Highway 97 to the Alaskan Highway

Wednesday we continued to drive north, up and down hills. The scenery remained quite beautiful with mountain lakes and forests. In that section of British Columbia we saw a few warning signs along the highway for badger crossings. However, we never saw one of those critters crossing the road. That night found us at Dragon Lake, a very quiet and serene place tucked away in the hills near the town of Quesnel.  Many older folks were there for the fishing, and probably the peacefulness of it all.

Like last summer we are seeing very little of the tourist crowd. People on the roads are mainly retried folk like John and I. Occasionally we see another vehicle from the states, but people parked in the recreational areas are now mainly from British Columbia. The park in Quesnel also had some beautiful gardens. In the picture below you may notice spring flowers as the iris and bleeding hearts. Spring is starting here in the north country. That is the lake again in the background.

And how about this old man enjoying his book in the garden? Quite an interesting piece of sculpture!

Yesterday found us again on highway 97, crossing the continental divide and the western edge of the Canadian Rockies.  Small lakes and waterfalls completed the vast mountain vistas. We even spotted a black bear up in the hills. It all seemed to give us a feeling of being in pristine wilderness.

The beautiful landscape abruptly changed further down the road as we  came near the town of Dawson Creek. The land became flatter, dusty and dry. We are now on the eastern side of the mountains which has the rain shadow effect. And we are also at mile zero of Highway 97. From this point on, at Dawson Creek, we will be on the Alaskan Highway. It certainly has been slow going, what with climbing mountains and sitting at construction sites along the way. We are still making some progress, however, in our drive north. Hopefully we will get through British Columbia today and into the Yukon Territory.