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Day 22 Saturday, July 8 Saturday July 8, I drove 592 miles from Whitehorse, Yukon N60 40.985 W135 03.564 to Ft. Nelson, British Columbia N58 48.152 W122 41.161 Another long day, after a big breakfast I left Whitehorse at 6:30am, I arrived in Ft. Nelson about 10:00pm.
This the river boat from the 1970's There was no park around it or visitors center. The inside of the boat was empty.
This bear was in the middle of the road stopping traffic. He would let passenger cars go by, but would stop motor homes looking for a handout. At first glance he looks like a human. Picture from 1975.
A winter picture from 1975. I looked for the smooth white area between the trees and figured it was the road. That worked as I did not run off the road. The temperature at this time was about twenty below zero. Very cold.
I did not see many cars, when one came along I slowly pulled over as far as I dared, they would do the same. When driving at speed the snow was so cold and dry it would make a cloud of white like dust on a dirt road. Picture from 1975.
It is hard to see where the real road is, just follow the tracks in front of you. I did not drive late at night, as the temperature was very cold. And it was hard to see.
Early morning, driving east into the sun. 1975
After Whitehorse comes Teslin for a gas stop and then on to Watson Lake.
The Watson Lake Sign Post Forest gets bigger every year.
People steal road signs from all over the country and bring them up here.
By 2:00pm I had eaten lunch and filled up with gas. And was back to the road again.
Here is a 1975 picture of the Watson Sign posts, at that time they were in one long line along the road.
There are a lot more signs today than thirty years ago.
I did not have a sign with me in 1975, but I had a "Jamul Swings" bumper sticker which I put up. The "Jamul Swings" slogan was begun by a real estate office after the 1970 wild fire that nearly destroyed Jamul. It was meant to let people know that Jamul was not a hick place to live. Unfortunately it meant something else to some other people, and I was picked on for a while.
Along in here the noise started up again in the transmission. These little road houses along here did not seem like a good place to stop and tear the car apart so I kept on driving.
I am glad this herd of Buffalo was not in the road. There were many of them.
The sky was darkening and I was getting tired of the noise from the transmission area.
The rain I have been running from caught up with me but lasted for only about an hour. The noise was getting louder and constant, so I reached over and shut the engine off. When I did that I felt a vibration in the dash, but not the transmission. Puzzled I pulled over and thought about it for about a minute. The speedometer was the only moving part on the dash. I grabbed a trash bag to lay on and crawled under the car to disconnect the cable to the speedometer.
Back on the road again and no noise, what a dummy I thought i should have tried that sooner. With no speedometer I would rely entirely on the GPS for speed and mileage. Which worked better as the GPS can be programmed for Kilometers instead of MPH.
A camper pulled off the road for a break, in most of Northern Canada, it is OK to stop where ever you want too. I did not see any Mounties on the entire trip.
This part of the road goes through Muncho Lake Provincial Park.
Muncho Lake goes on forever, drive carefully as there are no guard rails.
This was taken in 1975 and looks the same today.
Most of the Alaska Highway has been improved and widened. The road through the park is paved but not widened.
I like their signs, I understand it as caution Moose, or caribou ahead.
I drove through the park and enjoyed it a lot. I stopped in Toad River for gas. There was a group of College students from the Los Angeles area there for the summer to canoe the river. Their Canoe's had been held up at the border for a week trying to get through customs. They were not happy campers.
I kept my eyes open for animals as I drove through this area, I saw a few but when I stopped they went into the trees and I could not get any pictures.
There was a landslide here and the road needed to be repaired. 1975
Here the river washed the road away. 1975
The sky is clearing, I must have out run the storm.
The picture on the left was taken in dim light, but there are three mountain goats eating something along the road. I stopped and tried to get close enough for a good picture, but they jumped down the embankment and out of sight. The only thing that has changed in this picture from 1975 (on right) is the paved road and guard rails are installed.
This is Pink Mountain. You can see the colors and the up-lift of the earths crust, 1975.
This is Summit, a pass in the mountains on the way to Fort Nelson, where I arrived at 10:00pm. I was done for the day, I got a roadside motel room and slept good.
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