Hiding From The Bears

there are more accompanying photos, however blogger is being a dick tonight and won't post them all properly...some will post, others fail...will insert when they get their shit together...

Highlights from our week-long camping trip into Northern British Columbia…

- got rained on in the tent during the first night. Amber was tucked into the car, so was oblivious…I chucked everything into the car and we took off in search of sun
- stopped at Jade City and bought Jade Trees…quite pretty
- Ate lunch at Mama Z’s in Dease Lake…good food, restaurant is Swiss owned
- Saw some caribou on the Alaska Highway before we turned south on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway
- The landscape became progressively greener as we travelled south
- Bears aren’t that scary from the car…
- At Carp Lake, the park attendant never showed up, so we camped for free…free is good
- There was hardly ANYONE at most of the campsites, and on our final night of camping, we stopped at 5 before settling on one that had people in it. All of the others had NO ONE at them, which made it a little creepy…one was 12 kms back in the bush too, with no other campers.
- My little Echo didn’t let me down on this trip…we put on 3660kms and she barely broke a sweat…lol
- None of the campgrounds had showers…Nova Scotia has much more well services sites, however the campgrounds were generally very nice overall, clean and tidy. The quality of firewood varied, and at one of the sites, where the park attendant was absent, we just shopped at other campsites that didn’t burn all their wood, since we weren’t able to buy any there with no one around
- We stayed at Boya Lake Campground, Meziadin Lake Campground, Carp Lake Campground, and Tetsa Lake Campground…
- We saw the arse end of a camper throughout much of the trip…dammit, I never saw so many campers filled with old farts who don’t know how to drive them, and more often than not, they were Americans from all over the USA
- The Liard Hot Springs were amazing…nearly too hot! They also tarnished my silver rings…get out the toothpaste. There was also a bear roaming through their campground that later had to be trapped…I didn’t ask what that meant, but could imagine…
- Watching a movie on the laptop in my tent was cool – Cold Mountain

- we saw a bunch of bison aka buffalo in both the wild and enclosures.
- Our new campstove worked like a charm…much easier to cook on than a table top barbecue and we aren’t forced to grill everything. Many thanks to my sis and her husband for giving us some spare tanks they had…and then I left my big tank there, AGAIN (rummaged from the neighbour’s that moved out when I visited in March)
- We never went on one hike, or put paddle to water…perhaps if it didn’t rain nearly every day…
- Amber carried the bear spray wherever she went…it was kinda cute…and reassuring…
- I think I tanned a little…we forgot the sunscreen. Maybe that was the curse…
- Amber drove part of the way, although I had to take over a few times during the first few days when she began to nod off…déjà vu…
- We met some very interesting people along the way…
- Watson Lake Signpost Forest was cool and we posted our own sign – Republic of Newfoundland, painted by my sister’s FIL
- My nephews remembered me! The oldest ran up to me when I arrived and jumped into my arms…awwww…see the benefit of moving closer?
- When we returned, the animals were safe and sound and minimal damages in the home…blankets askew, litter and food scattered a bit…that’s it. I had visions of plants overturned, one of them injured, the aquarium upset and all the fish eaten…you know, the usual…
- The drive from Prince George to Fort St. John was pretty boring…nothing but trees and hills…then we got into some real mountains again in the Foothills of the Rockies
- The roof rack howled the entire way…sigh…
- The patio umbrella nearly got left behind in the rain. It had been travelling in the car until it got soaked one night…then I tied it too the roof. I was taking it to my sister in BC as I never used it.

- I got a written warning for speeding about 2 hours from home...phew...no ticket...

So those are the highlights…enjoy the photos…our next trek will be shorter…just some 1-2 night camps before our trek to Dawson City and Inuvik in July.