Chapter 4: The Road Goes Ever On and On and On

~After leaving the national parks the terrain becomes a lot less mountainous, but still more remote impressive than the flatness of Indiana. As kilometer after kilometer rolls by our heads remain on a swivel as we are in constant search of bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bison, caribou, elk, moose and bear with money being involved for the first person to spot a bear.

~With no major animal sightings the past couple days, we've been enjoying the changing landscapes, noting that some countries pack millions of people into small areas and here there are millions of acres of land with nary a person in sight. The first of these last two days brought us to Dawson Creek. British Columbia and mile 0 of the famous Alaska Highway.

~Fifty miles into the highway is Charlie Lake, our stop for the night. We got out the two inflatable rafts and entered the lake for some fishing around six in the evening. With the fish not biting we were just ready to head back and start supper at eight when the winds died down and the first fish was lured in. For the day several small pikes were caught and Nathan and Jared brought in six walleye.

We cleaned them and put them on ice, preparing for a fish fry later in the trip.

~We got a seven o'clock start the next day with hopes of more fishing and more fish that evening. It was a fairly uneventful travel day.

Still, no wildlife as we traveled back into some more mountainous regions with winding roads, rock walls, steep vertical drops and rock bottom rivers creating simple rapids. Mile 404 brought us to the town of Toad River. The Toad River Lodge is a do-all/one-stop offering restaurant, gas, motel, tire repair, camping and post office. From the ceiling of the lodge hangs a collection of thousands of trucker hats.

~Our stop for the night was MacDonald Campground on Muncho Lake, mile 442 of the highway.

As we stepped out of the RV, Jon noticed that one of the rear tires was leaking air. Upon farther inspection, the two tires on the right rear were almost bald while the left rears looked fine.

The spare was quickly put on with plans to look for new tires and the cause of the uneven wear the next day. We then proceeded out on the lake excited to add to our catch of fish. Fishing didn't come so easy today. After several hours on the lake we came back in around 8:30 with only a couple lake trout to show for it, but not enough for a meal.

~Muncho Lake is surrounded by towering 7000 foot high mountains creating great views while sitting out on the lake but also makes the water a bit on the chilly side. That didn't stop Nathan and Jared from taking a, "not so skinny", dip in the water before bed.

~After being refreshed by the cool blue waters of Muncho we all headed to bed to prepare for an even earlier start the next day.

OFFICIAL GRADE for this segment:
B+