Mile 0 Campground to Sikanni River

Leaving Dawson Creek behind we drove through lush farm lands in the Peace River District.
Our first stop was a few km outside of Dawson Creek. We drove along the true old Alaksan Highway (Alcan), see right below, in order to see the original curved wooden Kiskatinaw River
Bridge. The bridge was built in 1942, during the rush to build the Alcan Highway to better be

able to protect both Canada and the United States from

the possibility of Japan attempting invasion through
Alaska. The bridge is 531 feet long and is the only timber
bridge built along the Alaska Highway that is still in use today.

Yep! The bridge is still strong enough to carry our large motorhome

with "toad" attached.



Good view of the curvature.

From a distance the bridge does not look curved.

This sign was no joke. Going off to the right was part of the original Alaska Highway, but today you follow the "new, improved road" and make the steep, winding descent for the next 4 miles.
The grade does range between 6 to 10%!

The Peace River bridge is at the right and takes you into the town of Taylor. Bridging the Peace
River was one of the first goals of the Alaska Hwy
engineers in 1942. Before the bridge, traveling across the river was limited to the use of 2 ferries
having the capacity of 10 trucks per hour. It
took nearly 6 months to complete the original
bridge; between 1942/43.

I got caught being fooled once again by Canadian
largeness. I suggested we stop at The Shepherd's Inn for lunch...."A great place to stop!" Descriptions always sound so grandiose, reality
is often something else. Ah, but we had our first
Buffalo burger and pie; walking out to the tune of
$40.00CN. My rhubarb-strawberry pie wasn't
even that great.

The Honey Place did have lots of bees and honey
in the combs. We had a choice of clover or blue-
berry honey. Don bought blueberry and on we
moved.

Discovered this beauty at our campsite that evening. He is a Yellow Warbler; the male has
bright red strips on each side of the breast.

The view from our campground on the Sikanni
River. On the far right side of the picture you
may see old steel stanchions, all that remains of the historic wooden Sikanni Bridge that was
destroyed by arson in 1992.




Look for more travels in the coming days.
It is difficult to find WiFi to post. They are far and few between. TTFN, Karen and Don