Our Plans are Jello - Yup!

We left Terrace on Tuesday, June 1st with a plan to get half way between there and Barkerville.  We were just before the turnoff for Alaska at Kitwanga when I said to Doug, half joking, "If you had your heart set on going to Alaska, we could you know".  Zip, we turned off.  Yikes!

After we talked about it a minute, the cost of gas, the fact that we would be crossing the American border before our 183 day sentence is up, etc and changed "our" minds. 

We stopped at Battle Hill in Kitwanga and took this picture.  I should tell you something about Battle Hill but I've forgotten and Doug is sleeping.  (he is the history buff, I don't really care).

So we continue on.  We have a discussion about the fact that as a child our family camped on Babine Lake (the largest lake in BC) at a place called Topley Landing Provincial Park.  There it was on the map and so once again, yikes, we turned off.  The highway was empty and smooth.  50 k. in and there's no turnoff for Topley Landing Provincial Park.  We turn off where my memory tells us and sure enough we find the Babine Lodge where we used to buy our groceries.  No campground.  We ask a man mowing his lawn.  "Oh, the Indians took that back many years ago.  There's nothing there now."  What?

We see on the map that there is another provincial park just down the road a spell, Red Bluff Provincial Park.  Okay, there it is.  It's totally empty, even the park host's motorhome looks derelict. We find a big enough, fairly easy spot to get into, battle hordes and hordes of mosquitoes and settle down.  Water, oh yeah, we need water.

This is the water.  A pump!  Well there's no way we can fill our large water container bag thing (bladder but Doug hates that word).

Probably a good time to point out Doug loves it here.  He loves the fact that there is no one here, he loves the fact that we are surrounded by - nothing - hopefully I say - nothing.  The scenery is exquisite.

There are also loads of signs of animals.  The beavers are having a hayday.  No sightings but.....

On our second day, the evening before we are going to leave (I hope), Doug convinces me that we should walk the loop around the bluff.  It`s not a long walk, just 2.5 k.  No problem he says.  Me, I`m from up this way.  Animals come out after supper to eat before bed.  No problem he says, we have the dog.  I was still really nervous, walking along singing out `We`re here bears, stay away!!``  Then we come to a big paw print of a big bear, running away, yes - but brand new.  That`s it, I`m outta there. 

We saw no bears on our walk.  We did however see some on the way to the tiny village of Granisle about 5 ki down the road a spell.

All and all, Doug had a ball.  Me, I had no cell phone, no internet and no one knew where we were.  The village had no phone, no gas, no groceries. The things we do for love.



So now we are in a park, with power, water, cell phone and Wi Fi in Quesnel.  We have decided that we will leave the rig here and travel the hour and a half to Barkerville to see what there is to see.

Talk to you tomorrow.  Hopefully!