Day one on the Alaska Highway

June 13, 2009
Bucking Horse River, MM175 - Alaska Highway

Today was a relatively short driving day, 175 miles up the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek. We stopped for the night at the Bucking Horse River Lodge.

Our day started on a confusing note. Since Rod/Jean and Bob/Marlene were staying at the Wal-Mart and we were in a park, we tried to coordinate a meeting point, settling on the Petro-Canada Card-Lock where I planned to fuel up. Well, my card wouldn't work there, so we backtracked into town and caught up with the others at a fuel station there. Once we were all dumped and fueled, we headed north, happy to finally be on the Alaska Highway.

Our first stop was Kiskatinaw Bridge, the only original timber bridge still in use on the Alaska Highway, It's unique in that it's actually curved about 15 degrees along its 531' span. Amazing the things that were built without today's power tools. Of course, as soon as we pulled up to the bridge we noticed the "20 T Limit" signs - right after we started to cross the bridge with a total weight of ~51,000 pounds - and Bob/Marlene in front of us with another ~36,000. Oops. Fortunately, we made it across fine, other than triggering Geri's fear of bridges.

After some photos, we continued north, soon crossing the Peace River Bridge near Fort St. John, one of Geri's least favorite types of bridge (open metal decking). She survived both crossings none the worse for wear, thankfully. Just before the bridge, there is a long downgrade of 7-10% that required trucks to gear down. We arrived at just the wrong moment, pulling in behind gasoline tanker that crept down the hill at 15-18 MPH. We had a heck of a time going as slow as him without using the service brakes, which is a no-no on a long grade (heat buildup will cause brake fade/failure). I ended up in 1st gear with the Jake Brake on for part of the time, which is really slow. We finally got to a passing zone (don't see many of those going downhill) and were able to get by.

We did stop for supplies at a Safeway, filling in the gaps for the next few days. Further on, we passed a 30' statue of a lumberjack that looked suspiciously like the one that used to stand outside a local tire shop where we lived in Berlin, NJ. Do you suppose he moved?

We stopped at Shepherd's Inn for lunch, picking up some fresh-baked rye bread and cinnamon rolls, and some home-made ice cream to go. We then traveled on to Bucking Horse River Lodge, our planned overnight stop. They have a large parking area and told us it was OK to stay, although I suspect that expectations were that we'd eat in their restaurant. Since the menu was slim but pricey and the dining room crusty, we passed on that, making stuffed pork chops (thanks to Marlene for the stuffing) with sautéed potatoes and carrots. After dinner, we had a "planning meeting" to figure out tomorrow's schedule, and Geri made a nice dessert for everyone with fresh fruit and the ice cream from Shepherd's Inn. It was an excellent way to wrap up the day.

Click here for pictures.