Leg #: 9 (Day 24-29)

Location: Alcan Highway in Canada and moving towards the Alaska Border (including overnight stops in Charlie Lake, Stone Mountain, Muncho Lake and Liard Provincial Parks, British Columbia, Canada & Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada). We are the furthest north either of us has ever been via vehicle. No cell service in much of this area. We found WiFi at a café but it was circa 1995 dial-up modem baud rate slow.

Mileage Driven leg/total: 1211 / 4322 miles

Road Conditions:
• Variable. On the Alcan (Hwy 97) , the road is mostly smooth but sections of road with washboard gravel and littered with pot holes. Also, frost heaves, but all have been marked by orange cones/flags. Minimal traffic consisting of logging trucks, huge RVs, motorcycles and giant pick-up trucks which drive at bat-out-of-hell-speeds.
• The Alcan Highway is mainly a 2 lane road with a very, very occasional passing lane. I don’t love passing in the opposite direction lane, but I am doing it. Average 55-60 mph.

Weather: 85 high / 42 low oscillating weather including: unseasonably hot temperatures, rain, sideways rain, torrential rain, clouds, fog, fog & smoke mixed together, high winds, gusty winds followed by clear, sunny and calm weather with lovely temps in the mid 60s…all within hours of each other. The constant changes has made for some challenging weather. Even the locals have commented on how unusual the weather has been this year.

Tofu Status:
• All systems working. 🙂

Highlights:
• Wildlife Sightings (it was a good leg for animal sightings): grizzly bear (!), 20+ black bears 🐻, herds of wood bison 🦬 (including my favorite orange bison babies!), moose, red fox, porcupine & caribou.
• We reached Dawson Creek, British Columbia Canada and Mile 0 of the Alcan. We will take this highway almost all the way to the Alaska Border which is 1,268 miles away from this spot.
• Wide open spaces as far as we can see. This is unlike any place we have been to in the lower 48 States. Long stretches between services. Almost no residential housing. Sporadic small towns (villages?) Absolutely magical.
• We have done several nice hikes but all have been cut short by impeding storms. We hike a lot, but this type of hiking is totally different. Wilderness hiking with trails that are more game trails than curated trails, complete absence of other humans and being in grizzly bear country has kept us on our toes. We now carry bear spray on all our hikes. I just hope we don’t panic and spray ourselves with it. 😀
• We took several dips in the Liard Hot Springs. The water💧 was hot and steamy and it was the perfect counterbalance to our long drive through rainy and windy weather.
• We crossed into the Yukon. A new Canadian province for both of us.

Lowlights:
• There have been some long travel days with too much sitting. Since it is daylight from 4:30 am to 11 pm, we have been starting very early (pre 6 am) and then taking lots of driving breaks. Eye covers are now a must while sleeping at night.
• There have been wildfires throughout British Columbia resulting in limited visibility while driving. Air quality has been as been as high as 125…but it dissipated as we continued north…but now the smoke has returned again as we have driven into a 2nd wildfire 🔥 area.
• No kayaking at Summit or Muncho Lake due to wildfire smoke and high winds.
• No road biking for Tony as only 1 road, which is a highway.
• Gas ⛽️ prices increasing as we travel further towards Alaska. Last fill-up was $6.50/gallon.

Tiger (Provan) Sightings: Tony = 2, Tracey = 0

Next: Continuing on the Alcan Highway towards Alaska Border. We are expecting the roads to continue to deteriorate as we get closer to Alaska Border requiring slower speeds and even longer driving days.