST or Bituminous Surface Treatment for all you engineers) type roads in the rural areas with large loose aggregate loosely spread over wet tar-like asphalt.There is loose gravel (they use very large aggregate) along the entire road that is constantly thrown into the air by passing vehicles. Given the sparse population, the extreme winter conditions, the short construction period during the summer to make repairs, and the low traffic counts one can understand why this low cost but effective approach is used. It makes for a noisy and rough ride but it gets us to where we want to be. Joe said holding the steering wheel today was like holding a jackhammer for 8 hours!

The drive from Fort Nelson to Toad River Lodge took us through some pretty valleys and over several mountains as we moved back from the plains this morning into the Rockies later in the day.

We arrived at Toad River Lodge and RV Park at 2:30 PM - 9 hours after leaving Fort St. John this morning.  With the bumpy rough roads, road construction delays, and gravel sections, we were glad to get parked and stop bouncing down the road.  Toad River Lodge a waystation along the ALCAN far away from any urban area and is one of our favorite stops on the Alaska Highway.  Its a very peaceful and relaxing valley.

  

We have traveled approximately 3600 miles so far on the trip.  Only 1400 more  to go before we meet our grandson!  He lives a long long way from his all his grandparents LOL.