Northern Rocky Mountains

One thing about the Alaska Highway which takes some getting used to is that there are very long stretches of road with nothing but wilderness all around. Small towns are spaced at just the right intervals so you can reach the next town on a tank of gas. That's if you don't mess around a little, then the gas situation might get a little dicey. Most of the time, there really is nothing that you can do but drive the road. There is no place to mess around. I have the bad habit of exploring when the opportunity presents itself sometimes, which means I worry about having enough gas. You might find a resort with gas between the towns, but the gas is going to be really expensive, like $7/gal expensive.

The scenery though makes it all worthwhile. These are some pictures taken between Watson Lake in the Yukon through Northern BC.

Here's something I bet you didn't know, the Rocky Mountains don't go all the way up the continent, but end in Northern BC. There are mountains to the north, but they are different geologically. It felt really good to be back in the mountains for a while. The Alaska Highway passes through them and then goes down the east side of the mountains to Dawson Creek.

There is a lake in the middle of the Northern Rockies call Muncho Lake. I was more interest though in terrain next to the lake. The gravel from the mountains is eroded off the mountains and fans out when it reaches a flat area. That is a huge amount of gravel.

Up north in Canada there are still free ranging Bison Herds. This guy was just walking down the highway. It reminded me of Yellowstone, except without the crowds.

The one place along the highway that everyone said was a must stop was the Liard Hot Springs. After an evening and morning soak, I have to agree.

This goat was right alongside the road near Summit Lake.

Summit Lake is the highest point on the highway and around 4200 feet. I spent the night right on the lake in the campground. The next morning I rode the bicycle up to a microwave repeater station on a hilltop near the lake. This is one of the views from the site.

This is another view just down from the summit.

About half way down I took a two mile hike into Flower Spring Lake. There were a couple of young Carabou along the way. I will admit that when I got back to camp I was pretty much done in. I hadn't climbed that much on the bicycle for quite some time, and to throw in a 4 mile hike too, well, let's just say I wasn't good for anything else the rest of the day.