The Big Trip - Toad River to William A. Switzer Provincial Park

Greetings at Toad River Lodge.

2915 km - We're having a pleasant drive on Hwy. 97, we've seen six more sheep, a black bear, and some deer. We also made a pit stop at Toad River and had some scrumptious cookies.

Hey sheep!

Space sheep.

That'll be close enough, thanks.

Bears are best from a safe distance.

3004 km - Foiled! Or maybe 'saved' would be a better word. A friendly gas station attendant told us the road in the NWT was in rough shape and apparently it has been closed and washed out for awhile. We are disappointed to miss the NW but we'll try to take advantage of the time in Jasper/Banff. For now we will make do in Fort Nelson.

What more could you want in a store?

Stay classy, Fort Nelson.

3005 km - After a nigth at the Lakeview Hotel, we are heading out on our altered route. We showered, which was great. And Dan's Neighbourhood Pub supplied us with a hot meal. Life is good.

3308 km - Our detour route is a pretty boring drive, there was even an odometer check at one point. We have seen some wildlife though. We saw a mother bear with three cubs putting our black bear count up to 17. We saw 6 wild horses but what we've really been looking out for are moose or caribou. Unfortunately we saw one a few minutes ago, she was dying a slow death on the shoulder of the road.

It was strange to see horses just wandering around by the road.

In Dawson Creek.

3480 km - We have spent much of our trip on Hwy. 97, but after reaching Mile '0' of the Alaska Highwway we are heading southeast on Hwy. 2. This will be our last BC highway. We're almost in Alberta.

3521 km - Weeeeee! We are in Alberta. We will miss BC. BC Parks and Tourism sure made planning the first leg of our trip easy. Thanks to all the wonderful people we've encountered so far in BC, AK and the Yukon.

Province #2!

My, that's a big beaver you've got there. (In Beaverlodge.)

Grand Prairie is the proud home to the 2nd biggest Sun Dial in N.A.

3852 km - So, Cam and I are chickening out. We drove over 800 km today to camp a couple of hours out of Jasper, only to decide to drive another 100 km and find a hotel. The reason? Crazy lightning and intermittent downpours. Rain we were ready for, we have the tarps to prove it. But the lightning scared us off. Are you supposed to sleep in a tent among the trees in lightning? I guess the truth is that Cam and I are still fine tuning our camping skills. We still have many camping nights ahead of us - let's hope we actually camp.

3937 km - Ok, I take back some of my last entrry. Cam and I did camp after all. We drove about an hour closer to Jasper and the lightning storm seemed to stop - so we set up camp. And saw a moose, completely alive and everything. Now we are off to Jasper.

Moose at night.

Cam at night.

Cam's hair at dawn.