2018/07 Arctic Part 1 - Forest Lake |
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Dear All,
This is the story of our trip to the Arctic, specifically to drive the new road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. The all-season road was completed at the end of 2017 and it replaced the winter-only ice road. It is now the only place in North America where you can drive your own car to the Arctic Ocean.
Back in 2004 we had made a similar trip to Inuvik, but had flown the last leg to Tuktoyaktuk. That trip had taken nearly two months and we had visited most of the places north of the Alaska Highway. We didn’t have as much time for this trip so we hoped to visit some of those we had missed and repeat a few that had been outstanding.
We’d just come back from a trip to Okotoks and Minnesota, and were home for just a week, long enough to get the trip letter finished and printed, and have the truck’s fuel filter changed. There was also a whirl of doctor’s visits and blood tests. I was booked in for some more physiotherapy and in the queue for another back operation. I had one of those doctor’s visits when there’s so much being discussed that I almost left without talking about what I’d visited for! I came away with a couple of opioid patches that were supposed to tide me over until the operation. I wasn’t too happy about using these but they turned out to have no effect on my back pain anyway.
Sunday June 24th
We set off early on the Sunday morning on a perfect sunny day. We were taking the most direct route north to the Arctic, as shown on this map. We’d be crossing about 20 degrees of latitude and driving about 2500 miles to the beach and the Arctic Ocean. Our route took us up the Fraser Canyon to Lytton and up the Thompson Canyon to Goldpan where we stopped for coffee. Goldpan is the park where Kumsheen Rafting would stop for lunch before tackling the Thompson’s big rapids. When you see beautiful spots like this you might wonder why we leave home, but I guess it’s the love of exploring. 
We left the rivers behind at Cache Creek and headed north towards Prince George. We stopped for lunch at Chasm, which is just what it sounds like, a jagged hole in the ground. At the end of the last Ice Age, rushing waters from melting glaciers carved Chasm. Now that the glaciers have gone, all that’s left is a little creek tumbling into the enormous hole.
Towns ahead have names like 70 Mile House and 100 Mile House, denoting their position on the old Cariboo Trail, which connected Lillooet with the Cariboo’s gold fields. Back in 2005 we spent some time in 100 Mile House getting our trailer’s shackles replaced after our trip to Alaska with John and Edna.
We were passing big areas of burned forest. This area was hard hit by last year’s fires and many of these towns and even the major city of Williams Lake were evacuated for months.
We were happy that our planned campsite had escaped the flames. We’d stayed at Forest Lake before, on our way to Haida Gwaii. 
There was a line of trailers well established along the shoreline, probably families there for a cheap vacation, and we found a perch on the side of a hill overlooking the lake. Sandie wanted to check out the flowers around the lake but the bugs slowed us down and then rain swept in and we retreated.
Monday June 25th
It rained all night, giving us a muddy drive out. Getting out of our spot was problematic too as a corner of our perch had eroded away and we were in danger of dropping our back wheels into a hidden hole. It’s not hidden any more.
We met these bears on our way out to the access road. We saw the mama bear gazing up into a tree. Then we saw the cub on the ground, closer to us. Was she trying to tell the cub to climb the tree? It seemed to work as the cub climbed partway up. Then the mama bear seemed to decide we weren’t a danger as both of them ambled out of sight. Then to our surprise a second, smaller cub, almost hidden by the trunk, hurried down out of the treetop and followed the others.
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Forest bears (1.49) |
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