NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAY 77 - CASSIAR HIGHWAY TO KINASKAN PROVINCIAL PARK

Even though it was still kind of rainy and dreary, it seemed like the worst of any storms have now passed.  At least there are no high winds, thunder or lightning. We avoided the worst of the downpours by being holed up for 2 days at Dease Lake in Brown Bird RV Park.

We left Dease Lake in British Columbia and continued further south on the Cassiar Highway.

As we wound along in between snow capped mountains, the clouds were slowly rising up to reveal their peaks. We sipped our coffee as we drove along, and appreciated that the section of road here had been completed the previous year. It was smooth and beautiful and we let the scenery unveil itself as we moved along.

It was almost like a movie...

   

We climbed a bit upwards in elevation, as the mountains were getting higher around us. We were now going to enter Gnat's Pass, the highest spot on the Cassiar Highway. It is at 4,000 ft.

We were twisting and turning along, not sure if this was the highest part of the pass or not. Suddenly we saw the sign! You could see the rain drops on the windshield because it started drizzling again.

We noticed the absence of trees again as we climbed in elevation. Here and there we could see spots of snow. We knew it had snowed here during the two days prior, and we were quite surprised to see some still around, even with the rain. The temperatures had dropped and there was no sunshine, so the snow was still hanging around.

It was strange to see the snow dotting the hillsides in the foggy misty morning.  I guess our minds were still thinking about how it's nearing the end of July, how can there still be snow??? We just had blistering hot weather up at Dawson City in the Yukon and needed our air conditioning.  But I suppose this area near the ocean, at 4,000 ft, it doesn't melt fast. 

As we worked our way down the other side of the mountain pass, the trees started getting thicker and taller, but the rain sure didn't go away. It was a very peaceful morning to be out with very little traffic in such a pretty part of British Columbia.

I think the rainy weather was making us feel drowsy and dreary. We only traveled 79 miles when we saw the sign for Kinaskan Provincial Park. 

https://bcparks.ca/kinaskan-lake-park/

We decided to loop in and take a look around. We were thinking that we really didn't want to drive all the way into Stewart BC and Hyder AK on a rainy day. We knew the upcoming scenery driving in through that route in 37A would be absolutely gorgeous. We wanted to wait for a sunny day to do that. 

So we might as well hole up in a provincial park before getting there, while it's still raining for the next day or so?

This place didn't disappoint at all, even though it was a rainy day. We had absolutely gorgeous views across the lake of the mountains.

Like I said before, how many wonderful mountainside lakes are we going to find to camp by? Our luck of the draw is just amazing lately. 

We found a campsite that was really close to the water. We think we have voted NUMBER ONE that this campground is having the most beautiful picnic tables!

The bottom metal pipes were all freshly painted in brown and attached nicely with strapping to the cement patios. 

The top portions of the wood were all beautifully varnished in a golden color. It almost reminded me of the tung oil that I used when I refinished one of my first Union Looms in my weaving studio. It was somewhat wet from the rain, but later on we were hoping to be able to sit here for a while or maybe cook a meal?

The lake was really calm and we watched the clouds roll up over the tops of the mountains.  This really was a beautiful campsite, and I sure wish the sun was shining.

We were originally thinking about pulling the motorhome in nose first, so we could look out the front windshield. But instead,! it was more level to bring it in backwards and position it further away from the table. We still had room on the other side for our slide. And this way the bedroom would stick out over towards the water.

This was the incredible view from the kitchen window as I got some lunch put together. Food just tastes so much better when you cook it when you are camping... Lol. Even if it was just grilled cheese sandwiches and raw vegetables to snack on.

In between rain showers, we did look out and notice a pair of loons floating around. We heard them calling to each other. What a peaceful relaxing summary sound. Although we have lots of loons in Wisconsin, it was a treat to see them here too.

I took some clothes up photos on my big camera too. But do you know what? They are now missing just like the up-close photos of the moose. I have gone back and forth through my files and I just can't find them anywhere. I'm usually pretty good about labeling and listing everything and saving it in files to the backup external hard drive. Somehow they either got accidentally deleted during a cut and paste? Or they're hidden in some sector that is no longer visible? 

But here is proof that I did take some close-up photos! 

Sometimes I snap photos of the back of my big camera using my cell phone, while we are traveling. I send those via Messenger to my two friends Linda and Rosie, as well as to our kids or grandkids while we are actually traveling. That way they don't have to wait until the blog comes out. I usually just send them the most exciting or best photos as we are moving along down the highway. It's great to have Starlink operating while we drive down the road!  Of course there's absolutely no cellular service just about anywhere on the Cassiar Highway.

We dozed off in the afternoon for a while and had a little nap with the rain going pitter-pat on the roof of the motorhome. What an absolutely peaceful sound, and with the dog curled up at our feet, the afternoon slipped away with sweet dreams.

It sure turned into kind of a lazy day with only a small amount of travel, and not a lot of effort. Since it was raining, we weren't going to cook outside. I decided to whip up my easy casserole that is made with canned Aldi potatoes, frozen green beans, yellow beans and carrots, and sliced kielbasa sausage. I also add sliced Vidalia onion and chopped up garlic and spices. I will post the recipe below:

Aldi One Pan Baked Sausage Vegetable Potato Casserole Recipe:

Have dinner ready in less than an hour with this simple casserole. Prepared with just a few simple Aldi ingredients, this is one dish the entire family will ask for over and over again.

Half of an Aldi Parkview Polska Kiebasa.

One Aldi can sliced potatoes or you can use raw ones.

Half bag of Aldi Prince Edward frozen veggie medley.

and added thin sliced raw onions and minced garlic and spices, and 2 TB olive oil, and five or six pats of butter.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

I slice up some sweet Vidalia onion and put some minced garlic into the bottom of a glass casserole dish, liberally sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

I love these Aldi canned sliced potatoes! Cut open the top of the can and drain out the water. Then put in 2 TB of extra-virgin olive oil into the can. Put the lid back on and shake it around a little, or carefully tipping it up and down, until the potatoes are coated with the olive oil. Then dump them in the pan with the onions and minced garlic.

We really like the Polska Kielbasa from Aldi, it's the Parkview brand that they carry. I only use half of a ring of the kielbasa for the two of us. You're making a meal for 4, of course use the full ring. I slice it on an angle that makes it look kind of fancy.

Dump the sausage in over the potatoes and onion mixture. Then I liberally apply some spices. I like Lawry's, and black pepper, as well as dried parsley flakes. Then our local grocery store has a mixed seasoning bottle similar to Mrs. Dash called Harvest Blend.

Next, I cover up the entire casserole dish with tin foil and seal it around the edges, tight to the rim of the casserole dish.

Place the dish on the center rack and bake the potatoes and sausage for 20 minutes at 400°F, stirring halfway through.

Now for my third part of the ingredients, add our favorite Prince Edward Medley frozen vegetables. They are green beans, yellow wax beans, and little baby carrots. I use half a bag of this for a serving for two. I might add it's a very generous serving because Steve usually has a double serving and I have one. If you're making it for a larger group use the whole bag.  If you can't find these anymore, use other frozen green beans, yellow beans, carrots etc. 

(Note--If you have to use fresh carrots, I boil them up in advance separately in either the microwave or a small saucepan so they are halfway tender before I put them into the casserole. Otherwise they take too long to cook all the way through and end up being hard and everything else is completely done)

I just sprinkle the veggies over the top, add the pats of butter, and then I seal the tinfoil back around firmly on the edges. That way the steam from underneath of the potatoes and meat cook up through the vegetables. Return the dish in the oven and continue baking for an additional 20 minutes. Stirring halfway through so that all of the ingredients are fully cooked.

Enjoy!!!

It's nice sometimes to have familiar foods and a familiar meal even if we are in different locations. Really, we aren't just traveling from place to place, or just camping. We are also living day-to-day in our motorhome. When we are at home we cook almost all of our meals, so why not do it when we are on the road? We do enjoy our own cooking so much more than restaurant food. We take the time to plan ahead, shop for the items, and cook inside of our motorhome rather than just stopping off for fast food. 

When you are way out here in the mountains, where in the heck do you even find fast food? Hahaha

The rain let up for a little while and we went out for a walk. Things were wet but if we stayed on the road it wasn't too bad. A little dog though has to sniff along in the ditches and got himself a tad bit dirty. We were down by the lake's edge and decided to rinse off the muddy wet feet of this little dog from his walk. He really did not enjoy it whatsoever. Just look at that face??

Shelties are definitely not "water dogs". But we got the mud off his paws and his long fur of his underbelly, and dried him off with a towel before bringing him inside of the motorhome. That helps keep things clean on the inside. 

He says thank you very much, but he really didn't appreciate the bath and the lake!

It continued to rain throughout the evening, so we curled up with some YouTubes and travel videos. The soft pitter patter of the rain on the roof lulled us off to sleep. I think we slept 9 or 10 hours!! 

The only thing that woke us up was the calling of the loons out on the lake in the morning. What a great way to wake up with nature's alarm clock. 

I know I tried to not write about a lot of cooking on the blog, but here's one of the little mixes that we really like the flavor and taste of. It's made by Betty Crocker (sorry, I ripped off the top of the envelope before I took this photo) and it's the kind in the envelopes, not the box.  We appreciate the fact that it only needs water or milk. No eggs, no oil. Easy peasy mix.

The motorhome smells so good in the morning with our coffee and the baking of the blueberry muffins. The mix makes four large muffins or six smaller ones depending on the pan you have.

It's just enough for us for an early treat with our coffee. Then later on we cook a regular breakfast if we want.  This little guy gets a little teeny piece of each of ours as his "last bite" portion. Spoiled dog..

Well, it looked like it was going to be a better day and we were going to drive on down further on the Cassier Highway. We may make it as far as Meziadin Lake, and then figure out our timing to drive over into Stewart BC and Hyder AK.

Here is the video YouTube that goes along with today's blog: 

79 Miles traveled today

6,590 Miles traveled so far

NORTH TO ALASKA - DAYs 75 & 76 - A MOOSE, A BEAR, STARTING THE CASSIAR HIGHWAY TO DEASE LAKE

We were so sad to leave the campground! We are at Morley Lake in The Yukon Territory of Canada. If you read my last blog, you will know that it has become my most absolute favorite campsite so far of this entire trip.

https://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/Mobile/Search/search-result.aspx?site=REC0562&districtCode=RDKM&type=Site

But it was going to rain, rain, rain for the next 2 to 3 days. And the road going in here was very steep narrow and downhill just two tracks of dirt and mud through the woods. Getting back up was going to be difficult if we were going to have a couple days of rain. Our motorhome is not four-wheel drive, and I highly doubt a tow truck will come down there to haul us out of the mud if we got stuck. 

It is best if one only camped there on dry weather days or they had a four-wheel drive truck to haul their butts out.

I sat in the morning in my "office" to finish up a blog post and get a few photos organized. I was kind of stalling, I really didn't want to leave.

But eventually, we got packed up and hit the road. Surprisingly, we made it out pretty well through the woods. The road was worse the day before when we arrived, because it had been raining for 2 days prior.  But it had dried out some overnight and the biggest mud holes had diminished in size. So we really didn't have any problem getting out. 

We turned towards the southeast and continued on the Alcan Highway.  

We had a few sections of some construction and some gravel. There's only a little window of time to get the roadwork done, so stopping or slowing down for construction is the norm in Canada and Alaska both. 

We were heading along on a paved portion when suddenly we spotted a moose!!!!  

Now, I KNOW I took photos of it with my big camera. Good sharp clear photos. Because right after it happened, I snapped a picture of the back screen of my big camera with my cell phone just to send it to my friends Linda and Rosie. But darned if I can find the good photos on the SD card within the camera itself? I have looked and looked. 

The next best thing is to take still shots off the video that was running at the same time through the dash camera. So these are the only shots we got of the moose other than the one of the back of my camera up above.

  

I know they are not very clear, nor are they very detailed. But they are definitely a moose and we definitely saw it.

I sure wish I knew where the other photos from the big camera were...  If I do find them somewhere, I will upload them here for a future viewing.

We traveled along for about another 50 miles or so, and happened upon our next little bit of wildlife for the morning. It was our chance to see a black bear! He was very busy chomping along something in the grass and really didn't even pay attention to us. We had pulled over on the opposite side of the road and I was snapping some photos through the open window. We were safe. The only time he ever looked up was if a semi truck was coming!  Otherwise he wasn't even bothered to look at anybody or anything going past.

At one point he did look up (right after another semi went past) and I was zoomed in enough to grab this picture of him.  The video link down below to the YouTube shows the actual footage we were filming of him while I kept snapping photos. 

Isn't he cute?

But I sure don't think I'd want to run across him in the woods somewhere...

We continued on the Alcan Highway a bit further. The road weaves in and out between British Columbia and the Yukon a couple of times before it finally reaches an intersection called Junction 37.  This is important because it's the start of the Cassiar Highway. This is where you have to make "the decision" if you're going to continue back home on the Alcan or if you're going to go down on the Cassiar.  

So we were choosing to take the darker blue route to the west (The Cassiar Highway) rather than the lighter blue route to the east (The Alcan a.k.a Alaskan Highway). 

Since we had come up on the Alcan, it made sense for us to go back on the Cassiar and see something different.

But also it is a very important gas station stop here for fuel if you're going to go on the Cassiar because the next station is quite a distance down at Dease Lake. 

Right at the corner, we stopped for a fuel up.  The owner, Dan, was quite an interesting fellow to chat with.  Boy oh boy, does he know his fishing. He also makes his own fishing lures and sells them along with a lot of good advice.

He has three old dogs who will welcome you at the doorway and check you over just in case you might have some treats in your pockets.  I passed the test.

After we fueled up, we found out that he no longer sells propane. So we knew we had to pick that up further down the way. But we were at still approximately half a tank so that was okay. 

NOW IT WAS TIME TO START THE CASSIAR HIGHWAY. IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE NOW GOING "HOME"!

We drove about 2 miles further down the road to where it crossed the final time from the Yukon into British Columbia. It was time to say goodbye to the Yukon, and set our sights on traveling further south. See the Yukon sign over our shoulders?

We did pose at the British Columbia sign and also put our little sticker in a prominent spot. It was like we were closing a chapter of our travels by leaving the Yukon, and beginning the next leg of our journey through British Columbia.

The weather here was cold, even though the sun was shining. Further south of us they had actually had snow the night before and the temperatures were down around 32. The days were only getting up in the '50s, maybe. Remember, this is the middle of July!  The elevations are only in the 2000 to 3000 ft range. But almost every mountain has snow on top of it.

The skies were clearing up a bit where we were actually getting some sunshine as we headed south. It felt pretty good shining in on us as we traveled southward.

The Cassiar Highway was undergoing a major overhaul. Many sections are already done and they are smooth as a ribbon of pavement cruising along over the hills and around the curves. It was such an amazing pleasure to drive on. It was like a complete contrast to what we had been experiencing on the way up to Alaska. This was like the icing on the cake, or like I said it was our "reward" for enduring all the rough rugged travel going north. Now it was time to enjoy our southern trek home.

Something else we had noticed was an interesting form of graffiti. It seems that the young people, or perhaps people in love, seem to take it upon themselves to make a declaration publicly along the road sides. What they do is that they gather rocks. And they arrange those rocks into letters to spell out the name of their beloved. They arrange them into the dirt banks on each side of the road. We saw quite a few messages of who loves who, with big hearts or silly designs...

Somewhere just initials like this:

And others were full names encircled by a heart shape:

We noticed some had even taken the time to paint the rocks to make them stand out! Can you imagine? Here is Willy, thinking, "I will show Fran that I really love her, by taking some paint out on the side of the highway and painting a bunch of rocks. Then, after they dry, I will arrange the rocks into her name and my name. That will show her that I truly love her!" 

Anyhow,  We moved on further down the Cassiar, marveling at what was happening around each turn and over each hill.

I took 70 million gazillion photos, but here are just a few:

The snow-capped mountains look frosty and cold, and many of the streams and lakes running down from them are just as icy cold.

Of course, we will run into a few sections of construction. Not every segment is completed yet. But each section was noted with large billboards of what was going on and when. Once each section was completed a big red and white banner board was diagonally hammered across it saying COMPLETED.  I bet that sure felt good for the road crews to do that. 

We did wait in one section quite a while for a pilot car to come. This was getting late, about 6:30 p.m. But they were still working and we had to wait for the pilot car to come and get us. It's the only way to get safely through a construction zone when there is such large equipment moving around. They are busy and not looking for everyday traffic coming from either direction.

Soon we were escorted through and back on our way. We wanted to make it down to Dease Lake for the night. We called at the Brown Bird RV Park in that small crossroads to ask if they had any open sites or if we needed to make a reservation? She said no problem at all, just come, and drive right in. She felt I should make it there by 7:00 p.m., but that was before we got stopped waiting for the pilot car. Otherwise, it was fine with her to just pull in and take a site for the night. We could settle up in the morning at the registration office. How nice was that? 

We made it down to Brown Bird RV Park (previously called Dease Lake RV Park) just as the office was registering two or three other latecomers, so she was still open.  We got assigned a campsite for two nights with full hookups. We wanted to hole up here for the rain and the storms going overhead. We also wanted to catch up on the laundry, and resupply some things at the small gas station / grocery store at the crossroads in town. 

The RV park was not anything very special, nor anything fancy or manicured or landscaped. It was a gravel lot with posts that had power and water. Some of those campsites had sewer as well. It was actually a place that a lot of the construction workers were living in their RVs while they worked just down the road. They would leave early in the morning at 6:00 a.m. with their diesel trucks rumbling their way out of the RV park. But you can't fault them for it, they need to get to work and fix the roads that we all love to drive on. 

So we have to appreciate them for what they are doing too. And then roll back over, smiling, and go back to sleep for a while.

Like I said, it wasn't anything fancy. The showers cost four quarters for a quick shower. We prefer to shower within our own motorhome and use the water hookup right there at the campsite. There is a laundry facility with reasonably priced washers and dryers, I think it was about $1.25 to wash and $1.50 to dry. We were able to catch up all of our laundry, which was very nice. 

The cost of the campsite was $55 a night Canadian currency, which after the exchange rate on our American Express card converts down to $40.23 US.

We had traveled over our 200 mile limit today. Generally we try to go less than 200 miles and take a break and take it easy. But because we wanted to get somewhere that we could run electric heat for the night and be comfortable and catch up laundry, we actually drove 273 miles.  

So that meant Steve would have a well-deserved beer once we got parked and leveled and plugged in.

  

This has become one of his favorites from Canada, Uncle Dunkle beer which is a Bavarian beer from the Denali Brewing Company in Talkeetna, Alaska. It must be a favorite in the region because we found it in almost every store.

Because of our long day driving, I made up a very easy dinner with some leftover ground beef and grilled chicken, assembled into tacos. I whipped up all of our makings and we put together our meal quickly.  I am really, really liking my Ulu knife that I bought in Trapper Creek, Alaska.  It is so easy to rock the little knife back and forth to chop up things like onions and lettuce and tomatoes.  I actually like it so much that now I ordered one to be sent to home for my kitchen at the house. I will keep this one in the motorhome.

The next morning, the rain let up enough that we could take little Nicholas out to the corner of the RV park. Look what they had in store for him! 

I first gave him a lesson on how to read each letter on the sign so he knows what D O G  P A R K means. 

He had so much fun running around. They had a couple things in there like this tire that he kept running through the middle of. There was a pretend fire hydrant that was full of interesting smells. We ran him around before the big dark cloud looming ahead started sprinkling on us. So we had to leave and go back inside.

We holed up here at Dease Lake in the RV park for two nights. It rained most of the while, just like they said it would. Although I loved Morley Lake so much, I am glad that we were not there dealing with the mud trying to get up and out of that campground. Here we were on flat level gravel ground, with an electrical plug-in and a source of water for 2 days. With dark gray skies and rain, we had no solar. Being plugged in was kind of nice, we didn't have to run the generator.  We could curl up and watch TV and pop popcorn and not worry about anything going on outside. Even if the guys left at 6:00 a.m., we were comfortable and we were safe.

I know we are anxious to move on further down the highway. We've made the decision to get down to the junction with route 37A. This would cut over and take us to the town of Stewart, British Columbia, which borders on the edge of a small part of Alaska which will lead us into the town of Hyder. We are looking forward to that next part of our journey

See that little part of Alaska 

that runs alongside of British Columbia

between there and the ocean?? 

That is where Hyder, Alaska is:

Here's the video link that goes along with today's blog:

273 miles travel today 

 6,511 mi traveled so far