Lillooet My Love Day 25 Part 2

OK. Here's the deal. We saw everything between here and the Arctic Ocean and some of it was pretty thrilling. It is one gigantic, stunning and rugged land out here in Beautiful British Columbia, the Yukon and NW Territories. 

But…

Back south...Day 25 Part 1

After leaving cousin Bill yesterday we travelled south through heavy smoke to Quesnel where we stayed the night at a lovely campground on Dragon Lake. It so reminded me of Southern Ontario cottage country. Kids canoing off the docks, cottages ringing a placid lake. Very nostalgic for me. We woke this morning to more heavy smoke.

dealing with the fires...

Hi folks, we're inching our way homeward. Had a wonderful day with my surrogate brother (in reality my cousin Bill) who lives in Hudson's Hope BC. We had a great time of chat and sharing of family news and information and all too soon it was time to hit the road again. Many hugs later we took off through the smoke. We had smoke coming down through the northern Rockies, Hudson's Hope was wrapped in it with the sun a mere shapeless blob in the sky.

FIRE

We arrived to Hudson's Hope BC on the eastern side of the province and spent yesterday with my cousin Bill. The smoke here is heavy, obscuring the sun. The two huge fires on the west side of BC at Telegraph Cove and Dease Lake have now merged into one massive fire. Apparently, the smoke is reaching east to Ontario. I would remind folks that we passed through Dease Lake on our way north to the Alaska Highway just a couple of weeks ago. The fire season here is very bad right now. On our route home there is currently a fire burning at Horseshoe Bay, where the Vancouver ferry leaves for Nanaimo. That one seemingly is under control. Nearer home, there is another fire burning on Nanaimo Lakes Road where we have friends living. We have not heard from them but we hope all is well.

Fire is part of a normal regenerative cycle in the north, but terrifying for us humans (and other animals) to be caught in its power. We do not expect any issues for our trip home from Hudson's Hope, but wll check in daily to update.

Barbara Rick and Flossie

BC Highway 97 to Fort Nelson Day 20 Part 1

Note: This post somehow didn't make when originally posted, here it is now.

After an early start, the drive suddenly became more exciting. We hadn't gone far when this road side warning perked us up.

Sure enough, a very big fellow sauntered across the road in front of us. We were thrilled.
















Just another mile or so down the highway we saw cluster of vehicles stopped, and we had a premonition this would mean something big. It did. Verry big. A herd  of 30-40 bison grazing away on the wide clearances on either side of the highway.  You can see below that there were big ones, little ones, bulls and cows.

The other side of the road even more of them

We came closer at a snail's pace and several big guys decided now was a good time to check us out.

This one tried to stare us down!

He gave that tactic up and sauntered past us...

Some just stood sideways and decided to take a breather..

And some just were too lazy to bother with any of it.

Of course we were thrilled with that experience. But around a corner something else caught us off guard. A cluster of 3-4 cariboo in the other lane were having a group discussion, but I had no chance to photograph anything. However just ahead in our lane was a young doe, so I snapped her. All in all, we saw 2 black bear, 3-4 cariboo, 1 black wolf and the herd of 30-40 bison on this trip, all of them in BC.

This day was one of the best ones of the whole trip. And the scenery was spectacular!!  (next entry).

Barbara Rick and Flossie the wonder campfire girl

The Alaska Highway (97) through Northern BC Day 20 Part 2

This stretch of the Alaska Highway through the Northern Rockies is one of most oustanding natural beauty we have experienced. I don't know why we haven't discovered  this until now, but we are thrilled to have eperienced it. Given that this is the main route for Americans travelling across BC and the Yukon to Alaska, we were astounded at how deserted it was. We had it mostly to ourselves the entire route. We started out in a noticeable haze from a forest fire, and there was a strong smell of smoke, but we never did know where the fire was. It caused a number of the photos to have a surrealistic blue tint. After a few hours, we finally left the smoke haze behind and the sun broke through. There is no point in making text for the following set of photos as they are all self explanatory….the last photo is the camp ground we are staying at tonight (Tetsa River Lodge). This personal "discovery" of the Northern Rockies is probably one of the top highlights of our trip.

Barbara Rick and Flossie the freeloader

Teslin inland Tlingit Heritage House

We stopped at Teslin, Yukon Territory around 3PM to give us time to visit the Tlingit Heritage House. The Inland Tlingit migrated to this location from Juneau Alaska, up through Atlin Lake to here. They retain close ties to the coastal Tlingit as well as to the inland Tlingit at Atlin Lake.

The  Tlingit are master carvers of totem poles, as you can see below. Can you guess each animal, amphibian or bird?

Inside, a message hung on the wall.

Next door is another museum dedicated to George Johnston, a  very important and successful Tlingit who was the first native to open a store in Teslin. He was fascinated by photography so he ordered a camera kit from Eaton's and took some magnificent early photos of local families. These are on display in the museum. I told the young woman at the desk that my grandmother in Scotland was a Johnston. She told me her name was Denise Johnston. In fact 99% of Teslin has the name Johnston. So I asked who was the first Johnston. She went very pensive. "I don't know " she said."But I will find out". So she called several people on her phone but nobody could answer that question. I told her I was a person who did a lot of historical research and I would love to research the first Johnston if I only had a name. She looked at me and said "Maybe we are cousins!!" and we both smiled. I left my email and she gave me hers, so perhaps I will hear from her and learn just who was the first Johnston to bestow his name and paternity on this amazing group of people.

Barbara Rick and Flossie the well heeled travellin' dawg