Days 16 & 17,
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Tetsa River and Muncho Lake
Well here is our next update, this time from Muncho Lake, BC. We were going to leave today for Watson Lake but decided to extend our stay here one more day in order to go soak for a while in the Laird Hot Springs. Just as we were getting setup to make dinner last night it started to rain. Then it poured for well over an hour. Every thing was soaked (chairs, screen tent, side tent, etc.) so we walked up to the lodge here and had a very nice dinner. Cary, the "grommeted" corners of the side tent could use some reinforcement. Any side wind puts tremendous force on those corners which is really amplified if the rain cover is installed. The wind gets under the rain cover (think spinnaker on a sailboat) and all the stress is concentrated in those corners. Mary Anne's sewing and patch repair held up, no further damage, but it is a weakness. One other thing, please stock the store with an elastiized black out cover to fit over the outside of the Fantastic Vent cover. We are only in BC and it never gets dark. Perhaps a little "dim" from about midnight untill 2:00 but never dark. It will get worse further north. We bought some blackout material and Velcro strips and will make that work but it has to be on the outside in order to keep the fan available.
Anyway, here is the last trip report I sent out.
Leaving Dawson Creek we drove north and west on Hwy 97, THE Alaskan Highway. Everything you have heard is true, well maybe not everything, but about the Alaskan Hwy. almost certainly. Bears, Moose (saw three this morning), Mountain Sheep (Stone Sheep?), Caribou, Elk, Deer. Not sure I can tell the difference between elk and caribou but the "locals" seem to feel it is important. Stayed at a small private camp on the Tetsa River last night that we drove into motivated more by fear than logic. When we got to Fort Nelson, the first major town after Dawson Creek, we had already decided to go beyond it to a more rustic, quiet location, but I was down to less than a half tank of gas and that puts travelers in this part of the world on alert. But the three gas stations we saw in Fort Nelson were FULL of big RVs filling up and waiting in a long line is not one of my strong points. Like George C. Scott in Patton, I want to hop out and start to MANAGE the entire process. Rather than stand there and point out everyone's shortcomings I chose to drive on. Besides, the posted price was $1.50 a liter. That is almost $6.00/Gal. Well, a mere hundred miles further on and with the next "settlement" about another 100 miles, at least on our maps, we stopped at the first gas pump we saw. I'm so smart, this was $1.69 a liter. It was also a "Camp" and they had some nice camp sites for our Raindrop so that is where we stayed the night. Besides, the owner was also a baker and made fresh bread and sticky buns every morning. Went down to the Tetsa river to fish and met a small group of Indians (I have been given to understand that the term First Nation people is preferred but little used by anyone but the "Government") who were also fishing. After a half hour of casting and retrieving with not even a nibble, I approached them to ask how they were doing and what they were using? They informed me they were about to resort to throwing rocks as nothing they were doing worked and they had been there for over an hour. Their advice was to go to the supermarket back in Fort Nelson and buy a fish. It would be already cleaned and filleted and much cheaper. Oh well, I still had 7 days left on my fishing license so perhaps down the road a piece. After delicious sticky buns and coffee in the morning we drove on to our current location on the shore of Muncho Lake. If you have Google Earth look for the Northern Rockies Resort. Excellent small trailer sites right on the lake with all the resort amenities in and around a very picturesque lodge. Gas here costs $1.85/liter but you get $0.20 off per liter if registered. What a bargain. Ok, no more about fuel costs, it is just too depressing.
We are going to stay here two nights leaving on Tuesday, June 26 for Watson Lake and then on to Whitehorse. As we said before, we are ahead of schedule for Inuvik so we will turn south from Whitehorse and explore all the gold rush stuff around Skagway and perhaps take the little train over the White Pass (a parallel route next to the Chilcoot Pass trail that the gold rushers also took). We intend to take a bit of a circle route through Alaska back to Whitehorse before heading north again for Dawson City. All is well, all our equipment is working perfectly, most certainly our beautiful little trailer. It still acts like a human salt lick at every stop we make with the same questions over and over. Where did you get it? How much does it cost (I always find that rude)? Can you stand up? Does it "pop up"? Does it have a toilet? Then I start to point out all the positives including getting 15 MPG with our truck, I can turn around almost anywhere, I can fit it in almost anywhere, it is totally independent (propane, electrical and water) for up to a week and it fits in one side of my garage. If we have time we show them the galley and the cabin and how perfectly everything "nests" together with regards to the ice chest, tables and stove. When in camp and they see the side tent attached many doubts fade away. We have been setting up our 10 X 10 REI screen room when space and time permits. That may well save our sanity I believe, these mosquitoes seemingly have not been fed in a long time. DEET works but they still insist on swarming around looking for a chink in our armor.
Jim & Mary Anne
