June 6-7, BC, Begin Alaska Highway Milepost 0

June 6, 2013  Thursday

Rose early and did some clean-up, then checked banking and some other things on-line.  Had cereal with some delicious red raspberries that we found yesterday.  Yum.

Sunshine today, and a few unusual flat clouds.

Stopped at BeaverLodge (near the Beaverlodge River) and took this corny picture.

The Beaver is 15’ high on a 19’ log.

The countryside has shifted to agriculture.  They grow many grains and canola, among other things, and have storage and processing plants as well.  Also berry processing in the Summer.   The planting season has just begun here.

Arrived in Grand Prairie around 10:00 and stopped by a Walmart parking lot where several of our gang had spent the night.  Caught up a bit with them, then headed into town with Jim and Margaret, a couple from Wisconsin.  Did the obligatory milepost 0 pictures, went to the visitor’s center and to a small museum on the building of the Alaskan Highway. 

  Not long after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had attacked Dutch Harbor in Alaska, and the pace to complete the highway was intense, with something like 11,000 troops and 16,000 civilians involved.

Went to Bear Mountain Wind Turbine Park, which was mostly just a bunch of Wind Turbines. 

There were 34 turbines, each of which produces enough electricity for 1000 homes! We did see them getting ready to replace one of the blades, each of which weigh 7.7 tons and is about 250 feet up!  No small feat!  Some nice views of the area and we stopped briefly at Radar Lake, along the gravel road to the park, which was quiet except for lots of birds.  These butterflies were enjoying the scenery too.

Came back into town and visited a local artist gallery,  a butcher shop almost 100 years old and looked at some of the murals painted on building throughout town.

Waiting for our photo appointment, I am writing, Greg is reading.

Everyone showed up for the photo, eventually.  Some confusion because of time zones.  Here’s the crowd:

Continued on towards Fort St. John,  with a side loop to Kinnesikaw Bridge,  the only remaining wooden bridge from the original Alaskan Highway.  Beautifully curved.

Some interesting dams just past the bridge – probably man-made, or awfully meticulous beaver!

Another Walmart in Fort St. John where a few of our group lit for the evening.  Tried a Tim Horton’s for sandwiches.  This is a chain started by a former great hockey star and is all over the country so far.  Mostly breakfast things, we discovered.  But they all have wi-fi.   10:30 and it is still daylight, but time for us to sleep.  Sunrise will come 4:30 ish.

Friday, June 7

Woke early and decided to go back to Tim Horton’s for breakfast  and use their wi-fi a bit.  Donuts, coffee, hot chocolate. A balmy 51 degrees!  Headed west of town to Hudson’s Hope and the W.C. Bennett Dam. Temps dropped a bit and we had a little rain as we entered the Peace River Valley.   Very peaceful (really), except for some signs which we later discovered were opposing the building of another dam, which would flood much of this beautiful valley.  Lots of horses and agriculture.

Arrived at the Dam and signed in at security.  Drove across and looked around a bit as we waited for the Visitor’s Center to open.  Took the 10:30 tour, which they gave us for free since we were accompanied by a group of 5^th graders from a Christian School in Dawson City. Thanks, kids!  They gave us vests and hard hats and we went underground to see some of the workings.  Interesting.

The dam impounds 250 –mile- long, 3 –mile- wide Lake Williston.  Very lovely and quite visible from space. After the water is used , it is expelled into Dinosaur Lake.  Unfortunately for the fish of Lake Williston, some of them go into the intake and through the turbines, etc. and are expelled (not always in one piece) also.  However, their downfall is a windfall for a large number of eagles, bald and golden, that have easy pickings for their dinners.

 Saw some deer on the way to the dam, and a black bear and this moose with calf on the return.

We turned north, back on the Alaska Highway and spent this night at an abandoned Provincial Park near Prophet Emergency Airstrip. Quite nice, as the campsites were still there and we were one of three campers.  Gathered wood and had a nice campfire. In which we baked potatoes. First “taste” of mosquitos, though they weren’t bad after the initial few minutes.