Sunday, June 25th: British Columbia is HUGE

bramblymountainfarm
Jun 28, 2023
3 min read

Poor Zippy said her birthday was cancelled until every one felt better. Yesterday was not too fun. A few of the kids are feeling a lot better today but the other 2 aren’t feeling so great. Thankfully no puking through the night so we all got a good night’s sleep which should help :). Just Malachi, Tim and I haven’t fallen prey to the bug so we stuffed everyone else into the van, gave the sick ones a bag and moved along. I just hope we get it out of our system before we try to board a boat and stay with friends in a few days!

We are hoping to be out of Canada by Tuesday at the latest. It’s beautiful and the Milepost points out a lot of interesting looking stops we could make but we really want to make the Thursday ferry to Seldovia. So we are trucking on, driving 8-11 hours a day. British Columbia is HUGE!. We will be spending our second night in the province tonight and tomorrow we will hit the Yukon and hopefully spend the night in Whitehorse.

The Yellowhead highway was gorgeous. Lake after mountain lake, farms and pastures all nestled up against the backdrop of these amazing mountains. The weather has improved immensely and only one puky kid today. We are on the Cassiar Highway now which will take us straight north to the Yukon sometime tomorrow. I really wish we had some time to explore some of these beautiful places we’re driving through but we still have about 2500 miles left to go!

Where the West Access Route and the Yellowhead had a lot of beautiful sweeping landscapes - canyons, river valleys, mountains - interspersed with towns to stop and fuel up, bathrooms, etc, the Cassiar Highway is a whole lot of wilderness. Rather than being open, it’s bordered closely on both sides with tress and undergrowth, making the scenery hard to enjoy. Occasionally you can glimpse a mountain range, a lake, a river in and opening or a high hill, but mostly it’s a long tunnel of trees and bushes for 450 miles on a road that doesn’t even have a center line for most of it. Not only that, you really have to count you miles and watch your gas. There is NOTHING for long stretches of hundreds of miles and there are reminder signs here and there “Check your fuel - next refuel 82km”. And when you do stop at the random rest area gas is easily $8 a gallon.

I was blown away by this “lodge” that suddenly appeared in the middle of this wilderness. There was nothing more than a small note in the Milepost mentioning Bell 2 Lodge so we didn’t expect much except a quick gas/bathroom spot with a rundown motel type accommodation. Not this place. It was a huge log cabin with other smaller guest cabins to the side with several helicopters off to the side. It was incredible inside.

Tastefully decorated, and recently done too. It looks absolutely like nothing typical to the area. Apparently helisking is the money maker here.

Yes, they drop you and your skis off at the ridge line of one of the gigantic mountains in the background and you ski down whatever way you can find down the mountain in the fresh powder. Then they pick you up and do it again. Wilderness skiing at its most expensive.

And back to the wilderness. It’s rare even to see another car in passing so you really are on your own out here. With no cell service to boot. I can’t let myself think about it too hard or I start to freak out a little bit just what might happens if we happen to break down or something. We’ve seen several black bears but thankfully no grizzlies. Our plan is to get off the Cassiar tonight and hopefully camp at the rest area on the Yukon border. It’s one of the biggest driving days we’ve had yet but it sets us up to hit Whitehorse, YT tomorrow a bit earlier and be able to rest and sightsee a bit at this old gold rush town.

At last the end of the Cassiar! The junction had one last gas station before turning onto the Alaska highway. We always have everyone take a bathroom break to the "washroom" at every gas stop. This one was by far the most "sketch" as Malachi called it. We had to walk through some kind of dark garage, piles of garbage, and other random junk on each side. The smell of diesel and other garage-type smells hung heavy. It was

indeed sketch. Welcome to the backcountry!