Date: 8 July 2001 (Sunday)

Start: Downtown RV Park, Watson Lake YT

End: West End Campground, Fort Nelson BC (326 miles)

The temperature was 48f when we got up. By the time we reached Fort Nelson, it reached 77f under partly cloudy skies. En route, we had a few sprinkles.

What a day! Bad stuff, good stuff, great stuff.

It started when I ignored the checklist and backed up the trailer with the rear stabilizer jacks down. The neighbors yelled or I’d have done worse damage than I did. Both jacks were ok, but their mounts were twisted. On one side, two (of four) mounting bolts were pulled out of the frame. On the other, the bolts held.

So we raised the jacks in their crooked mounts and proceeded, figuring to repair the damage in Fort Nelson. We fueled up and headed southeast. The road was good to Fireside. After that, there was a lot of construction, and long stretches of road with loose gravel spread over it. I think they do this so the traffic will pound down the loose stuff and later they can put down asphalt over it.

But then we began to see animals. Just south of Fireside, we saw a young female moose in the short brush to one side. The highway people up here cut down all trees and mow the brush down to a foot or two for 10-25 yards on each side of the road. This keeps drivers from being surprised by animals hopping out in front of them. It’s a great idea.

Of course, this short brush is good food for some animals (moose like young willows) and good shelter for the little animals (squirrels, voles) that larger animals like to eat.

The moose stayed out of the way as we crept by. Ten miles farther along, we spotted a black bear at the edge of the trees about 25 yards from the road. Dolores got video camera pictures of it. It looked as though the bear was cruising along the edge of the forest looking for berries or something to eat.

Then we started seeing stone sheep. First we saw a herd of a dozen or so on the shoulder of the road. They like to lick the gravel for the salt on it. Then Dolores spotted some sort of rodent, something like a groundhog, but she couldn’t identify it exactly.

Then there were some more sheep on a ledge off to one side where a river runs down the hill.

We stopped at the Poplars Campground, the place where we were trapped on the way up to Alaska due to the culvert failure. They close the restaurant and store on Sundays. We dropped off some of the pictures we had taken at the house and thanked them again.

Then we started seeing animals again. We saw a young elk with antlers.

Then there were stone sheep all over the place. A herd of three dozen or so had stopped traffic in both directions. When a car would try to sneak through, a sheep would panic and jump to the other side. Then there’d be sheep going both directions. Finally, we got through that mess.

Then we came to another herd, of 50 or so this time. Same story. Cars, busses, trucks, stopped by sheep. One bus snuck up on a sheep and touched it to try to move it. It didn’t. The darn things are absolutely convinced they own the place.

Next, we came upon a tagged small elk, probably a yearling. It was confused because we caught it in a cut with no easy way out. We just went slowly and it found a way out.

Then another elk showed up at Tetsa River, large rack and all, nibbling small stuff at the edge of the woods. Shortly after that we saw the last animal of the day, this time a black-tail deer munching at the edge.

What a day for animals! Of course the scenery was very nice as well, with several great scenes. There are fewer and smaller mountains along this stretch of road, but there are still many places where you can view a lake below you and mountains off to the horizon.

The traffic count stayed higher than when we went up to Alaska. Lots of RV’s still going north, a few going south.

We arrived at Fort Nelson and checked in at a campground we’d used on the way up. It took forever to get the little house level because the whole site sloped to the south or east or both. We finally got it the way we wanted it.

We went to refuel and to check that Dan’s Pub would be open at 5:00 for dinner (yes). Back then to the visitor’s center to check on the road to Fort Liard, Northwest Territory. It’s been raining here lately and we were worried that the road there would be bad or impassable. They didn’t have much information. One guy there said the road is horrible, but it’s always horrible.

We decided to try to go there tomorrow. If the road is real bad, we’ll turn around and come back. Fort Liard sounds like a neat place, though. Athabascan (Dene) Indians make things (including birch bark baskets that interest Dolores). Plus, who can say they’ve been to NWT?

I fixed one jack at the campground by cannibalizing the OEM ones we’d removed earlier this trip.

Then we went to Dan’s Pub for dinner. Dolores had prime rib and I had pesto halibut. Very good, as it had been on the way up.

Back at the campground, I started working on the other jack. Then a neighbor came by and a long talk ensued. He wanted information on the Top of the World highway, so I told him about that. He’s essentially following our path around Alaska.

Then he noticed the submarine sticker on the truck and said he had retired from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (that's Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the border, actually in Kittery, Maine) on 30 years service in 1993. We chatted a bit about that place (I was stationed there for a while, 40 years ago) and submarine shipyard work in general, then I had to break it off to work some more.

The second jack was a real pain, but it finally came together. The two missing bolts had stripped the threads in the frame as they were pulled out, so I had to use two larger bolts with self-tapping threads to replace them. It’s secure enough to last till we get home. When we do, I’ll have to have the holes filled and re-tapped to return things to normal.

All in all, it was a good day but it took some work to fix my self-inflicted damage. I hope I don’t do anything like that again.