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 seven - winter solstice: Photographers just can't make fast time through the provincial parks of northern British Columbia. With every turn, there are two or three new peaks worthy of a picture and there are numerous pull-outs to facilitate safe photography.¹ The irony of driving in northern BC on this particular day was that the roads were in great shape - dry in spots, no ice, a bit wet, some sand - 45 to 55 mile per hour conditions.

It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit when I went to sleep last night and I woke at about 4:30 a.m. to the sound of snow sloughing off the back of the trailer. It was 37 degrees and there was a steady Chinook wind blowing out of the south at Muncho Lake.² After sleeping till about 9 a.m. when the sky was bright enough to take photographs, Taiya and I headed down to the lake for a mile run along the shore. We avoided walking on the lake due to the warm temperatures.

After a bit, Muncho, the resident dog, tracked us down along the shore and ran with us. It was so warm, I broke a sweat running. Before long, it was time to head down the road and get some miles under the truck. Before we left, Taiya and I got to meet Urs, who with his wife, owns the Northern Rockies Lodge where we stayed for the night. They bought the old lodge³ 18 years ago and have added all the new buildings you see.

Two miles. That's about as far as we got when there was another pull out and great new views. Peaks were reflecting off melt-water pools on the lake surface. You could also see the blue-green water in spots that comes from copper oxide leeching up from minerals on the bottom of the lake. No Stone sheep were visible although they frequent the area.

Back in the truck and we were on our way again - for another mile or two, when there was another photo opportunity. It went on like this throughout Muncho Lake Provincial Park, through Toad River and on up to Summit Lake in Stone Mountain Provincial Park. These are the northern Rockies and the scenery is fantastic. It also makes me homesick for Colorado.   

I could repeat the start and stop process, but just go check out the photo gallery to see what I'm talking about. There are some great trails in this area. Take several days and check them out if you have some time. This scenery rivals that of many national parks. Maybe BC wants to keep these places provincial parks so that there are fewer crowds.

There is gas, food, rooms, intermittent internet⁴, and RV plug-ins at the Toad River Lodge. There is also a new spot for gas until 9 p.m. at the Tetsa River Outfitters. The gas isn't listed in the Milepost and it's not marked on my map, but it cuts the distance between gas stations on the north side of Fort Nelson to about 60 miles - roughly in half.

The photo ops dwindle after Summit Lake, which at 4,248 feet is the high point on the Alaska Highway. The roads were in great shape being mostly damp, but no ice.

Once in Fort Nelson, I made several laps of town searching for rumored wireless internet before finally finding success at the Woodlands Inn on the south side of town. You have to get in or right next to the bar to get usable download speeds for Web publishing and to do much e-mail work. The challenge is finding the unmarked bar.⁵

After finishing up at the Woodlands, I chose to head south to Pink Mountain Lodge. Fort Nelson has a nice campground open in the winter on the west side of town called the West End with electric hook-ups, but the roads where in good shape, so I wanted to make some more miles.

Mistake. Due to all the sand on the wet roads, my headlights had a hard time making out the lane in the darkness - even after stopping to clean the mud spray off a few times. The main hazard, however, was the big trucks coming by kicking up muddy spray in their wake⁶ which would then completely cover my windshield and I'd have to scramble to clear it off. I made it almost 50 miles out of Fort Nelson before finding a turn out⁷ to spend the night.

The only way I could see the turn out in the darkness was that a motor home driven by Norm, who is moving from Anchorage to Port Aransas, Texas, had the same problem and chose to stop for the night.

Pulling off the highway as far as possible, I shut things down for the night and stepped out under a field of stars that I haven't seen since I was in Colorado. The Milky Way was out and we were up above the inversion layer that had Fort Nelson locked in 18 degrees Fahrenheit and dropping, while here I sit typing away at 39 degrees.

Tomorrow, I will leave the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek and head on to Grand Prairie. It's a bittersweet day. The driving will get much easier, but the scenery and the mystique are left behind in northern BC and the Yukon. Fortunately, all that will be waiting again at the end of the trip when I pull in to the Windy SL Ranch⁸, north of La Veta, Colo.  

Day eight 
______________________________________________________________________________
¹ As opposed to photographing through the windshield or rolling down the driver's window and pointing the camera in the general direction of a peak and snapping off several mages with a wide-angle lens while driving down the highway. No one does that, though.
² This is not to say that all Chinook winds come out of the south. They blow in whatever direction the placement of peaks and valleys prefers them to flow. In Anchorage, Chinooks blow out of the east over Portage Pass. In Colorado, they blow out of the west. It has been my experience though, that whenever the wind blows at night, the temperature warms up significantly.
³ www.northern-rockies-lodge.com 800-663-5269. Urs said that most of his business is in the summer time, but he needs an administrative office in the winter to book trips for the following season, so why not live at Muncho Lake year round. One look at the views and the choice is obvious. 
⁴ They have a PC you can use and wireless internet, but both were down and had been causing trouble for some time. At least they're trying.
⁵ Okay, how to find the bar. Go in the entrance by the Pantry restaurant. Walk straight through to the double doors opposite you where hotel guests enter the Pantry. Outside those double doors is an unmarked, plain brown door. Knock on the door three times and tell them Hank sent you. Just kidding. The bar doesn't open till 4 p.m. If you get there earlier, just sit on the floor in the hall and surf away. Otherwise, go inside, buy something non-alcoholic if you plan to drive and surf from the bar. 
⁶ This isn't the truckers' fault.
⁷ There are very few pull outs along this stretch of highway.
⁸ It gets its name because sometimes it is windy as hell.

Additional Advertising Space Available

Additional Advertising Space Available

)