Hi All - Hope all are traveling, or planning their travels well!
Sorry this is formatted so poorly, and yeah - a bit long. I updated quick notes in a Word Document, waiting for coverage to post. Info sharing on what we have encountered so far, maybe of help to others coming along the same routes.
? Left Helena, MT Costco parking lot on 4/30. I-15 N -> 287 N/W (few miles of new construction dirt and gravel) -> 89N (lovely narrow twisty wrap around the East edge of the Rockies) to the Canadian Border.
? Crossed over Piegan Border Crossing after pleasant 3 mins of conversation and papers looking. Then into Canada we went.
? Stopped Lee Creek Campground at very close to the border Cardston, AB. Not officially opened until 5/1 โ but they let us in and we had electricity, sewer and water turned on the second day. We did a day trip to Waterton Lake National Park. Also not yet completely opened โ but just a Mother Nature gem of a place.
? 5/2 Headed to Red Deer, AB to sit out a few days of snow storms. Stayed a Westerner RV just off route 2. All season park, with a mix of residents and travelers. The Westerner is a major event area with the park getting steady business event visitors. We had two nice day hikes between the storms, at Kerry Wood Nature Preserve โ a nice big safe park with great hiking, within the Red Deer area.
? 5/6 short drive to Devon, AB to the Devon Lions RV Park. Right on the river, and though more people were here, this park too had not yet turned the water on. We had two nights of light snow flurries, but very pleasant. One day run off to LARGE West Edmonton Mall. Shopping never looked so big. Indoor beach with wave machine, and stores, stores, stores. Lucky for me, the DW was pretty well stocked up!! A new heavier jacket for Smitty, and a few long sleeve shirts for us both.
? 5/8 onto Sherkโs RV Park by Valley View, AB. Just also getting opened, with site water off. But very long hose made available for those that were staying in the campground. (Some seasonal road workers, as a large stretch is still being expanded as you head North out of Valley View.) A nice campground, friendly staff โ the major cleaning of the laundry room must have just been completed to start the year, as the DW said the place even smelled clean!!
? 5/9 onto Northern Lights RV Park, in Dawson Creek โ Mile Zero. Northern Lights still has new looking, and very well maintained laundry room and showers (though we just looked into the showers). Mike & Annette own and run this park. Making improvements every year. Itโs on a good rise above Dawson Creek, close to all. I had heard that Mike and Annette did their best to welcome all. Mike really came thru on helping us with a small sewer connection problem (Smitty caused!). Then as we were in town and doing the Mile Post Zero picture. Mike pulls up in his car while running an errand, jumps out to take our picture for us. Both are real neat people, with pride of ownership โ and itโs genuine, not an act, these are good people. Warning, do not start playing ball with their dog Gizmo โ you could lose days!
Note: Dawson Creek has road construction going on in the heart of town, so if you donโt need to go into the main drag with your rig for some reason, try to take the Hazardous Truck route around the town. Still lets you into Northern Lights RV Park, or Tubbyโs or Lions RV Parks โ and hooks back up The ALCAN. Do take the time to visit the Information Center in Dawson Creek, as they have great info on current things taking place on The ALCAN.
? 5/11 Headed North on The ALCAN stopping at the Sikanni River Campground. The road conditions both South and North of Pink Mountain are a bit rough. All of the Oil Trucks have done some damage. Though 100KM is posted, we found that we rattled more then we liked at 70-75KM. We also had our first โimpatientโ (polite wording for road jerk) Oil Worker blow past us while doing the stop/go lights of Fort St John. He flew by us over two double yellow lines, cutting in quickly to โpepperโ us with some nice half inch stones. One silver dollar and another nickel windshield chips. (Could have happened anywhere in the lower 48. And we know from experience you will read about next, that the people of Fort St John are just as nice as anywhere else. This region is inundated with thousands of guest Oil Workers. Small โtownโ Work Camps with Crew Rates signs have popped up thru this region.)
Sikanni River Campground? Great location, our first bites from Big Blood Suckers too. The campground is a bit run down, with new owners, so hope that will change. Tightly spaced (Pass the Grey Poupon please.) spots with 30A available and a few pull thruโs by the river with great views and 15A or 20A service.
We ended our Motherโs Day with how it started, a bit of bad luck. The manager of the park told me that theyโd had an incident with their primary generator, it had been fried, but the backup was up and running. We stayed in the shoe horn spot he put us in for about 90 mins, plugged into the 30A. One of the parks staff was working in the generator shed, and must have hit the wrong switches, as we had a loud โpopโ sound from our cabinets with Autoformer and TRC Surge Guard. Microwave stayed on, so did not think much about it, figuring our protection equipment had protected us. We moved shortly later, to a pull thru right next to the river, not bothering to hook back up to the 15A service.
Next AM, we noted an error code on the Norcold 1200. Service Manual indicated bad Control Board. After checking all of the Control Boards fuses, all looking good, decided that Fort St John would have more facilities than Fort Nelson, so headed South.
When we got to Fort Nelson, the local Fort Ford (& Trailer) Dealer worked us in to do a quick diagnostic to see if a Control Board needed to be ordered. Short time later Technician Clint, had our Control Board โhard resetโ and all checked out OK. Told him about the power surge and we both concluded enough had slipped by to force the Control Board into protection mode. We also determined that our Hughes Autoformer had bit been fried during the power surge. I rewired our TRC Surge Guard, which was in line after the Hughes, to be the front line of defense. Called to ask the Sikanni RV Park to review what had happened, and see if they could help me on the damage. Suggested they pay for parts, and I would cover labor. The owners are not in town for a few weeks, so I suspect this will be a few weeks to sort out. Give it a 50/50 chance that they'll help on the damage. Part of the risks we take. And please note, if I had known they were going to work on the generator, I would have unplugged. The site manager said the guy that drives a truck for the place, went in on his own accord - and frankly the manager did not think the guy knew what he was doing. (And udner statement:)!)
More South instead of North! During the total 90 mins from when we pulled into the Fort Ford Dealer until I paid the bill โ we called around to glass shops in Fort St John. Two days out was the earliest available schedule. I called Speedy Glass that we had passed on the main drag of Dawson Creek, and they said they would work us in whenever we got to them. We headed South, and they had us out within 40 mins repairing the two chips (one may not hold, weโll see).
We made it back up to Fort St John, and spent the night at the Wallmart.
>5/13 we headed North, again, to Fort Nelson staying at Triple G Hideaway. Friendly staff and still cleaning up the park getting ready for the season ahead. Walked to the next door Museum, feeding the Blood Suckers on the way, and noted the newer Fort Nelson Visitor Information Center just across the roadway.
We called Muncho Provisional Park phone number, reaching a gent that was not in the area, but assured us that the staff was on site and would have the park open. Had also called and talked to the Fort Nelson Visitor Information Center, and they too understood the park was open, and getting ready for the season. We were strategizing on where to hunker down for the Victoria Days Long Weekend, to stay as much out of the way of our local Canadian Hosts as possible. Most parks Provincial Parks in these regions open between 5/15 thru the end May, depending upon location and weather.
? 5/14 we headed North to Mucho Lakes Strawberry Flats. At the recommendation of the Provincial Park gent we talked to, we and topped off fuel at Toad River, as fuel prices are substantially higher at the few locations along Muncho Lake and on up into Liard Hot Springs area.
While we did not stay at Toad River, we did do a day trip back in out Toad for brunch and WiFi. The park has both newer looking cabins and electric and water in many of the RV sites. It would be a nice place to stop and spend the night, or two, on the way North. Nice beaver damn and home, and supposedly very good moose sightings too โ just off RV campground area. And, besides good food โ the people are very nice too.
We stayed for 5 great nights at Strawberry Flats on the South end of Muncho Lake, enjoying day drives and hikes. Space #15 was great, and though the lake was still frozen over, the beauty of this area is just fantastic. Two Thumbs Up from Smitty!
5/19 A short ride into Liard Hot Springs. Nice site with #25, on the edge of the curve and far as you can get from the ALCAN. The campground staff get a salute and a thanks. This was a very busy weekend for them, with overflow area being used to handle the Victoria Long Weekend crowds. As the mass exodus of Monday AM took place, the battle tested staff cleaned sites and had the trash out of bins multiple times during the AM.
We enjoyed the springs, spending some time with some Down Under Caravan gang (40 brand new Class Cโs from Seattle to Fairbanks, all having a blast!) About 15 rigs pulled into spend a few hours at Liard, then to press onwards to Watson Lake to make the evening Wagon Master meeting at 7:00PM. A fun crowd they were.)
5/20 on into Watson Lake. Cell coverage! WiFi at the rig (get close to the office for in rig coverage), and our own little mud pit! The area could use more gravel, but again many areas are still just getting up and running. Though the owner said he'd been open for four weeks now.
Road Perceptions and a few Fuel Comments:
Itโs still early in the season, many of the towns and cities we drove thru, were just starting to clean the winter gravel/sand put down for winter.
We found the Alberta roadways to be well maintained, with good warnings of rough roads and bumps.
The British Columbia roads did not seem to us to be as well maintained, and we found many sections where no warnings of rough roads and bumps/heaves existed. Theyโre not all easy to see, and we found that 65-75KPH was about as fast as we wanted to travel, regardless of the 100KPH speed limits. Smaller rigs and trucks may not have any problems going the posted speeds. And many times we were passed by other Class Aโs too. I suspect that heavier weight/longer coaches like ours, will probably drive below the posted speeds. With the exception of area around Pink Mountain area. The Oil Trucks have roughed this up quite a bit, and very few Rough Road warning or Heaves Red Warnings for what this area warrants. Suggest all rigs, but especially heavy and longer DPโs, keep it down to 75 in this region. And do watch out for the trucks, as they are going to do what they are going to do!
Yukon roads? A bit rough as you first come into the area, but found good roads as you get into Watson Lake area. We know from other posts, that we have more fun ahead, and weโll go as fast as we feel road conditions allow, regardless of posted speeds.
One nice thing for us so far, as weโre still a bit ahead of the major crowds. Very little traffic, so easy for us to pull over and let people pass when safe, or to see the animals along the way too.
Fuel Tips โ From Fort Nelson to Watson, best fuel prices remain Toad River and Contact Creek. We would have needed to sale blood to purchase fuel along Muncho Lake, and Liard Springs as not much better.
Dumps? The stretch between Fort Nelson and Watson are few. Toad River will allow a dump without staying. (Not validated, but was cautioned that they have very hard water, so perhaps skip filling the water tank if you can.)
Great Northern Lodge RV park will only allow dumping for guests.
The Mucho Lake RV Park was still not open, so I donโt know if they will allow fee to dump here or not.
Liard Hot Springs Lodge and RV Parks. This Lodge is under new owners. They also had a new manager, and things seemed to be in flux. We were told we could fill with water for $10. But no to dumping. (This is different than Churchโs book updates, that you can dump here without staying. We understand, as the Liard Hot Springs have no dump stations. And these places need to pay to be emptied at quite an expense.) Still early in the season, and with new owners and manager maybe things will change on this. It also could have just been a Victoria Long Weekend decision.)
I donโt recall if Contact Creek had a dump or not, used to be an RV park, so it could. But my bet is no here tooโฆ
This sounds almost like a blog update, sorry! Main intent was to share the road and camp conditions so far. Fuel and dumping experiences. All changes quickly as the season moves on, so donโt be surprised if you find our experienced conditions to have changed.
Having fun, such great country, very friendly people.
Best to all, travel safe, and have fun,
Smitty
(In Watson Lake โ Going to hang our sign in the rain today!)