Day
52 – 7-2-15 Thursday We departed the peace and quiet of Big Creek
Campground about 9AM. We thought about staying another night but
decided to move on down the road. We stopped at 37 Service at the
intersection of the Alaska Highway and the Cassier Highway to fuel
up. There are not many fuel stops on this road so it best to start
with a full tank. The clerk said the road was kind of rough for the
first 2 ½ hours until Dease Creek. The scenery was kind of average
for the first couple of hours and the road was rough in places but
nothing like what I expected based on what I had heard. I drove
40-45MPH and slowed down in the rough places. I'll take this kind of
road over the section from Burwash Landing to Beaver Creek any time.
We
stopped at Jade City about noon. This is not a city but just a small
community with a few buildings. They mine 92% of the worlds Jade in
the area. We walked around and looked at huge boulders of Jade almost
as tall as I am. Some of the employees were using saws to sliced
slabs off the huge pieces and others were polishing pieces of the
Jade. They have free coffee, free WiFi and free RV parking. We ate
some lunch in the motor home and decided to move on since it was only
about 12:30PM rather than staying here for free, plus the wind was
really blowing so setting outside would not have been much fun.
The
road got better after we left Jade City until we got to Dease River
and then it was rough again in places. When driving this road you
have to be alert, there are no center lane markings, no pavement edge
markings and in some places absolutely no shoulders and a drop off –
you run off the pavement and you are going to have a very BAD day.
The
scenery improved after the Jade City area. There were many lakes
along side the road and we could see the mountains again. Not much
snow on them like what we have seen. The lakes looked very pristine –
like they were untouched by humans. No boats docks, no boats, no jet
skis, no houses/cabins no human anywhere in sight. We expected to see
wildlife today since we were driving through areas that only had four
or five communities in about a 200 mile stretch. But we did not see
anything. We talked to a couple when we got to the campground that
got to the campground ahead of us and they saw several black bear and
a moose. We had just enough rain this morning to keep the bugs washed
off the windshield but later we got a few more bugs.
We
stopped for the night at Mountain Shadow RV Park just outside of
Iskut British Columbia. It is down a short gravel road and sits on
the side of a sloping hill with a lake and open meadows down below
the camp sites. The mountains are on the other side of the lake hence
the name Mountain Shadow. A really pretty setting with a nice log
cabin office and I guess the owner's home. The place is for sale
along with 325 acres. I told Lena we should buy it and come here in
the Summer but she didn't think that was such a good idea.
After
we set up in pull thru site 7 we walked down to the lake. There is a
private float plane dock on the end of the lake. We saw two Bald
Eagles flying over the lake.
We
plan to be in the tiny town of Hyder Alaska tomorrow night. This will
be the last place in Alaska we visit. Like Haines and Skagway, the
only way to get to Hyder by road is through Canada.
Note: No photos due to the WiFi in the campground. I'll post some when we get good WiFi.
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