Start Location: Burns Lake, BC
Ending Location: Valemount, BC
Miles Today: 327
Trip Miles: 1685
States Visited: 2
Provinces Visited: 1
Low Temp: 52.6° F
High Temp: 89.7° F
Min Elevation: 1851'
Max Elevation: 3095'
Route Map:
Alaska - Day07
As I mentioned yesterday, we definitely had to change our route today.
We checked in the morning and Highway 97 was still closed in both
direction from Clinton to 70 Mile House and, since several communities
were being evacuated, there were no hotel rooms for miles in any
direction. So when we got to Prince George instead of going south on 97
we continued on Highway 16 to Highway 5 and turned south there to
Valemount. We have a room for tonight and it's no showplace but it is a
roof over our heads and a bed so we should be good.
There
were a lot of construction delays today - one of them was quite long
and saw us sitting in the hot sun for quite a while - no fun. There was
also a stop for some kind of inspection but, by the time we got there,
they waved us through so we have no idea what that was all about.
Around
lunch time we stopped at what we thought would be a nondescript rest
area. We went down a short hill and it opened up to a nice clearing
with picnic tables, restrooms, and right on the bank of a nice stream.
We also found a group of 5 motorcycles and 6 travelers. As we talked to
them we found they were from 4 different states - Illinois, Wisconsin,
New York, and Pennsylvania. They had not met each other before the trip
but got together and planned the trip on a Facebook page. They were
headed for Hyder for the same reason we went there. Most of them had
between 42 and 49 states that they had ridden in and wanted to add
Alaska to their list. It was fun to meet them and learn about their
group.
We had dinner at really nice local pub that we could
walk to from our hotel - probably one of the best meals we have had on
this trip.
Tomorrow we head for Hope, BC and have already
reserved what we believe will be a much nicer room. It looks like it
will be hot tomorrow so we will probably try to get an early start
since it is always quite a bit cooler earlier in the day in this part
of the country.
