stubsadventures

In my quest to lay eyes on as much of Canada as possible is unfolding, I am finding that my favorite highways to travel are the ones most people haven’t heard of, the Steward Cassier is just one of those highways.

Turning north at Terrace, I knew I was in for an adventure, you can just tell. Usually, the sign that lets you know that there are few, if any emergency services along the highway and they are not to be counted on, is one of the best indicators I have come across. For me, that is the third time I’ve read such a sign and all have been in Canada.

There is something about the remoteness of the north that brings me a lot of peace. The only other time a place has given me that feeling is our cottage and going over the causeway to Cape Breton.

The highway is 828 km from Terrace, BC right up to Watson Lake, Yukon. Watson Lake was a big highlight for me in the trip to the arctic circle in 2008, so I was really excited to be able to revisit it.

The entire drive was remote and overall, I saw very few other people. Shortly into the drive I pulled into … and checked out some really old totems they had there. A few hours after that, I had one of my coolest experience (after of course my polar bear experiences) with a bear. He was a good sized black bear eating next to the road. It was so quiet and peaceful around, I could actually hearing him chewing. Of course, from the safety of my truck.

After having a very relaxing day of driving, I decided to stop early, ahead of my destination to be able to enjoy the beautiful summer evening. I pulled into a place called Bell II, and they had a few camp sites, so I paid for two nights. I was going to explore the north. That was, until I stepped out of my truck and into bug hell. They were everywhere instantly, I almost started to cry. I was out of the truck for only a few minutes before I was back inside wondering what I was going to do. For about three minutes at a time, I would spend running around like a maniac trying to get the tent up. These bugs seems to enjoy the bug spray and I’m sure I heard one of them laugh about the OFF fan thing I had clipped to my shorts. There I was, in the great outdoors, confined to my tent, held hostage by a vicious gang of black flies.

At Bell II, I hadn’t even put the fly on the tent, wasn’t worth it. At 0505am, a drop of rain hit my forehead and I was up and had the truck packed in less than ten minutes. That was quite enough of that. The journey continued.

Reaching the Yukon was cool. I felt so lucky to have been to it once already, to cross that border again put a smile on my face. At Watson Lake, there are over 65,000 street signs that have accumulated over the years and most are from peoples home towns. After crossing and camping north of the arctic circle in ’08, Poncho and I left a sign there with the date we crossed it. I looked and looked but wasn’t able to find it. I have a feeling I’ll be back to Watson Lake.

From there, I was eager to get to Liard River. This was also a stopping place for Poncho and I and one of the most special places I have ever come across in Canada. The hot springs here are so unique, and relatively used compared to others closer to cities.

After Liard, I was on a mission to get home. The trip was awesome, the north didn’t dissapoint but there is always a time when you’re ready for your own bed and to take some time away from behind the wheel.

Stubs.

The islands will be a place that I will return to one day. What I learned the most about my trip to the remote islands is that they require more planning than I had anticipated. Also, as awesome as it was to see her run all over the place, having Caper was a disadvantage in the sense that most of the more remote sites that I had hoped to visit required several days to get to and it wouldn’t be very fair to drag her along, as Caper hates boats of any kind. It’s not often while travelling in Canada that having Caper is a downfall but this was one of the few.

Haidi Gwaii is by far one of the most beautiful, spiritual and rewarding trips I have done to date. I can’t wait to get back.

Stubs.