Finishing the Alaska Highway--Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek

Saturday, August 21 started out with sunny skies, so we were hopeful the rainy skies were gone. Today the goal was to complete driving the entire Alaska Highway with the last section from Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek.

Alaska Highway east of Ft. Nelson

Wildflowers along the highway

It didn't take long for us to catch up to the clouds and rain--we were apparently traveling the same path and caught up to the storm system by midday. The radar Ernie had looked at hadn't shown anything, but it was obviously faulty. (Later he found another radar that showed the massive system we'd been following!)

Not only did we have clouds and rain, but late afternoon between Buckingham Creek and Ft. St. John, slushy rain was followed by a horrendous hail storm! Temperatures were in the mid-forties. Felt more like the beginnings of winter than August!

Hail collecting on the windshield

Over the mountains, out of the wilderness, and onto the plains . . . finally! Coming out of the mountains, we started seeing definite signs of civilization between villages and towns. Ernie was thrilled to see some flat land and fields--he'd begun getting a bit claustrophobic with all the mountains and longed to be in a place where he could see for miles.

Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek--the official beginning of the Alaska Hwy. (or in our case, the end)

We made it! We traveled the entire Alaska Highway!

While searching Dawson Creek for the two campgrounds that were supposed to be there, we found one which seemed to be full and hosting a "Peace Festival," but we never could find the other even with GPS. So we decided to stay dry and get another hotel room--this time a new and much nicer Days Inn at a reasonable price. Ahh, the joys of private bathrooms and showers and dry beds!