White Road to the Sea, April 2014

Only tourist stop in Montana

Salmo/Creston Pass

Kathleen and I stuffed the car with all our gear and then stuffed ourselves all the way to Nelson, B.C.:  supper in Missoula with Gerg, homemade pumpkin pie and rhubarb muffins in Trout Creek with Bill and Val,  and rockin’ Moroccan stew with Vivian on the Kootenay River in Canada.

On our second night I danced at the God and Run Club in Nelson with Tui, a Sufi leader, and many of my dance friends.  We spent the night with gracious Terry Hayat and danced all the next day.

Dancing with Tui at the Rod and Gun Club

Sabora, Wahita and Astarte

Visiting Chetwynd, Chairsaw Art Capital

Easter Sunday we drove north on an empty road through the most beautiful part of the trip:  the Slocan Valley where we stopped for geocaching in New Denver, took the ferry across Upper Arrow Lake on the Columbia, continued north to Kamloops and camped on the Clearwater River in a mostly snow-free but chilly campsite.  Saw our first mosquito!  The campsite was 200 feet from the Canadian RR.  I dreamt of trains all night long.

So much mud on her shoes that she left them in the car.

That morning we started listening to the book, Mrs. Mike, about a young wife and her mountie in 1907.  We drove and listened, surrounded by snow, mountains and ice covered lakes.   The stupendous scenery attended us all the way to Prince George where we raided ValuVillage for a second sleeping bag for Kathleen.  Other than the mountains the high point of the day was Chetwynd, Chainsaw Art Capital of the World.   

Muncho Lake

Again the only campers, we tented at snow-free Dinosaur Lake at Hudson’s Hope where quite ironically the characters in our audiobook had just moved!  Weird coincidence to have both ourselves and the heroes in our somewhat obscure book arrive on the same day in this equally obscure little hamlet.  Did this connection mean we should be marrying Mounties and moving to the wonderful little village? 

Our sixth day took us to Ft. Nelson and Kathleen’s first quilt shop.  Her mission was to stop at all of the shops in northern B. C and the Yukon, all three of them.  We drove through Muncho Provincial Park but saw no animals other than two young Tennessee girls off for summer adventures in Alaska.

That windy, cold, snowy night we were ready to bail out of camping but the lodge was too pricey so we camped at Liard Hot Springs.  I was afraid of being uncomfortable but the soak in the hot springs got us heated up enough so that the night in the cold tent and the cold car wasn’t so bad.  In the morning we jumped in for a re-heat before breakfast.

Camping at Liard Hot Springs, thank heavens they plowed out the campsites.

Right time of year to visit Liard.

White Pass and then the drop to Skagway.

The next night we made the Beez Knees Hostel in Whitehorse where we were warm in a private room, cooked dinner in the kitchen and indulged in hot showers.  Thursday was a lazy rest day.  Kathleen spent the afternoon quilting with the locals and I walked along the Yukon River which was in the middle of break-up.  Supper was at a Filipino restaurant/Asian grocery store.  Who would have thought that over 10% of Whitehorse was Filipino?  The government is trying to develop the Yukon.  Maybe no one else wants to move there?

Friday we drove again through uber-scenic  mountains to Carcross (Caribou Crossing), over White Pass, and then down, down, down to the Lynn Canal and Skagway where my new job and apartment awaited us.