Pictures

Today I reached Liard River Hot Springs in northern BC.  My internet connection is terribly slow, so I can only upload a couple pictures for now.

Here is the start of the Alaska highway in Dawson City, BC:

This is what the roads looked like for most of the distance from Dawson City to Fort St. John and Fort Nelson:

Last night I camped out in Fort Nelson.  Today I rode to Liard River.  There are no more straight roads.  North of Fort Nelson, the Alaska highway enters the mountains, and it never stops twisting and turning.  I spent most of today shifting between 3rd and 4th gear as I went through patches of gravel, around tight turns, over hills, and around mountains.  I passed Muncho Lake, which was spectacular despite the fact that it was raining again this afternoon.

Around Muncho Lake, the highway follows right along the lakeshore.  If you swerve off the road, you're going into the lake.  And there is no guardrail or barrier to stop you.  In some places the mountains encroach right against the lakeshore, so the road is carved against a cliff or a wall of rocks on one side with the lake immediately on the other side.

The scenery was impressive.  I couldn't take as many pictures as I wanted because it was raining, but I did get a few pictures, and I'll try to post them tomorrow.

Today I had my first real animal sightings.  Several mountain goats and two Canadian bison.

I also watched some guy land his airplane in the middle of the road.  He circled over Liard River one time in a bush plane, checked for traffic, and then made a quick landing right on the Alaska highway.  It took all of 10 seconds to land the plane and then turn into the driveway of the local lodge.  I'm not sure you could get away with that in the civilized world, but it was cool to see.