7/5/19 - Day 7 - Dust on the Trail and Hazy Sun

We made it up to the Alcan today. It was a relatively uneventful drive from Deese Lake on the Cassiar Highway. We did see the rump of a large moose as it disappeared into the bushes and then later a grizzly ambling along in the ditch by the road. Compared to yesterday's animal sightings, it was a slow day.

We traveled through a variety of forests again today and we covered over 300 miles. The skinny alpine spruce gave way to more arid pine forest. We passed through a large burned out area just south of where the Cassiar connects to the Alcan. There was also a section with a lodge pole pine forest. There were also many lakes and rivers. The Cassiar is a gorgeous road and could provide many different camping /fishing spots.
These are the stages the jade goes through
from rough stone to polished bear.





Jade City was one stop today. It was interesting to see how they process the raw jade into the finished products. We bought a few pieces to see if we can work them into usable items. Looking at the uncut boulders though, it seems like we have seen rocks like this around. It is hard to tell from the exterior what the interior looks like!

They have been doing road work on the Alcan, so every 5 or 10 kilometers there are "SLOW" signs because they laid down gravel to seal the roadbed. Some people follow the posted speeds, but most just flew by with dust clouds billowing in their wake.

The dust extended to the RV sites we stopped at. We did stop at Johnson's Crossing, dust and all. It turns out they have a great diner and bakery. We can smell smoke from forest fires here and the sun is a hazy orange. We asked the cook about the location of the fires. He thought they were near Dawson, guess we'll find out in a day or so.

We should reach Whitehorse tomorrow and will turn north from there. As I write this it is 10 PM and the sun is still well above the horizon.
A glimpse of the burned out forest.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 – Searching for Some Sunshine

Image
We headed south from Olympia, driving through gloomy rain showers until we were well east of Portland, Oregon. Our destination? The Total Eclipse of the sun in Texas, which will occur on April 8th. That will give us about 9 days to travel the 3,000+ miles. I always forget the interesting geology that is exposed in the Columbia River gorge. The varying shapes of the basalt columns kept my interest for miles on end. Especially this time of year, spring, there were many waterfalls spraying the cliffs, and Multnomah Falls was roaring! Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host location in Echo, Oregon. The host was Echo Ridge Cellars. They have a nice flat gravel lot for Harvest Host guests.   The wines sold are pressed from their vineyard which is about 3 miles away. The building itself is my favorite part. They have restored and updated an old grain elevator. The inside of the elevator was left exposed so visitors can see the construction. It is very solid 2x6 boards stacked flat, rat
Read more

Day 9 – Side Trip to the Border

Image
With an extra day before our reservation at Lake Brownwood State Park for the eclipse, we debated where to go. Pat suggested a side trip down to Del Rio and/or Eagle Pass at the US-Mexican border which had been in the news of late. After looking over our maps, we decided to just go take a look at it. (Our apologies, this blog is longer than our normal ones, but it was a very interesting excursion) We drove down Hwy 277 through relatively flat terrain. There was scrub brush and cactus for miles and miles. When news reporters talk about illegal immigrants disappearing into the brush, we could easily see how that could be. Someone could be just feet away from the edge of the road and not be seen. The two-lane road was a good road with regular passing lanes. The further south we went the sparser the traffic became. It was kind of eerie and we wondered at times if we should be heading down there.   “Was this really a good idea?” However, curiosity kept us going. About thirty miles fro
Read more

Day 7 – A Window, the Wind, and Warriors

Image
The sun was out all day today as we traversed Arizona. There were so many choices of roadways, where would the wind blow us? We headed out from Page onto the scenic Hwy 98 with Navajo Sandstone cliffs to the north and periodically solitary sculpted rocks towered above the sagebrush flatlands on either side of the highway. Our next choice was to cross the Navajo and Hopi Reservations on Hwy 264. This road travelled up over around and down several mesas with only scattered villages. As we drove, we noted the highway was designated the Code Talker Highway for the Navajo Marines who helped the Allied forces during WWII.  Camp was in the town of Window Rock, which was designated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the center of the Navajo Nation. We made camp for the night at the Navajo Museum. Later in the evening, a short drive from camp brought us to the park at the base of Window Rock which is a huge wind eroded sandstone sculpture that allows you to glimpse the sky beyond.  What we
Read more