Days 40 – 43 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
9-12-18, 9:07 AM, International Falls trailhead, South Klondike Highway – The Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood had been so lucky yesterday! She’d finally made it to Peak 6053 on a cool, cloudy day. Most fortunately, the clouds had been high enough not to interfere with any of the incredible views. Different story this morning. 100% overcast, low ceiling, all the mountains in fog.
Didn’t matter now. Peak 6053 had been the last grand hurrah of this Dingo Vacation. SPHP’s feet were too sore to do anything today, even if the weather had been perfect. The Carolina Dog wasn’t actually a ball of fire, either. She seemed perfectly content resting on her pile of blankets and pillows gazing out the windows of the G6.
Lupe’s grand summer of 2018 was ending. Time to head home. Less than 1 km from the Alaska border, SPHP turned the key. The G6 sprang to life. 2,300+ miles to go! Mountain climbing was done. Any further adventures along the way were going to be quick and easy. At this point, that was perfectly fine with both Loop and SPHP. A long, relaxing drive sounded delightful!
9:45 AM – Canadian customs was only 7.5 miles N on the South Klondike Highway from where Lupe had spent the night. A short wait in line, and Lupe breezed through. The long drive began in earnest. Even from the road, the scenery was gorgeous. Big mountains, huge lakes, forests, rivers, for mile after mile.
At Carcross, SPHP turned NE on Tagish Road (Highway 8). It started to rain. Still weary, the Carolina Dog passed out, snoozing peacefully to the rhythmic slapping of the windshield wipers. From Jake’s Corner, the rest of the morning and all afternoon were spent cruising E on the Alaska Highway across the southern Yukon. Lupe did get out for a short break from the G6 at Teslin Lake. By then, the rain and clouds were long gone.
Highlights of the day didn’t occur for Lupe or SPHP until the Yukon had been left behind for good. E of Watson Lake in British Columbia, wide swaths of forest were clear cut along both sides of the Alaska Highway. Bison roamed wild on the open ground. That snapped the Carolina Dog to attention! Lupe saw 7 bison in all, each of them loners. Naturally, each bison was cause for a hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth barkfest as the G6 raced on by. What could be more fun?
SPHP’s big moment came at Liard River Hot Springs. While Lupe waited in the G6, lucky SPHP got to soak in the beautiful outdoor pools. Warm and clean again for the first time in forever felt heavenly! Even SPHP’s sore feet were more or less cured by the soothing experience.
Light was fading by the time SPHP returned from the hot springs. Only 6 miles after crossing the Liard River, it was time to stop for the night. The sky was completely clear, and the night promised to be a cold one. The big show didn’t start until 10:45 PM. For an hour, the Northern Lights entertained in a true dancing with the stars.
9-13-18, 5:23 AM, 23°F – Ice in Lupe’s water bowl! After a quick foray out to sniff the chilly air, the Carolina Dog was on her way. Still pretty dark. Upon entering Muncho Lake Provincial Park, Looper became excited, barking and whimpering at something she either sniffed or saw out there that SPHP couldn’t detect yet. More bison? Maybe.
6:17 AM, 25°F – Muncho Lake is always worth a stop! The park here has some beautiful peaks, but is so wild and remote that SPHP has never been able to find any information on whether any trails exist providing access to them. Some fine day Lupe is going to climb a mountain in Muncho Lake Provincial Park! That great peak at the S end of the lake would be ideal.
The next stop came at a pullout after crossing the bridge over the Racing River. 18°F! Despite the chilly air, Lupe was totally enthused! This was a favorite place. A short dirt road goes through a stretch of forest here where she often finds squirrels on the way to the river.
This morning the Racing River was the lowest Lupe had ever seen it, but still that fabulous icy blue color!
While driving over the bridge, SPHP had noticed some white mountains upstream that looked interesting. After Lupe’s woodsy stroll to the river, SPHP drove back to the bridge for another look. Upstream, a pickup truck was in sight parked near some trees. Must be a road over there!
7:52 AM – Continuing across the bridge, sure enough, there was a side road. SPHP pulled off the highway, parked again, and the lucky Carolina Dog got to go exploring for a second time. A short trek through another forest brought her to a relatively open area near the Racing River. The gleaming white mountains, sporting new snow, looked intriguing.
The scene was so beautiful, that Lupe got to extend her sniff upstream for another 10 minutes. It appeared she could have followed dry parts of the riverbed for miles, getting much closer to the white mountains. No time for that today, but this area was certainly worth researching for a future trip.
Exploring along the Racing River had been fun! Lupe didn’t have long to wait before there was more excitement. Upon reaching Stone Mountain Provincial Park, she saw 3 caribou, but barked so fanatically from the G6 that the caribou disappeared before SPHP could get a photo.
A quick stop a mile later provided a grand view of Mount Saint George, which Lupe had nearly succeeded in getting to the top of back in 2017.
9:38 AM, 32°F, Summit Lake, Stone Mountain Provincial Park – Must be an inversion up here. The temperature was clear up to freezing! SPHP had stopped at Summit Lake, the high point of the Alaska Highway in Stone Mountain Provincial Park, to let Lupe out for another look at Mount Saint George. Lupe had successfully climbed both Summit Peak and Mount Saint Paul from here in 2017.
The American Dingo’s busy morning continued on the way out of Stone Mountain Provincial Park. More caribou, this time right on the highway, were cause for another barking frenzy.
The caribou were just a warm-up for what came next. Lupe just about busted a gut when a black bear appeared. The black bear didn’t seem to know what to make of all this racket, but did not run off. The huge bear appeared quite willing to go a round or two with a pip-squeak Dingo, if it dared to leave the safety of the G6.
American Dingoes are incredibly strong, brave, and ferocious! Lupe would most certainly have torn that foolish bear to shreds, if SPHP hadn’t spared it by refusing to let her out and driving on. Later in the day, a grizzly bear near Bonnie Creek S of Fort Nelson had sense enough to flee into the woods rather than take a chance that SPHP might relent and let the feisty Dingo prove her point.
Approaching Fort St. John, SPHP skipped the R turn onto Highway 29 to Chetwynd and Prince George. Although this meant no more mountains on this Dingo Vacation, the Carolina Dog was going to get to travel through more than 1,000 miles of territory neither she nor SPHP had ever seen before.
5:00 PM, 32°F, Fort St. John – In a way, a strange day. Despite clear skies, the temperature peaked at 47°F early in the afternoon. Already down to freezing again at Fort St. John, and it stayed that way for many miles.
The Alaska Highway was busy from Fort St. John all the way to where it started in Dawson Creek. The community of Taylor where the highway crossed the Peace River made a good impression. A big oil refinery was there, but the whole town was impeccably neat and clean, and the Peace River setting was beautiful.
S of Taylor on the way to Dawson Creek, SPHP was surprised to find the seemingly endless northern forests greatly reduced already. About half of the land had been cleared. Hay seemed to be the big crop, although little livestock was seen from the road. Lupe was thrilled to see a few cows and horses, though, and the G6 became a sporadically noisy place. Her enthusiasm sometimes extended to huge rolled hay bales, too.
E of Dawson Creek on Hwy 49, the road straightened. Lupe was now in Alberta. Remaining woodlands became scarcer, and traffic dwindled. SPHP drove under a cloud bank as the sun sank in the rear view mirror. Light began to fade quickly. Although the land was quite flat, it did slope gradually lower to the N. Lupe could see a long way in that direction, all the way to the northern forest.
Many fields had snow in them. In the dim light beneath the gray clouds, it looked and felt like November. After passing Spirit Lake and Rycroft, SPHP parked for the night before getting to Wanham. Happy to escape the G6 again, Lupe rolled in snow in the ditch to cool off.
9-14-18, 3:10 AM, 35°F, Hwy 49 – At least it hadn’t gotten any colder out. 3°F warmer, in fact. SPHP walked along the dark highway, while Lupe sniffed near the ditch. No stars. Dead calm. No traffic. A coyote howled, and a dog at a farmhouse 0.5 mile N started barking.
7:08 AM, 32°F, Hwy 49 – Back to freezing again. Another quick sniff outside, then on to the vast metropolis of Wanham! The edge of the cloud Lupe was under was only a little way N, but it was soon left behind.
S of Donnelly, SPHP continued straight at an intersection where Hwy 49 became Hwy 2. A lovely drive through a mix of farms and woodlands ensued. The woods began to dominate again. Driving through forests with snow on the ground, it felt like Christmas was coming.
10:15 AM, 35°F, Canyon Creek harbor, Lesser Slave Lake – Eventually Hwy 2 had taken Lupe E through the forests S of Lesser Slave Lake. The big lake was the most interesting natural feature on the map between the mountains and home, so the Carolina Dog simply had to stop for a look. Waves lapped gently along the shoreline. The day was gray and calm, peaceful except for the raucous activity of seagulls.
Clearly, a boat was needed to make even a cursory exploration of Lesser Slave Lake, but it was fun to stroll along the shore for a little bit.
1:23 PM, 39°F, Athabasca – Some sort of big event was just breaking up in a park at the busy little town of Athabasca when Lupe arrived. The park was right next to the Athabasca river, which Lupe had only seen before in Jasper National Park. The river was much tamer here than at mighty Athabasca Falls, but Loop still enjoyed sniffing around down on the partially exposed riverbed.
From Athabasca, SPHP drove E on Hwy 55, then S on Hwys 63 and 831. On the road S, the woodlands gave way for a final time to fields and farms of the great northern prairies.
3:36 PM, 39°F, Lamont – Lupe didn’t escape the G6 again until reaching the town of Lamont. SPHP let her check out the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, which featured distinctive architecture.
At Mundare, Lupe reached 4 lane Hwy 16. Except where there were cows or horses to bark at, the drive E over gently rolling prairies put her to sleep. Near Lloydminster, Lupe and SPHP entered Saskatchewan for the first time ever. The scenery didn’t change, though, and the long drive continued.
7:11 PM, 41°F – As evening came on, SPHP left Hwy 16 looking for a rest area, but didn’t find it. Lupe’s first outing in Saskatchewan was a walk along a dirt road through a wheat field to see an oil tank.
The sun set before the American Dingo reached Battleford. SPHP doesn’t ordinarily like to drive in the dark, but it didn’t seem like Loopster was going to miss much except more prairie, so tonight was an exception. No longer sleepy, she stayed awake anyway, keeping SPHP company as miles rolled by. Saskatoon was big and confusing in the dark, but by midnight, Lupe was far beyond it, S of Chamberlain along another Hwy 2.
756 miles today, and that was enough.
9-15-18, 9:13 AM – The morning was cool, overcast, almost foggy. SPHP parked the G6 at a rest area along the E side of Hwy 6 in S Saskatchewan about an hour N of the Montana border. The rest area was a triangular 30 acre tract surrounded by wheat farms. Picnic tables were arranged around a circular drive, with the rest of the 30 acres given over to tall grass and shelter belt trees.
No one else around. Hardly any traffic. This rest area was a beautiful little refuge on the quiet prairie, and Lupe’s last adventure of her 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska. For two happy hours, she roamed with SPHP through the tall grass and shelter belt woods exploring every nook and cranny, chased tennis balls SPHP threw for her, and sniffed along while SPHP picked up trash.
The rest of the day was devoted to one more long drive. During the noon hour, Lupe crossed the border into Montana at Regway on the way to Plentywood. S of Baker, SPHP finally drove out from under the cloud the Carolina Dog had been under since Dawson Creek back at the start of the Alaska Highway.
5:59 PM, 71°F – The sun was shining at Medicine Rocks State Park. The air was breezy, and had soared to room temperature. A quick stop, then Lupe continued S, enjoying a ride with the windows partly open. This was all eastern Montana ranch land. Opportunities to bark at cows and horses came one after another! Toward dusk, SPHP had to slow way down due to all the herds of deer.
The sun set for the last time on her last summer of 2018 Dingo Vacation while Lupe was still in SE Montana on Hwy 323 N of Alzada.
9-15-18, 9:45 PM – 43 days, 9,691 miles, and countless adventures come and gone. Home again. SPHP unlocked the front door. Home was dark, stuffy, warm. Sigh. Back to the old routine. Time to air things out, and start unloading the G6.
Felt strange to be here.
Oh, for a time machine! Tomorrow a bright summer morning would dawn, and the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood would be heading N on the long road to adventure. Tuktoyaktuk, Land of the Pingos, and the Arctic Ocean in her future once again!
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