Experiences

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Liard Hot Springs to Watson Lake, Yukon :)

I was up surprisingly early this morning, before seven, and decided to take a closer look at my genset problem. I had initially thought that the problem was that my house battery was too depleted to start it, but the generator wouldn’t fire up with the truck battery running either. This, and the fact that my house battery hasn’t been charging while driving, lead me to conclude that the installation of the new truck battery could have something to do with my problem. I spent about a half hour under the hood with a flashlight trying to see if the techs had missed a wire, but could not see anything loose. My RV manual pointed me in direction of a solenoid switch, but I couldn’t find anything that looked like the picture in the book, so that was a dead end for me, but could be a starting point for whomever will be lucky enough to take a look at my dead generator. 🙂 At the very least, I know that my house battery and converter are working fine. I’ve also relearned that my true battery voltage is a couple of points higher than the inverter says it is.

I pulled out by, oh, eightish at the very latest, and drove the 9km that separated me from the fabled Liard Hot Springs. I had serious misgivings about stopping here, expecting a tourist trap, but nope! There is a lodge with a restaurant across from the park, but that’s the extent of the commercialism. I parked in the day use lot, across from the campground entrance, and hoofed it the rest of the way (about 1km total to the springs). I paid my 5$ day use fee and received instructions on how to get to the springs.

You have to follow a long wooden boardwalk through muskeg:

Liard Hot Springs boardwalk

Liard Hot Springs boardwalk

The first stop is Alpha Pool, which you smell before you see:

Alpha Pool

Alpha Pool

This is a shallow pool with a wading area for children.

I pushed on and passed the hanging gardens:

'hanging gardens'

‘hanging gardens’

I then came to Beta Pool, which is deeper and slightly hotter:

Beta Pool

Beta Pool

I had this pool all to myself for the time being, so I changed into my bathing suit and waded in.

Have you ever had a moment when you feel completely at peace and as one with the world? That’s how I felt as I took my first strokes in Beta Pool, looking at the last patches of snow as steam rose around me. The water was hot and rich with mineral, making me even more buoyant than I normally am. I have no idea how long I floated in that hot blue-green water staring at the bluest sky I have ever seen.

Eventually, I heard voices coming up the boardwalk and the mood was broken. I climbed out, wrapped myself in my towel, grabbed my things, and headed barefoot back down to Alpha pool. It wasn’t nearly as cold as I would have expected (just… chilly 😀 ). One lady stopped to say that I was ‘very brave’ to be walking down in my bathing suit, there was no way she was going swimming ‘in this weather.’ To my horror, I heard myself reply “Oh, it’s not so bad, really, to be walking here with no clothes on.” *dies*

Alpha Pool wasn’t quite as satisfactory, being rather crowded and noticeably cooler. I didn’t stay long. I changed and headed back to the rig, enjoying the peaceful stroll.

boardwalk heading back towards the parking area

boardwalk heading back towards the parking area

There were buffalo a short ways south of the day use area when I got back to Miranda!

I pulled out around 9:30 and soon thereafter saw this little guy:

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black bear

I had a pleasant drive, passing through thick spruce forest. I was eager to reach the Yukon, but knew that the arrival would not be dramatic. The Alaska highway takes a serpentine route through BC and Yukon for a stretch, to the point that it is not officially decided if a segment of route is one side of the border or the other. So, I take this to be my first official glimpse of the Yukon since I was coming up to what was obviously a ‘welcome to BC’ sign in the opposing direction:

the Yukon, at last!!!

the Yukon, at last!!!

And, then:

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And then:

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*big grin*

I wasn’t too set on where I would stay for a least two nights in Watson Lake. I had been warned that there was a lot of theft going on at the Downtown RV Park and that the RCMP was recommending people stay at the parks west of town. I stopped in a the eastmost ‘Campground Services’, but it was just opening up and didn’t feel very secure, so I pushed on to 20 minutes(ish) west of Watson Lake to the RCMP recommended ‘Baby Nugget’ RV park. I believe I’m the first customer of the season, although there are three of us here now! The park doesn’t have running water at the moment (frozen underground pipes), but I have 30A power and excellent internet for 21$ per night, including taxes. I won’t get too comfortable since I will need to move out and get water (and dump too, at some point!), but I’m happy with the cost vs. service ratio.

So, a lifetime’s yearning has come to fruition. I am in the Yukon. Now, comes the challenge: finding work. *wry grin* I really hope to find a week or two’s worth of work then push on to a new location, all the way to Inuvik in August, but I have learned to stop making plans. Tonight, I am taking the time to breathe. Tomorrow, I will explore Watson Lake and get the word out that I want work. It will all sort itself out in time and I will savour every moment of this summer, no matter where it takes me.

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Out and About In and Near Prince George

Prince George, located at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers, is called BC’s Northern Capital. It is a beacon of civilization in a vast and empty land of black spruce and open blue sky set against snow-capped mountains. Prince George’s primary industry is lumber, followed closely by tourism.

Yesterday had me move from the Bee Lazy Park to my friend’s place of work (10km north of the RV park) where I parked Miranda for the day while I went exploring for a few hours.

There wasn’t much ‘touristy’ stuff that interested me. The town is renown for its railroad museum, but I was feeling very ‘meh’ about that, so the only museum I did yesterday was The Exploration Place. This small museum is a hodgepodge of mostly hands on exhibits. It didn’t take long to tour, but is still worth a visit. I paid for the ‘deluxe’ entrance that included a simulator ride. Having ridden one in Las Vegas that had me racing down the Strip in an Enterprise shuttle with Klingons firing full phasers at us and another that had me assimilated by the Borg (I’m Geek!Girl and proud of it! 😀 ), I didn’t have very high expectations for a small town, small museum sim ride, so I was very pleasantly surprised by the fun, ten minute ‘under water’ ride.

stained glass windows at The Exploration Place

stained glass windows at The Exploration Place (blurry because of no flash)

I turned from the stained glass to find these guys! Yes, I jumped!

I turned from the stained glass to find these guys! Yes, I jumped!

I then stopped to watch a movie that was straight out of my childhood. I’m fairly confident that it was my first viewing of it that gave me the bug for the north:

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Nechako River

Nechako River

I spent most of the afternoon at home (in a parking lot; love this life!) watching a movie before following him out to his spread, about 25km from town. It was a rather dizzying drive here (so much so that I asked for help back to civilization this morning!), but it was so worth it! I was especially grateful for the offer of cold beer once I was squared away. 🙂

Today, I decided that some hiking was in order, so I set off along the desolate Yellowhead highway, heading east back towards Edmonton, to visit the only inland rainforest in the world.

The views were, well:

Yellowhead Highway heading east towards McBride

Yellowhead Highway heading east towards McBride

Unfortunately, the trip was for naught; I should have brought my snowshoes!

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The trip wasn’t a waste, though. The drive really gave me a taste of what I’m going to encounter soon enough; endless stretches of monotonous solitude broken by fantastic scenery.

One final thing to say: it’s only May and I’m only in Prince George, so I know that I need to make some serious window covering preparations for the 21 hours of daylight that the Yukon gets in June. It felt like high noon at 6PM tonight and things are only going to get worse! Or better, I suppose, if you can sleep when it’s bright daylight out… 🙂

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Sidebar: The Mighty Fraser

In English, there is no word for a great river that flows to the ocean. The French call them ‘fleuves.’ Two of the most famous such rivers in Canada are the Saint-Lawrence, on the east coast, and the Fraser, on the west coast.

I grew up along the Saint Lawrence, have traveled it in its entirety. It has lost its mythical qualities through familiarity, but, for some reason, I think the Fraser will always possess that magical quality that stokes the imagination.

Four months I spent commuting across the mighty Fraser, competing with other Lower Mainlanders for one of its few crossing points. My bridge of choice was the Alex Fraser, named for a former BC Minister of Transport. The Fraser itself is named for the famed Canadian explorer, Simon Fraser. I think they just like to confuse the tourists.

In the Greater Vancouver Region, the Fraser is muddy and smelly, but as you go inland and climb north, it becomes fresher, wilder, more like the river I imagine Simon Fraser discovered.

That is, until you reach Hell’s Gate, the narrowest point across the river, which Fraser claimed was not unlike the gates of hell.

Today, Hell’s gate is a tourist trap, with an airtram that crosses the river to a souvenir shop on the other side. It is possible to hike down and cross the river on a bridge and then return on the tram at a reduced price. I intended to hike down and back, having sworn to never ride on an airtram again, but May 3rd was ‘customer appreciation day’ and the tram was free! The ride down and then back up wasn’t as bad as that on Sulphur Mountain, but almost. 🙂

It is difficult to imagine what the river would have looked like in Fraser’s day, there having been so much construction since then. The building of a tunnel rendered the whole area unstable and half the mountain came down into the river, destroying a salmon run. Today, most of the debris has been removed, but for the salmon to return, manmade barriers that slow down the water had to be constructed. The views are still spectacular, but no longer wild, and I hope Simon Fraser would be appalled by this.

The first few pictures are of my commute to work, include some shots of the Skytrain bridge. These photos are my vision of the future, with environmentally sound monorails zipping about. Earlier in the gallery, there is a shot of Columbia Street in New Westminister in which you can see the concrete structures on which the Skytrains run.

The last pictures are of Hell’s Gate. The final picture in the set is of Miranda off in the distance, included because all I could think as I walked towards her was “Hey, I can see my house from here!” The simplest things amuse me. 🙂

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The Difference Between Full-Time RVing and Tourism

Today, I had the great joy of showing my friend some of my favourite sites in the Vancouver area. How lovely it is to stay long enough in one place to go back and re-explore sites you enjoyed!

We had a really, really full day. The weather cooperated beautifully, being just warm enough to be comfortable, with a mix of sun and clouds.

Late morning, we took off for Lynn Canyon. It was warmer today than the last time I went, but not by much; it gets cool up there in North Vancouver in the rain forest! It was wonderful hiking weather and we earned the picnic lunch I’d packed.

We then headed to Stanley Park via the Lions’ Gate Bridge. The park was very full this time around, so I felt very fortunate to find parking quickly. We were just heading up to the aquarium to see the killer whale statue when my friend noticed a horse drawn trolley that seemed just about ready to take off. We learned that it was a one hour tour that would take us to all the sites we wanted to see, so we decided to get on, figuring that it would easier than trying to find parking at each location.

I’ll pause here to address the issue of horse drawn tours being exploitative. I had a theory about this before I got on and it was confirmed by the driver who addressed the issue head on. The horses pulling these trolleys are big draft horses which have very little use in our day and age. A lot of these older animals get sent to the glue or jell-o factory. The company running the tours rescues these horses, gives them purpose and needed exercise, and allows them a dignified retirement.

The tour was fantastic and well worth the 28.50$ per person. Our guide was funny and an excellent storyteller. We learned that Stanley Park was originally called Duck Head Point (because it really does look like the head of a duck!) and was home to ‘squatters’ consisting of minorities–Chinese, Hawaiian, Métis, etc. The government used this point as a strategic military location for a long time and when that purpose was no longer required, they wanted to develop the land seeing as Vancouver (population 2,000 at the time!) was booming. Real estate speculators were worried that the introduction of so much new land would devalue other properties, so some backroom dealing was done to turn Duck Head Point into a park. Of course, all the ‘squatters’ were expropriated without compensation. It is a sad story with a happy ending. Also, as Stanley Park used to be a logging area, all of the forest there is second regeneration growth, not primeval forest as some romantics like to believe.

After Stanley Park, we drove to nearby Denholm Street. My friend wanted to try sushi and I was eager to go back to Tanpopo, so I decided that its proximity to Stanley Park meant that was where we were destined to end up for dinner. We walked up and down Denholm for  a bit, popping into a bookstore where I found a remaindered book about the Chilkoot Pass!

Dinner was just as good as it was the last time I ate at Tanpopo and I added spicy tuna rolls to my repertoire. They are soooo yummy. My friend liked everything but the teriyaki salmon because it was too dry for her taste. Otherwise, she bravely sampled everything.  I must say I didn’t get anything too ‘weird’ as I didn’t want to turn her off suishi from the get go, and  I’m proud of her for having several pieces of salmon sashimi and ordering the prawn tempura on her own.

We ended our night with a dip in the park’s hot tub.

I put up some new pictures, including lovely shots of Vancouver’s skyline that I missed because of fog the first time I went to Stanley Park.

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Chlorine Overdose

My friend Donna is in the GVR this week, so we made plans to see each other. Since she had her boys in tow, she suggested we meet at an indoor pool where they could splash about without being bored while she and I got in a good gab fest. I proposed the wave pool at the Newton Centre, in Surrey. I’d discovered this pool while riding the bus to work in January, but had never been since I have a pool here at the RV park.

I was most impressed with the facility which boasted a wave pool, several smaller splash pools, two water slides, a steam room, and more. They were barely a notch down from the similar ones at the West Edmonton Mall. It was the most amazing municipal pool complex I’ve ever visited. Entry for an adult is a mere 5.05$, and a family can pay 2.55$ per person.

Donna and I had a great time lounging in the splash pool, treading water in the wave pool, and riding down the water slides. As is par for the course for us, the afternoon flew by in a fury of gabbing while soaking until we were prunes. Ah, girl time, there’s nothing like it. 🙂