Northern BC

and tons of wildlife  

Driving north through BC in unchartered territory put us mentally back in “exploration mode”.  Its been a while since we’ve been heads down on the van projects, but in reality its been even longer than that. 

We’ve squeezed in a few trips to unknown places the last couple years (sunshine coast and the canadian rockies, BC islands, etc), but mostly our time on the road is getting to and from friends, which means driving primarily the same roads and same areas we’ve already explored. 

We aren’t bored, but are certainly beginning to feel ourselves get that itch, or that drive to explore a bit.  This trip is already beginning to feed that need…though it also may just be reawakening it. ;)We stopped briefly in Dawson Creek to snap a pic of the sign…this is after all the official starting point of the Alaska Highway, most of which we’ll be driving in the coming days.  We also hit the hardware store (yet again because we’re still searching for the perfect bits and pieces to complete our temporary plumbing system… I think we’ve got it dialed this time), and then got underway on the alaska highway.

Pretty much blew through prince george as we were focused on nature and wildlife, and the trip north certainly didn’t disappoint.  We continue to have success finding unmarked crown land campsites and other than an increasing number of mosquitoes and other bugs as we continue north we are loving the solitude and daily reduction in numbers of cars, tourists, etc.

We were also lucky enough to find at least one of these campsites with access to the water and great place to pull out our origami kayaks... love these things!!  That said, the current was a bit stronger than we thought and while getting downstream was a cinch, getting back upstream to the van and karma took a bit more work (including a few island traverses and some frantic paddling). ;)

The fantastic landscape along these remote roads of northern BC is only surpassed by the wildlife viewing along the way.  In fact, the last few days we find ourselves barely making any progress up the highway at all, simply because we pass another animal every few miles and cycle back to spend some time watching/staring/snapping photos as they avail themselves to us.  One afternoon alone saw a couple of bears, some moose, a caribou and bison (as well as smaller wildlife).

It's also clearly baby season, so many of these sightings also come with baby animal sightings (a strong favorite of jens).  These are long driving days compared to our usual, so the addition of wildlife and a reason to keep alert and focused along the road is very welcome. 

We hope every day moving forward is just as plentiful and exciting as these, even if just as slow as this one!  So what if it takes us a month to drive through one province out of the three planned, we’ve really got no timeline or place to be, right??