Day 4 – Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek
The word of the day was “looooooong.” The most exciting discovery of the day
today was locating the precise location of where time actually stands
still. For any of you lucky enough
to transit the ALCAN, it is approximately one-quarter of the distance between
Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek, where despite appearing to make good time in
looking at the speedometer, it seemed as we never really got any closer to
where we wanted to go.
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| road...sky...trees... |
This phenomena may be due in part to the lack of success we
had in observing wildlife. After yesterday, we had hoped that we had entered a
new stage in our trip, one where we’d quit taking pictures unless the caribou
herd topped at least 30 or more…alas, that was not the case. The decision was made halfway into the
trip to loosen the strict criteria we applied in defining “wildlife.” Before today, we had applied the definition
to only include the bears, goats, moose, elk, etc. that one traditionally
associates with the term . If we
stuck to that approach, however, our final number would’ve been really
depressing. However, once we added
cows to the mix, our success ratio seriously took off! Our decision was validated when upon
seeing our first cow herd, Alex declared that he had never, in fact, seen a cow
with his own eyes. After initially
dismissing his claim, we thought about the places we have been and also that we
moved to Juneau when he was three…not many cow herds roaming around in SE
Alaska. So, after some thought,
his claim actually seemed plausible, which was backed up with his excitement
every time we came across another cow herd. As you can image, this small change upped our numbers from a
very disappointing zero to a “more than you can count” figure.
Four hours into the trip with zero actual wildlife sightings
to our credit, we reached a decision point on our voyage; either just call it a
day, press on to Dawson Creek and forget about this day forever (not hard,
since there was not much to remember), or continue with our previously planned
detour over to Chetwynd, BC, site of the Annual Internatioanl Chainsaw carving
contest. Chetwynd was added to our
iteneray after a positive review from the Clarke’s (again), who passed through
during the actual tournament, which occurred about three weeks ago. After a tense lobbying session, the
electorate was polled and cast their votes for the future of the day. With a result of 3-1, despite the extra
2 hours it would add to the trip, the majority elected to continue onto
Chetwynd as planned.
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| I can't believe this was done with a chainsaw! |
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| Ashleigh posing next to "Building Character" |
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| intricate detail on one of the carvings. |
Shortly after arriving in the small town, we were glad we
continued with the plan. To think
that these figures were crafted primarily with chainsaw’s was beyond
impressive. I did learn that touch
ups with Dremels and sanders were permitted, but that at least 85-95% of each
carving was completed with a regular, ordinary chainsaw, and done within a
36-hour timeframe. We walked
around the area where they had all of the 15 or so entrants on display, and both
Alex and Ash took turns posing with each one. We also saw that throughout the town carvings from previous
years were posted everywhere…it was really kind of cool. After about 30-45 minutes of admiring
the carvings, it was a unanimous 4-0 vote that we made the right decision and
it was certainly the highlight of the day.
With everyone in a better mood, we made the quick hour or so
trek over to Dawson Creek and took some pictures at “Mile 0,” the beginning of
the Alaska Highway. We felt a
great degree of accomplishment, and despite the relative lack of non-bovine
wildlife we observed today, we all agreed that the trip was very much worth it.
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| Mile 0 landmark family photo. |
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| and we can't forget how we got there! |
We had an excellent dinner at Mr. Mikes Steakhouse &
Bar, highly recommended for any people passing through.
Tomorrow – Hinton, AB
Wildlife:
Cows (too many to count)
Others - 0
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