2013/06 NWT trip - Moberly Lake |
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Friday June 7th
The sun was back as we set off north towards Williams Lake, the main town of the Cariboo ranchng area. This was where we set off in 1999 to camp at Anahim Lake and explore Tweedsmuir park and the Bella Coola coast. This time we barely saw the town because of torrential rain.
The next town north is Quesnel, usually notable for its flower-lined streets and the overwhelming dead-camel stink of its pulp mill. This time we had neither, maybe too early for the flowers. We managed to get in touch with our alarm company while we were there and arranged to have the main floor motion sensors disabled.
We stopped in Prince George to buy some maps. The city, which regards itself as BC’s northern capital, lies at the junction of the Yellowhead Highway (that connects Jasper to the coast at Prince Rupert) and the John Hart highway, which would take us north to Chetwynd. Pam and Wendy both lived in Prince George in the 1980s, and we visited them on our early trips out to BC.
The scenery on the John Hart is mostly pleasant, forests, lakes, and distant mountains. We stopped for tea at Bear Lake, obviously a popular spot for families with its large sandy beach and even larger parking lots. You have to wonder about the lack of imagination of the guy that originally named the lake, but we did see a black bear shortly afterwards.
Towards the end of the day we came to Pine Pass, where the road crosses the Rocky Mountains, a really beautiful spot with the mountains towering over Azouzetta Lake. We’ve driven this road a number of times in the past but this was the first time the weather had been good enough to see the view.
Chetwynd advertises itself as the chainsaw carving capital of the world, as does Hope, but they are far enough apart that nobody cares. We visited Bob and Pat when they worked there as teachers in the 1980s. The road continues from there to Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway, but there’s also a shortcut via the road built to service the Bennet Dam that would bring us out 50 miles further north. We’ve been to Mile 0 a few times and the iconic Alaska Hotel we dined at in 2005 had burned down last year, so we took the short cut. We camped a short way along this road at Moberly Lake, a popular spot on a Friday evening. We walked some of the trails, and looked out over the lake; it’s about an average BC park, which means it’s quite good.
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