June 5 Bighorn Highway, Hinton to Grand Prairie

June 5, 2013

Left Hinton, Alberta, about 7:30 AM and took Rt. 40, The Bighorn Hiway, north toward Grand Prairie and Dawson City.  Have agreed to meet tomorrow at 6PM for our group picture at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, so we have some time.

We saw signs that called this the “Wildlife Highway”, so are hopeful.

Lots of logging on this road with signs warning about not passing logging trucks (logs may swing into your lane) and watching for trucks coming onto the highway.  Only saw one truck but did see lots of logs!  Also signs of some oil drilling, as well as a large coal power plant.   But mostly it was just trees and trees and trees.

 Saw a nice moose nearly Barleigh Creek.  At first he moved into the nearby woods, but we waited and he eventually came back closer to the road.  Then, as we watched, he knelt down and took a long drink from a little pool, all the time keeping an eye on us.   

We also saw over a dozen deer, including some white tails,  a lovely female elk, many Canada geese, and several murders of crows.  The weather was nice, then rainy, then nice again, rain again etc. as we traversed up and down mountains. At times we traveled through clouds and even in a few cases above them!

We stopped in a small town called Grande Cache, which had a pleasant visitor’s center with displays regarding the fur trade. Lots of pelts, traps, and other gear. This was a popular route for fur traders and Grande Cache is where they stored them until they could travel out and trade.

Stopped for the night at Grand Prairie, which was quite sizable.  We had a free dinner of bison sausage, assorted salads, and cookies at the Visitor’s Center where we talked to some folks traveling from Connecticut.   Went to nearby Prairie Mall (the largest north of Edmonton) which had a few familiar stores along with Bootleggers, ManHandlers, Northwoods, etc.  Not very large, but interesting. Mailed a few postcards and then took a short drive and walk around Crystal Lake to spot the Trumpeter Swans which nest here.  Saw two quite far away, as well as assorted ducks and other birds.

We camped at Rotary RV Park, where we were able to do laundry and take showers. Greg washed several layers of dirt off the Trek, too, and added some sealant to two spots where we were getting some small leaks.  Ended with a lovely rainbow.