0050 27th June - Dawson Creek to Jasper

 Beautiful blue sky morning in Dawson Creek – And we were camping on grass (instead of gravel or permafrost !!) for about the first time since we started, which was a pleasant change.  Chatted to a couple of our neighbours who had come over and gave us a Dawson Creek stick pin after seeing all the Australian stickers on the car, had a really good shower, and packed up slowly.  We had one more go at wifi but it just doesn’t work up here.  Says you have a connection, but as soon as you try to do anything it drops out. So very frustrating.   Anyway, after trying, we then hit the road – All of 2 kms into town for photos at the “Start of the Alaska Highway” sign.

While waiting to take a photo by the sign, saw a car with Argentinian plates and went over to say hi. lovely young couple,   , who have been on the road for 4 years !  They are artists, and perform along the way, and were really enjoying themselves.  Fun to chat to them and swap tales for a while.

Then as we took the photo by the “Start of the Dalton Highway” sign, an American very kindly came up and told us that this was not the “real” sign – the real one was apparently a couple of hundred yards away, in the middle of the “old” original highway !!!  So we thanked him and drove off to find it – and when we saw it we understood the stick pin of Dawson Creek that we had been given – We thought it was the number “1”, and couldn’t understand it, but then when we saw the sign, we realised it was just a replica of the Highway start sign for which Dawson Creek is famous, and isn’t really a number “1” at all !! 

 

Anyway, photos taken to prove we had driven the entire length of the Alcan (Alaska / Canadian) Highway, we set off south again towards Jasper.  Still in Oil Country, we passed quite a lot of land rigs, a couple of Nabors Drilling rigs right beside the road.  Generally the road isn’t too exciting, with lots of big trucks, and as the weather was a bit wet for a while, it wasn’t much of a fun drive. Just one of those that had to be done in order to get to the next place.

 

Then you arrive in the Jasper area, quite suddenly.  And there are lakes and mountains and it is a stunning approach into the park.  Some of the lakes are so ice blue from the glacier run off and the particles in suspension, but they don’t really come out in the pics.  I knew where the best campsite was from 2 years ago, and I was concerned that with it being a Friday, a long weekend for Canada Day on 1^st July, and the start of school holidays, we might not get a spot.  So we went straight to the camp site at about  6 pm – And there was a big queue at the entrance – Uh oh.   Then a ranger came down the line, asked if we had a reservation, and when we said no we feared the worst.  But then she said, you are lucky, we should be able to fit you in OK, but only for one night – Tomorrow we are booked solid !!  And Banff camp sites are the same, she said.  Anyway, we were in for tonight and would worry about Banff tomorrow.  The Jasper National Park site is beautiful, in acres and acres of trees so you don’t feel over crowded even when it is full.  We drove to our site passing a number of elk just grazing as they wandered through the camp site.  Great spot, set up camp, had a yummy steak for dinner, and turned in, happy to be in such a beautiful spot.

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0050DawsonCreekToJasper?authkey=Gv1sRgCLCo2Mrh_JrnlAE#