Our pickup camper truck is a surprisingly reliable vehicle and didn't cause any problems so far - at first glance however you might not think you can even make it out of Vancouver with that jalopy.
By the way: we named the car "Alex Supertramp" (everyone who watched the movie "Into the wild" will know that name).
We are also accompanied by our little road buddy "Bertie" - for good fortune, I suppose. :D
The camper in the back is equipped with lots of blankets and sleeping bags and we tried to keep all food and especially the liquids in the front to keep it warm - I will tell more about that issue later on.
Okay, let's relive the trip that we had so far:
Wiper Day, March 9, 2011 - 390 km
We were leaving Vancouver at 11 a.m.on that day after we packed all our stuff as efficiently as possible. We felt pretty much prepared for the upcoming trip as we spend the last two days organizing equipment - especially those things that will either keep us warm at night or might help us in case of emergency.
Speeding up on Highway 1 East towards Kamloops (we just wanted to get out of rainy Vancouver), we soon found ourselves within the first snowfall of our journey. Due to heavy snow and bad road conditions they closed Highway 1 north of Hope, so we were not able to take the road through Hell's Gate that would lead to Cache Creek immediately.
Instead we followed Highway 5 to Kamloops where we changed our wipers.
You wonder why I mention this? Well, because it took us the better part of the day to get them. Finally, we ended up buying crap wipers that were too soft to do their job properly.
Moving on with limited visibility caused by the inefficient wipers, we got new ones in Kamloops that worked. It's funny how wipers can get yourself in a good mood when you really need them. We still enjoy them intensively!
Half way between Kamloops and Savona at Kamloops Lake we found a nice spot hidden behind a hill that we chose for our overnight stay.
We struggled to keep the camping stove working because the wind was blowing heavyly.
Swiss Day, March 10, 2011 - 433 km
The wind was still blowing the next morning so we went on to a nearby rest area at Kamloops Lake where we enjoyed our first breakfast (temperature still at 10°C).
We continued on Highway 97 always following the old gold rush trail that thousands of adventurers and fortune-hunters traveled in the 19th century after they found the first gold nuggets at Klondike River, Yukon.
Passing through Caribou Country and all the old towns that were once booming cities during the gold rush era we felt a bit disappointed by the dessert-like landscape. We wanted to get to the north as soon as possible where we expected to find what we were looking for: endless forests, high, snow-covered mountains, wildlife all around us, etc. Nothing of that was to be found in the part of BC we were driving through.
When we came to the town of Quesnel, winter hit us right away. The roads were snow-packed and slippery. We decided to get ready for the night and find a nice spot to park the car.
Since we met people along the west coast in summer, offering us their properties to sleep on, we thought that the same should be possible here.
We found a house past Quesnel where a huge dog came running out of the house barking and snarling at us. A lady came out of the house and asked us what we were doing on her property. We explained the situation and asked for a place to stay. She pointed at the next campground and made clear that we were not welcome on her property.
When we tried however to drive off her front yard we realized right away that we were stuck in the snow. The tires dug themselves in the snow and ice underneath. While still trying to get out of this situation, the woman's son came out of the house and asked us where we were from. After he heard we were Germans he ran back into the house and soon after came back out with his mother following.
"I heard you are Germans!", she said and continued in German, telling us that she was Swiss herself and that we were more than welcome to spend the night on her property. She even told us to be ready at 7:30 the next morning to have breakfast! And once again Swiss hospitality blew me away. I can honestly tell you that Swiss became my most favorite nation on this trip.
Richard and me spend the rest of the evening with Florin, the son who was born in Canada, talking about Germany and Switzerland, Canadian and American politics and of course beer.
He then mentioned that he gotta go to a football match in Quesnel where he wanted to play in a hall. We spontaneously decided to come along and follow the game.
We spent the night in the car to get our bodies used to the extreme cold temperatures.
Snow Chain Day, March 11, 2011 - 355 km
As promised Theresa served breakfast for us in the early morning. Florin had to leave for college not without leaving two bottles of Guinness on our van. Very thoughtful guy!! :D
However when we tried to leave, well, guess what: we were stuck again. It had snowed the whole night so that on top of the ice we had a thick layer of snow that prevented us from either moving forth or back. Finally we had to put on the snow chains already, although we wanted to try them in good weather conditions first.
So with still -15°C we had to figure out how the snow chains worked. We made it out of the snow within an hour and hit the road again.
We drove through the northern parts of British Columbia, that being the first time in BC when we were really impressed by the landscape as we came through the north range of the Rocky Mountains. We came through Prince George, the last big town before reaching the Alaska Highway up north.
At the north western tip of the Rockies we chose a rest area where we spent the night at -20°C and listened to the horror stories of a lady leading an over-sized truck through the mountains. She strongly advised against moving further on to Alaska Highway since a lot of people died on that route throughout the last years, murdered by nutters or crazy hitchhikers. Before she left she told us about the "highway of tears" (highway 16 that is). Of course, we had heard about the stories already: more than 30 women disappeared on that highway trying to hitchhike north to Alaska. None of these cases could be solved by the police so far.
Since we were neither women nor taking highway 16 up north, we were only slightly impressed by her warnings, promised her to be careful nonetheless (she was in fact a very sweet lady!) and said goodbye.
Alaska Highway Day, March 12, 2011 - 257 km
Yeeehaaa! We hit the world famous Alaska Highway! After driving through snow packed and icy roads through the Rockies, we finally arrived in Dawson Creek where "mile 0" of the Alaska Highway is to be found.
The town is dead in winter without the thousands of tourists driving through in summer. We decided that after spending the last nights in the car the time had come to find a warm place for the night. Assuming to find a hostel in Dawson Creek we were told pretty soon that there are none and we should try it in Fort St. John, the next town along Alaska Highway.
Even smaller and even more dead Fort St. John was without a hostel as well, so we ended up spending the night in a motel which gave us the opportunity to go on in planning our trip, to check weather and road conditions, defrost our food and water and precook noodles, beans and pancakes (our basic nutrition on the trip).
Btw: In Dawson Creek we met the first guy on the trip so far who's reaction on our trip up north in winter was "Awesome!". All the other people were rather puzzled by the fact that there is in fact someone going up to Alaska in Winter!
Moose Day, March 13, 2011 - 544 km
Driving further north towards the town of Fort Nelson the landscape became more and more "Yukon-like". That was also the first day we saw a moose - giant animals in deed!
Well, by now, seeing a moose is not that exciting any longer. We would be seeing dozens of more moose as the trip continues.
Fort Nelson was the last town in northern BC before reaching Watson Lake, the first town in the Yukon Territory. We became more and more excited.
We spend the night at -20°C on a high-up mountain pass near Summit Lake.
Bison Day, March 14, 2011 - 512 km
The drive to Watson Lake has been pretty uneventful except for all the bison buffaloes we spotted along the highway - unlike moose, bison are pretty relaxed animals who are not bothered by passing cars in the slightest.
As we came into Yukon all our expectations we had about this wild and mostly unpopulated land (with almost 1.5 times the size of Germany Yukon's population only is 32,000, more than three-forth of them living in the capital Whitehorse), all expectations had been full-filled: endless roads, vast plains covered by huge forests and high mountains on the horizon. We both agreed that our trip...no, our adventure just started with entering the Yukon.
We were heading towards Yukon's capital Whitehorse that we would reach the next day and where we expected to find a couch surfing host instead of spending the night in the car or in a hostel.
Meth Day, March 15, 2011 - 400 km
Whitehorse is a really neat place to live in. It provides all the amenities of a town (including grocery stores, wifi, running water, electricity, etc.) but also offers the wild, untouched nature around it.
Unfortunately, all our possible hosts declined to crash on their couches. However, we got in contact with two of them who promised to be able to host us on our way back south - whenever that would be.
Since we really needed a warm place to stay, we decided to spend the night at the LeadDog Inn, one of two hostels in town.
Our biggest problem at that time was that due to the cold temperatures at night all our water was frozen and we ran the risk of not having enough for the upcoming part of the highway (after Whitehorse there is pretty much nothing until you reach the border to the U.S.). Understandingly, we wanted to be prepared.
We needed some time to feel comfortable around the managers of that family-like hostel who definitely were under the influence of drugs (meth, we assumed).
Nevertheless, we had done everything needed and decided to leave town the next day in order to spend more time in Whitehorse on our way back. We also heard that the mining companies in Yukon pay a lot of money for the jobs they offer (e.g. diamond drilling). When we come back into town we'll definitely try to get a job for two weeks or so - enough time as we found out to receive the money to cover the expenses of our whole trip.
As we left town the next morning, temperatures rose to -5°C what we considered to be really warm by now.
No comments:
Post a Comment