What do you call a guy who sets off on a 3,600-mile road trip in the dead of winter to drive the Rocky Mountain chain from Alaska to southern Colorado? Bear in mind that this is the same guy who goes kayaking with his Australian shepherd - in the ocean.

Crazy doesn't quite sum it up, because there was a fair amount of planning up front. Adventurous is probably closer to the mark, because these are the undertakings that lead to stories - for your buddies and for your future grandchildren. "That's nothing. I once drove the Alcan in December with a dog and two cats."

Hey, it's got to be better than sitting in an office attending a budget meeting or deciding annual employee raises. Who's the crazy one now?

Day six: When you're on the road this long, several things start to happen. You have no idea what the date is and are just as hard-pressed to determine the day of the week. They're both moot facts when every day is like the one before. Get up. Drive. Take a few breaks for gas and photos. Eat dinner. Sleep. Repeat as necessary.¹  

If you don't take photographs, all stops start to blend into each other. Was that place 50 miles back or 500?

You get a lot of time to think out on the road - especially when there are no radio stations. Thoughts drift to love lost, those you've wronged and those who have wronged you. Interesting what the mind does when there is no TV around to numb the senses. I'm not saying that I reached any great revelations, but it is good to reassess periodically.

The strangest effect is that part of you can't wait for the trip to end and another part never wants it to end. Northern British Columbia has some of the best scenery you'll find anywhere at Muncho Lake and Stone Mountain provincial parks. Part of me wants to stop indefinitely to take some of the hikes in the area and bag a few accessible peaks. The other part tells me that the drive south is taking about three times as long as the summer drive north and I would like to make it to Jemez Pueblo, N.M. by Jan. 6 for the feast days.

The best thing about visiting this region in the winter is that you don't have to share it with too many other visitors. The worst is the big trucks that seem to drive 100km/hr regardless of snow, ice, sharp curves or narrow shoulders.²

It was cold around Watson Lake last night. I plugged the trailer in at Nugget City³ just east of junction 37. It got down to -2.2 degrees F.⁴ It was still 0 degrees F when I pulled onto the highway at 10 a.m. Our propane was running low, so we filled up at Petro-Canada in Watson Lake. 

The roads were maintained for driving between 45 and 50 miles per hour pulling a trailer from this point until about 15 miles west of Liard River. The guys out sanding, like Donny from Iron Creek, were doing a bang-up job. Then, there was a stretch before Liard River hot springs that was mostly ice and most of the sand had been thrown off to the shoulder. I spoke with some fellows in a pick-up who said they spun out several times, but the younger fellow had been driving 90 to 100 km/hr.⁵

Gas is available in many spots including Contact Creek, Liard River and Muncho Lake, but the place you will want to make a point of stopping is Iron Creek Lodge, a few miles west of Contact Creek. It's not on my map, but they offer showers, laundromat, motel, electrical hook-ups and some great home cooking. I picked up a loaf of fresh-baked wheat bread and was tempted to stock up on several lunch specials before hitting the road again. Take your shoes off when you go inside to pay. It makes it feel like you're home.⁶

It's worth pointing out that cell phone coverage is non-existent in the Yukon for those who use U.S.-based providers. I got three out of four bars in Whitehorse on a roaming signal, but it would never let me dial any numbers. Elsewhere there is no cell phone signal. Buy a $5 phone card so you can make a few calls from pay phones and you should be fine.

Internet services are limited as well. Whitehorse has several wireless hot spots, but you're lucky to find any other place in the region where you can bum a few minutes on a slow dial-up connection to check some e-mail. Forget about publishing anything to the Web while in any of the smaller communities. This could change in the next few years though.

Unlike many rivers that have gone to sleep for the winter, frozen in still slumber, the Liard River is turbulent enough to remain unfrozen in many places. There is a nice pull out west of the Coal River confluence where the Kechika River has joined just upstream creating some steaming rapids.

Many people like to stop at Liard River hot springs for a dip in the hot waters - even in the dead of winter. Taiya and I walked out to the springs to check out the scenery and the changing rooms, but at 2 degrees F and waning light to drive in before getting to Muncho Lake, I elected to forego a dip in the famous pools. No buffalo where in the immediate area, because there is very light snow cover. There was one small herd next to the road about 20 miles to the west, as well as two dead bison elsewhere along the road.

On the final drive into Muncho Lake, there are several stretches of road where the highway narrows and the turns get very tight. Take your time and hope for the best that everyone else does the same. The mountains rise 3,000 to 4,500 feet above you on both sides of the road. Stopping at Muncho Lake is one of the rewards for making this long trip.

Taiya, the cats and I stopped at the Northern Rockies Lodge⁷ for some gas and to spend the night. Taiya and I made friends with the resident dog named Muncho.⁸

In the morning, we'll catch the sunrise, walk by the lake and take some photographs. The truck has logged more than 1,100 miles and we should reach mile 0 of the Al-Can in Dawson Creek⁹ in another two days. Yukon is behind us now and soon so will be the Canadian Rockies, except for some distant views further south. Our consolation for leaving this great country is that it looks remarkably similar to Colorado - our new home.

Day seven 
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¹ Dare I say that life on the road is like a shampoo bottle? Lather, rinse, repeat as needed.
² If this offends any truckers, I'll make you a deal. Get your buddies to stop driving like speed-crazed paid-by-the-mile-not-by-the-hour maniacs and I'll stop writing negative things about your group. When there's ice on the road and the highway sign says 60km/hr, I expect you to go no faster than that. Then again, I have yet to see an RCMPs on the entire trip. The M sure doesn't stand for mounted - maybe it stands for missing or mythical. A few rollers writing tickets would put the brakes on pretty fast. It sure works down in Montana. 
³ www.nuggetcity.com  Nice place. No gas this time of year, but there is a station another mile east. This place looks like it does a lot of business in the summer.
⁴ Which I think is -(6pi) in Celsius. It was even colder down in Watson Lake by a few pi degrees.
⁵ I drove about 55 km/hr in that section.   
⁶ Seriously, schedule your trip where this is where you stop for lunch or dinner or to spend the night. Host Dave Gingras estimates that at least 80% of the truckers passing through stop at Iron Creek Lodge.
⁷ www.northern-rockies-lodge.com 800-663-5269. We got 15-amp service for $25. They offer a 5 cents per litre discount on gas for guests. The views here are amazing.
⁸ This must be one heck of a famous dog to have a lake and a provincial park named after it.
⁹ I miss that show.
 

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