Travelling To & Visiting Dawson Creek

I took Reba and Gino for a 1 mile walk in Grande Prairie’s beautiful Muskoseepi Park, first thing in the morning. We pulled out of our overnight spot at the Visitor Centre about 9:00 a.m. and after a quick stop at Walmart for a few things and the Costco Gas bar for fuel ($1.124/l), we got back on highway #43 for the short (1.5 hour) drive to Dawson Creek. Looks like it’s going to be another day of scattered clouds and showers.

We spotted a giant Beaver (statue) by the side of the road as we went through the town of Beaverlodge. Fran pulled over so I could get a picture. It’s not every day you see a beaver that big!

There was some real wildlife along the route, too. One little deer standing quietly in the ditch and one very dead one which had just been hit. The fellows who hit it had just pulled over and were surveying the damages. I helped Fran watch for deer after that.

Our first stop in Dawson Creek was at the Mile 0 cairn for the Alaska Highway. This massive 1,500 mile project was initiated in March, 1942 at Dawson Creek and was finished 8 months later. The impetus was the perceived threat of a Japanese invasion of North America. They had recently occupied two of the Aleutian Islands (off Alaska’s coast).

Next we checked in at the Mile 0 RV park which is actually a few miles down the road.

After making sure our site was satisfactory, we went back downtown for a Chinese food buffet lunch and to do some site-seeing. Lunch was very good.

We had a good look through the exhibits at both the Visitor Centre and the Alaska Highway House and watched films regarding the making of the highway at both places. It was sure a tremendous feat with many hardships endured by the men and women who worked so hard to complete it in such a short time!

Then we went back to set up camp and enjoy the nice weather. It reached at least 20 degrees C here today and was really nice when the sun came out.