Getting started.
Pictures from a Trip by Tim Rumsey is one of my favorite novels – it’s a bittersweet story about two brothers who spend a summer dinosaur hunting in Wyoming. And anytime I look at photos from a trip, I think about that book.
Today’s entry is a collection of pictures from my trip, along with just a little text from Howard’s and my time following much of the British Columbia Great Northern Circle Route – taking the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek, BC, up to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, and then taking the Stewart-Cassiar Highway back south. We then split off that route to go spend a full day at Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska.
So without further ado, lets get started.
I believe I’ve mentioned that it has rained almost everyday on this trip. I’m not sure which of the three days on the loop this was, but could be any of them.
We had a great lunch of soup and homemade bread after a chilly and wet morning of riding on our second day on the Alaska Highway. Travelers, the Toad River Lodge is your friend.
We met Alex from France mid-afternoon as we were on our way to Watson Lake, YT. He was spending five months traveling around the US and Canada, trying to see as much as possible. On this day, he was riding with Paul from Australia (not pictured). Always fun to talk with other travelers, especially those on long journeys.
Road construction has been a consistent fact of life on this trip, and here Howard and I are waiting for the pilot car to lead is through a particularly messy section of road work. Any time we’ve had a pilot car, all the motorcyclists have been waived to the front of the line.
We’ve seen lots of animals, including buffalo… (Photo by Howard Koontz)
And several bears, though we don’t have photos of many of them. Stopping to take pictures of bears is not the smartest thing to do on a motorcycle. (Photo by Howard Koontz)
After two days of going mostly north on the Alaska Highway, we were ready to head south to Alaska on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway.
Dease Lake, if I’m not mistaken. One of many gorgeous lakes along the way.
And finally, the view from Stewart, British Columbia, which will be our base for the next day. This is the only place on the trip where we spend two nights in the same place.