Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 8

Double G Service – Muncho Lake: I got up first. Had no idea what time it was, so I washed up and headed out for some coffee. Lois had told us that Jack makes breakfast. Coffee at 6am, and breakfast starts after 7am. So, I went to the restaurant and saw Jack. He told me that the place had originally been built by an engineer in the 1940’s who had helped put in the Alaska Highway. At that time there were about 35 families that lived just S of where we were now. The Double G was an Esso dealer and was eventually sold to Earl and his wife. They ran the business for about 8 years until their kids left, and that’s when Jack and his brother (the two G’s) bought the place. Jack’s been through 3 wives – and not proud of it – but it’s a hard place for women to exist. I thought to myself - I would love it here. I asked him if it was the solitude, or the harsh climate that made his wives leave and he said it was a combination of both. Again, I knew I’d love it here. I liked Jack. He is an intelligent, down to earth, hard working man with a great sense of humor. He said the north had aged him about 15 years. Some years are good and some are bad, but overall, it’s been a good life. After mile 103 you are off the power grid, so everyone in the north country has a generator. It costs Jack about $5000/mo to generate the power he needs. The lodge up the road uses about $12,000 worth.


• I started to munch on my left over cinnamon roll from The Sherpherd’s Inn and Jack told me that he makes a cinnamon bun too. I put mine away and asked him for his. He plucked this LOAF of cinnamon bread out of the freezer, put it in the microwave, put a slab of butter on a plate next to it and handed it to me. It was heaven. No icing, just cinnamon roll. Dave came in so I offered the remaining ¾ of it to him. Jack said he had to go check the weather and asked Dave if he wanted to go with him. Four times a day he monitors a weather station and emails it to the Canadian Weather Service. Dave ate about 1/ 4 of the cinnamon roll and gave the remaining ½ to Rafael. Jack made us eggs, bacon and HOMEMADE hashbrowns for breakfast. I don’t remember ever having homemade hashbrowns before. I watched him peel and shred the potatoes. He even burnt the bacon for me! We checked our email from the café – he does have wireless – and sent Katlyn a Happy Birthday note.

• We hit the road at about 8:30am heading for Teslin. As we drove past the spot at the lake where we had walked the previous day, water was rushing into the lake from crevices in the mountainside. It must have rained in the mountains last night causing snow to melt. The water in the lake was an electric blue-green color in some spots that was just breathtaking. The Hwy is quite curvy here – the most we’ve seen so far on our trip. There is a steady light rain falling now and the temperature is about 44F. As we drive north, Rafael and I look out our windows on constant vigil for wildlife and Dave, old Eagle-eye watches from the driver’s seat. He saw another dark-phased Red-tail, and stopped suddenly and said “those are pipits”. Flipped a u-ey and sure enough a small flock of about 20 pipits were on the side of the road.

Mile 474 - Laird Springs – Laird River There is a flashing sign that says “bison next 130 km”.

Mile 511 – Just before The Coal River Bridge, we saw a huge Woodland Bison grazing on the side of the Hwy. There are less than 250 of them remaining in the wild. We’d seen piles of Bison poop all along the Hwy, but this was our first sighting.

 It’s now 44F and raining pretty steadily. About a mile past the bridge we saw another male grazing on the East side of the Hwy. No females. Dave thinks they are in their birthing season and probably deep in the woods under cover.

About ½ mile further up the road I was able to video a black bear walking along the east side of the Hwy.  I can't seem to get the video to upload here so, I'll put it on my facebook page.
Mile 528 – 4 Bison walking along the east side of the highway (right side). 11:01am and 42F Rain is coming down pretty good now. When we open our windows to take pictures we get soaked. Dave measured them up against the truck and it looks like the hood of the truck is midway up the height of the bison’s shoulder. It is really easy to keep a journal of our trip because I can plug the laptop into the power converter connected to the cigarette lighter. I have been able to download photos from the camera directly to an external harddrive. Then in the evening I upload my notes and photos to the blog website.

Mile 561 – Sign that says “Welcome to the Yukon”. Another bison grazing on the side of the road.
Watson Lake Stopped for gas at Campground Services – diesel $113.9/L and a potty break. At the Downtown RV Park, we pulled into the Wye Lake parking lot and scanned the lake for birds. A few Herring Gulls were floating on the rain drenched lake, and that’s about it. No wonder! It’s miserable! We drive a little further along, maybe a ¼ mile to the visitor’s center where the Watson Lake Signpost Forest surrounds the information building.

What a riot! Signs and license plates from all over the world are nailed to posts 15 feet high. Walking through the maze of posts is like walking through a forest of signs. Too funny. Wish the weather was better, but it is really cold and rainy and I’d rather go inside a look for field guides. Once inside, I found Dave and Rafael gathering informational booklets from the receptionist. She offers Dave and hammer and a few nails and he runs out, grabs the AREI license plate off the front of the truck and nails it to one of the posts!

We’re now a part of Yukon history. We walk through the signpost forest and find a sign that says “Oxford, Ohio – Home of Miami University”! How funny is that?!

• We stop at Kathy’s Café for lunch and I must say, it is true that for every 1 female we’ve seen at least 10 men. Fluffy would be in heaven. I send her a quick text saying, “It’s raining men!”, but I get an error message and it doesn’t go through.

• We cruise Watson Lake looking for grouse, but all we get are Chippies, Yellow-rumps, and Orange-crowned and a couple of juncos (not sure which ones yet). Again, the rain makes it impossible to see anything on the lake - 39F now. Reluctantly, we get back on the Hwy and head toward Teslin.

• Just past the Liard River bridge and the Albert Creek bridge is a sign for the Albert Creek Bird Observatory.

We turn in, hoping that Ted Murphy-Kelly, the station manager would be around – even though the weather is miserable. Down a muddy lane with ruts that make the Excursion bottom out (twice!) we finally arrive at the banding station nestled in a watery marsh. To our good fortune, he’s there working on the boardwalk and we get to visit with him and hear about all the great birds he gets.

Generally, Ted runs 23 nets, and has a staff of volunteers that help him. Neotropical migration has just begun, and we got good looks at Myrtle, Wilson and Orange-crowned Warblers and a Northern Waterthrush. The first bird I saw was a Song Sparrow, which Ted says is new for the station this year. I sure hope we can stop by on our way south in August and spend more time with him and his staff. He’s a neat guy and has a really beautiful location that begs to be explored.

Mile 742 Swan Lake Rest Area. The rain has stopped and it is 45F. It’s 5:40pm. What a beautiful lake.

There is a mountain, Simpson Peak, that is the remnant of a Mesozoic undersea volcano. It overlooks Swan Lake.

About a mile down the road Rafael caught a glimpse of a black fox walking along the bushes. It had a white tip to its tail. I flipped a u-ey, but couldn’t find it again.

Yukon Motel & Wildlife Museum – Got in around 6:38pm.

All the rooms were full, and when Dave went to register, they had our name and asked us how much we had been quoted. I pulled up Dave’s sheet with all of his contacts, and saw that it was $110. The young man at the counter looked surprised. He said that the cabins usually rent for $210/night. He called a manager on the phone, and after a few minutes offered to give us the cabin for $135. We are in Cabin #1.

We drove around the museum , past a low building with rooms 15, 16 & 17 and past a couple of other small cabins with no numbers. Directly in front of us was the lake and this GIGANTIC brand new log cabin. It was #1. I was stunned. There had to be a mistake. I took the key, walked up to the door and knocked – afraid that this was someone else’s cabin. No answer. The key fit, and I turned the lock and opened the door.

We walked into the most beautiful log cabin I have ever seen. I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe this was our room for the night. It was a fully furnished home with a great room (livingroom with sofas and flat screen TV, dining room with large table and 6 chairs and china cabinet), kitchen, bedroom, bath and laundry room on the first floor, and a loft large enough for 2 double beds and 2 recliners. You could have fit 2 more double beds up there and still had plenty of room for a couple of desks and dressers. The place even had a washer and dryer! It took me a good ½ hr to accept the fact that this was our cabin and that we were staying here for the night. It was such a contrast to the Double G at Muncho Lake.

• We grabbed 3 beers from the cooler and toasted our good fortune and soaked in the beauty of the location. Dave was immediately drawn to the large picture windows overlooking the lake, set up the scope and found Surf Scoters, Green & Blue Wing Teal, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye, American Golden and Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher and lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper and a Bald Eagle.

There were violet green, bank, cliff and barn swallows everywhere. His list goes on and on..

 I on the other hand was still in shock at the overwhelming beauty of the cabin and the views of the lake that all I could do was just “be”. I felt giddy after my Warsteiner Dunkel, and suggested that we walk to the restaurant and get some supper.

• Rafael and I ordered Fish& Chips and Dave had a beef dip sandwich. The salad was delicious. Dark leaf lettuce that hit the spot. After dinner, we wandered over to the museum and gift shop where the most beautiful taxidermy work I’ve ever seen was on display. There were moose, caibou, willow ptarmigan, wolf, fox, snowy owl, great grey owl and more that I can’t remember. They also had a nice assortment of polartec and fleece vests and jackets, jewelry and carvings.

• After dinner I worked on the Queen City Bird Festival report until my eyes burned from fatigue. We hit the rack at 10:30pm – exhausted, warm and totally happy.

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 7 Part 2

Mile 282 – Ft Nelson Heritage Museum, British Columbia, Canada. Population 4,694, elev 1383” Stopped for lunch and to pick up some postcards and look for a book on the trees of Northwest Canada. But no field guides. No bookstore in Ft Nelson either. But we did see a cool Snowshoe Hare running around the old trucks and machinery in the museum side yard!

Mile 304 Dave spots a Black Bear foraging on fresh shoots off to the left. We carefully cross the double yellow line and pull onto the shoulder facing the opposite direction and inch up to this adorable bear just 30 yards away from the truck. She moseyed along eating while Dave and Rafael quickly fired off 50 pictures of her! She was not bothered by us at all! This is the best view I’ve ever had of a black bear. When we were in Alaska for our honeymoon, we caught a glimpse of one crossing the road, but it was far away and was deep in the woods by the time we got to where we’d seen it. This sighting has definitely been the highlight of the trip!

Mile 339 Saw another Black Bear that had an injured front right leg. We watched it hobble for a little while. Very sad. It has begun to sprinkle and in the distance it looks like it is snowing in the mountains. About a mile or so back, we stopped at a scenic view pull-out and got some great panoramic views of the valley below. I also got Dave marking his territory! LOL! It so very dry here. I can feel my face pulling as it dries out. I even used a heavier moisturizer, and was actually regretting that it was so heavy, but now I realize that it is not heavy enough. I have been using my chapstick hourly, and still my lips are chapped. I can feel the grit of dust in my teeth.

Mile 435 - Double G Service – Muncho Lake: The Alaska Hwy runs along a 7-nile section of the lake. Muncho Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in BC and the best way to see it is aboard the 32’ Sandpiper where you can have a narrated tour about the natural history of the lake and area - Summer months only. The lake is almost completely covered with ice now.

• Got in to the Double G at 7:30pm and saw a couple of ladies walking across the parking lot with travel coffee mugs. They told us that the restaurant closed at 8pm, so we high-tailed it over to the restaurant. When you walk in, you are in an old barely stocked store and to the left is a screen door leading to a room with a small kitchen table. We walked in and found a couple of truckers having a meal and a crusty woman named Lois. She told us that she had one pork chop left and some beef stew. Dave and I got the stew and Rafael got the chop. It was delicious and the homemade bread (white or brown) was phenominal. The slices of bread were HUGE! There was a young couple from Nevada whose car had broken down and they were staying here and working off their room and board until an alternator arrived for their car. The young woman was about 7 months pregnant and they were on their way to Anchorage where he had a job waiting for him. Jack the owner asked if we were “Russell” and told us that room 4 was unlocked and ready for us. He told us that there was a space heater in the room that we could plug in to take the chill off, and to please unplug it when we went to sleep. We ate our meal and talked with a Trucker who hauls petroleum between Edmonton and Whitehourse. He was on his way to Ft Nelson tonight and he has been stopping here at the Double G for over 10 years. They have the best food in the area. At 8:30 Lois and Jack left to go watch American Idol, but Lois made sure to tell us that they are NOT a couple!

• After our HUGE meal, we walked down to Muncho lake. Most of the lake is still covered with ice that created the most unusual vertical spires rising up out of the floating ice. Jacks says it is called “ice candling”. Holes punch through where underwater springs force water toward the surface. We can hear the tinkling sound as rafts of ice bump into each other, forcing the ice to shatter into clear spires of quartz-like crystals. It was fascinating, calming and relaxing - I feel at peace here. Rafael finds a pile of rocks and takes a seat gazing off into the distance. He is in heaven. This is how I’ve seen him in the field – in the mountains of Miquihuana – sitting on a perch overseeing the landscape and just “being”. There were some ducks along the far southwestern shore – mainly Shovellers, and California and Mew Gulls flying about. They have a landing strip that is used by outfitters and other emergency suppliers. Jack gets his food down in Edmonton at the wholesale food supplier, and then truckers bring him other supplies as needed. While we were eating breakfast on Wednesday morning (May 19th), a trucker arrived and carried in several bags of powdered sugar.

• We had room 4 that had 2 double beds in it and all of the furniture was homemade. I immediately got the creeps. I thought that the room would have bed bugs in it and started to get really grossed out and insisted on sleeping in my clothes. The boys were laughing so hard, Rafael was crying. They loved the room! When I went into the bathroom (which was carpeted from the 1970”s) I wondered when the carpet had been last cleaned. But, to my surprise the bathroom was spotless. When I went back out into the room, and looked closer, it was spotless too. The furnishings were shabby and well used, but everything was clean. I felt much more comfortable and climbed into bed next to Dave. The sheets were polartec and there were 3 blankets and a comforter on the bed. I slept like a baby.

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 7 - On the Alaska Highway

Mile 0 – Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. Population 10,994, elev 655m/ 2,148’


• Named after George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada, Dawson Creek was settled in 1912. Growth accelerated during World War II, as this was the southern terminus of the Alaska Hwy. The highway was then called the Alcan Military Hwy and it served as a supply road to bases in Alaska. The Mile Zero Cairn, which marks the start of the Alaska Hwy, and the Zero Milepost are in the center of town.

• The Alaska Highway was built by the US military and the first train carrying troops arrived in Dawson Creek on March 2 1942. Tons of supplies and equipment and thousands of troops were brought in over the Northern Alberta Railroad.

We head out of town toward Ft Nelson.

Mile 20 – Kiskatinaw River Bridge

• We see the turn off for the old historic Kiskatinaw wooden bridge and flip a u-turn to go back and check it out. As get approach the turn-off, a big truck drives past and kicks up a rock that cracks our front windshield right behind the rear view mirror! I take a quick photo, plug in my cell phone, connect to broadband and send and email with a photo of the crack to our insurance agent back home. No time to fix it – we’ve got to be in Fairbanks by the weekend. I hope it doesn’t spider too badly and start leaking!

• We take the turn off and drive a stretch of the original Alaska Highway over the historic wooden 531-ft Kiskatinaw River Bridge. The sign before the bridge warns drivers not to stop on the bridge, and my heart starts pounding as we enter the bridge and I look down to see the river far below. The road is wooden beams and Dave comments on what it must have been like for the men to have hung from ropes to build the struts for the bridge. Men much braver than I’ll ever be, that’s for sure! On the other side of the bridge, Dave blurts out “Orange-crowned” and “White-throat” as he hears them singing in the nearby trees.

• We turn around to get a picture of the historical marker and drive back onto Hwy 97 and head toward Taylor.

• About mile 21 we see a female Harrier flying over a field on the East side of the road and on the opposite side of the road is a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a fence post.



Mile 34.5 Taylor: Peace River Bridge ( 712 meters) crossing the Peace River. Population 1200.

• Nestled on the banks of the majestic Peace River, Taylor is home to a $40 million natural gas scrubbing plant and oil refinery that are the beginning of a 700-mile natural gas pipeline which supplies Vancouver and western Washington state.

Mile 72 – The Shepherd’s Inn – 10am, 51F We’d read about the cinnamon rolls here and just had to try them. So good! They remind me of the ones Aunt Patty used to make at Christmas time. I picked up a postcard of Muncho Lake and Dave got a book on the pictorial history of the Alaska Highway, “The Trail of ‘42” by Stan Cohen. A quick walk near the edge of the campground gave us good looks at Warbling Vireo and Yellow Warblers. Dave heard a Mourning Warbler, but it only sang once, and we didn’t get to see it.

Mile 80 Rest Stop – A light rain continues to fall as we pull off at the rest stop and the temperature has dropped to 50F. A Western Tanager male is singing on the top of a really tall spruce. Butter butts, RCKI and GCKI and White-throated Sparrows.
Mile 130 – Rounding a bend in the highway we caught our first glimpse of snow-capped mountains off to the NW. Breathtaking! Rafael is so excited! This is what he has been waiting to see. The rain continues to fall, sometimes hard and then backing off to a light sprinkling. As we drive through Pink Mountain and past the Motor lodge there, Rafael remarks that the mountains are just like he has seen in the movies. “The same stuff!” The temperature continues to drop – it’s now 47F and my feet are freezing. I’ve got an undershirt, long sleeve shirt and my MSJ polartec jacket on and still, the boys are freezing me out. They, of course, are quite comfortable, so I keep the laptop plugged into the power converter so that it is warm and keep it on my lap. My own personal space-heater. I am really amazed at how skinny the black spruce is. Dave says they remind him of a scene from the Lord of the Rings. They are not pretty like blue spruce, not full, but dark, and half dead looking. But that needle-like slenderness is so unusual.

Mile 153 (we zero’d at the Mile “0” marker in downtown Dawson Creek) there is a cut through the forest – maybe for a gas pipeline. To the east Rafael spotted a Black Bear in the cut. I saw it too. Way cool!

Mile 159 - just before descending to the Sikanni Chief River Bridge - we saw a huge female elk standing at the edge of the woods near the Hwy. We stopped to take her picture, but she hopped off into the cover of the trees.

Mile 176 the rain has stopped and the road is dry. We can see the snow-capped mountains to our left glowing in the sunlight. The road is surprisingly smooth. A 2 lane highway with wide shoulders in most places. Cleared land about 100 feet wide are on either side of the Hwy, and then it is forests for as far as the eye can see. Interspersed sporadically are dirt roads leading deep into the wilderness and an occasional pull off for RVs and trucks.
Mile 185 we saw a male Harrier fly by. To our left – West – we can see a wide valley slowly rising to the snow capped Rocky Mountains.
Mile 187 a huge Woodland Caribou walked across the Hwy. We quickly pulled over and started snapping photos.

Then a second caribou appeared form the left and walked to the center of the highway and stopped. A truck coming up behind use slammed on its brakes and barely missed hitting it, before it jumped to the east side of the road.

About a ½ mile up, Dave spotted a couple of Gray Jays chasing bugs – very cool! Temp is now 60F and the sky is a solid mass of grey and white clouds, with an occasional open spot showing blue sky above. Several Northern Harriers along the way.

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 5-6

Outside our hotel in Edmonton we saw a pair of absolutely gorgeous Swainson's Hawks.  After breakfast, we headed north toward Dawson Creen, British Columbia.  This was my first day riding with the boys in the Excursion.  It was a beautiful day, 57 degrees F at 8:15am.  We headed north on Hwy 2 to Hwy 16W to Hwy 43N to Dawson Creek.  Gas cost us $86.6/L Canadian.  The woods are changing to spruce, pine, aspen and white birch on rolling hills.  We stopped for lunch at the Virginia Hills Rest Stop around noon and it was a balmy 70 degrees F.

At just about Fox Creek, AB, Rafael spotted a dark hawk in a tree.  We flipped a U-turn and circled back to get a better look at it.  It was a dark phased Red-tailed Hawk.  Just beautiful!

But, just as we started snaping our photos, it took off and flew right across the highway!  Way cool!

As we moved further into the Grand Prairie, we saw a small herd of bison and this cute Savannah Sparrow.

We arrived in Dawson Creek, BC at about 5pm - mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway and stopped for a couple of photos.

You'll have to ask Dave about the crack whore who sidled up to him as we drank our beer...  its a great story!

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 3-4

Days 3-4 brought the boys to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where I flew in and met them.  They got some great looks at Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Horned Grebes.

When I arrived at the Edmonton airport I completely missed seeing Dave and the truck, because it was "tan" instead of it's usual dark green color!

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 2

The route took Dave and Rafael into North Dakota.  Rafael got some fabulous photos of Black-capped Chickadee and American Bittern.

As the boys travelled through the country side, they began seeing pot holes with lots of duck species, like these Blue-winged Teal.

Alaska Expedition 2010 - Day 1

Dave and Rafael left home at about 11am and headed north.  The truck was packed to the point of swelling!  I have no idea how they fit everything in there!  With bird guides in hand they took off in the pouring rain, and drove through Illinois

to Wisconsin.  Between rain showers they caught glimpses of beautiful flower gardens popping up with Spring.  I love this Spiderwort photo Rafael took!  The landscape was flat, and they saw windmill farms and couldn't help but think about alternative sources of energy and how we need to figure out a way to generate energy in a safe way. 

The further north they drove, the more they noticed that the foilage was changing too. It was a lighter green and less abundant, making them feel like they had stepped back in time about a month.