16-20JUL15 - Various YT & BC, Canada (mostly driving back to wa state)

16JUL, Thursday, was a beautiful drive to Watson Lake, YT - the portion of the drive from Teslin, YT, to Watson Lake we had already driven on the drive to Alaska on the AlCan.  We stayed at same RV park next to Sign Post Forest as before.  After relaxing from the drive we visited the Sign Post Forest to make sure our sign that we hung on 17JUN (see BLOG link) was still there.  Then we went to the Visitor Centre to turn in our Yukon “passports” for our free pin & a chance for a one ounce gold nugget.  We noticed a big RV caravan on the drive, apparently heading to AK; another big caravan pulled into our RV park right after our arrival, also heading to AK.  255 miles driven.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2015/06/1617jun15-watson-lake-yt-some-roadside.html

Friday we started heading south thru British Columbia (BC) on the Cassiar Highway (BC 37) – a sealcoated road with lots of curves & 7% grades.  It is certainly drivable by any RV, but you would be hard pressed to maintain the fifty mile/hour speed limit.  A very beautiful drive, but it took five hours of driving to go 220 miles & seemed like eight hours of driving.  The road transits a sparsely populated portion of Canada, where it is not unusual to have more than 100 miles between gas stations.  After parking the RV in Iskut, BC, we headed to the RV park’s restaurant for a late lunch & to use their wifi for a few hours.  221 miles driven.

Saturday morning we continued our scenic drive south on the Cassiar Highway.  Unfortunately about 30% of the scenery has been marred by the clear cutting of trees & installation of new power lines.  We know more energy is needed, & BC is rich in hydro power; just wish it could have been routed w/less impact on the beautiful environment.

Eventually we switched over to Trans Canada 16 into Smithers BC.  After checking into our RV park in Smithers we disconnected the Toad & made a small grocery run.  Note - BC is experiencing record heat.  316 miles driven.

Sunday, 19JUL, we continued our push home on Trans Canada 16 to Prince George, BC.  Another record heat day in BC.  The scenery changes from vast tracts of sparsely populated wilderness, to large farm/ranch areas w/small towns & villages (ie we are back in “civilization”).  We ran across cheap diesel ($1.08/liter) in a small village & stopped hopefully for our last fuel stop in Canada?  Our RV/Toad took up so much room at the pump that we blocked the exit, other customers had to back outJ.  221 miles driven.

Monday was a very long drive (for us) so that we can get back to the house in Sultan, WA, with only a short drive tomorrow.  We left Prince George on BC 97 (aka Cariboo Highway) heading almost due south to the USA/Canada border.

Another beautiful drive along the Fraser River, Thompson River, Camelsfoot Range & Lillooet Range.  After seven hours & 355 miles we parked for the night in Boston Bar, BC.  200 miles left to go!