Dawsen Creek to Fort Nelson, Flash Flooding

The ditches were filled with running water and the rivers we crossed were all swollen and muddy. The rain had fallen pretty much unabated for two days and at times it came down at a pretty strong rate. I worried a little about landslides but more about our preferred campground as it was on a river, the Sikainna Chief.

Sure enough we crossed the bridge and you could see that the water was starting to overflow the banks. There was no way we would be able to safely camp there and so we drove on. I had filled with diesel at Pink Mountain,(5.96 a gallon), and so I had plenty to get to Fort Nelson.

However, the drive suddenly brightened up as we saw a wolf in the ditch, feeding on carrion. It was only the second time we have seen a wild wolf and the last time was in Yellowstone. Further down the road we noticed a large black animal, which turned out to be our first black bear!

The extra miles seemed less tiresome and Renita spotted a deer feeding unconcerned in the wet grass covered ditch. It seemed that the road ditches were filled with food, unlike the barren forest floor of the tioga. Further down the road we both spied another large black spot, it was easy as it was surrounded by a sea of bright green grass. This bear was a large black bear boar and we slowed to watch it, but didn’t stop as the truck traffic is pretty heavy on this part of the Alaskan Highway.

Finally reaching Fort Nelson, a drive of 280 miles and over 125 miles longer then we planned, we checked into the Triple G Campground. We really are tired of private campgrounds but with more rain in the forecast we thought it would be the wisest bet, instead of boon docking on a turnoff.

All in all it had been a special drive and a day worth remembering. It’s not often that we see two wild black bears and a wolf in the same day. This is one of the reasons we are making this special jouney or adventure if you will! Clear skies