cabackroads--Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek

cabackroads--Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek

travel date: August 26th and 27th. 2016

Rain. Then more rain.

Fort Nelson is a nice little town. There is a wonderful dump station on the edge of town as you enter from the west. Well designed, easy to use. It made me like Fort Nelson from the get-go. Unfortunately, there was very little time to spend in Fort Nelson so after filling the truck with diesel it was southbound and hopefully out of the rain.

The trip south had a few "ponds" right next to the highway that allowed camping. They were closer to Fort Nelson than Dawson City so I kept going.

There were several sets of Provincial Parks. One park, Buckinghorse River made an excellent lunch spot since it was totally empty. The rain also stopped so the dogs could run free.

From there it just started raining again and the scenery switch to large expanses of even aged trees, broken up every once in awhile with man-camps. It seems this part of British Columbia is all about natural gas development so it becomes more of an Industrial appearance that driving the Alaska Highway.

The farther south I drove the more tired I got. I was looking forward to the small town of Charlie Lake and the  campground on the edge of the small town. Rotary RV Park.

Charlie Lake is now a suburb of Ft. St. John. The population is said to be just under 20,000, but it felt like much more than that with all the traffic and development.

The next day it started raining hard again, so instead of heading to the center of Dawson Creek I turned south and headed for Prince George. I did not complete the Alaska Highway, missing the first two miles. With the traffic and rain, it was well worth it to miss it.

The Alaska Highway has spots of incredible scenery, but in between the scenic sports there are stretches of road that are best driven at high speed so you can spend more time on the scenic spots. The stretch from Dawson Creek is part of the Alaska Highway that is best driven as fast you can. It is, unfortunate, since it is the start or finish of your trip in most cases.

Drive fast and spend more time on the stretch between Ft. Nelson and the Liard River.