August 12th

The day started out at 44 degrees and a beautiful, brilliant sun came pouring through the pines. It is amazing how being greeted by the sun rather than clouds can really make a difference in your outlook for the day! The high today was 85. The warmest temp we've seen since leaving.

We began by backtracking 12 miles to the much anticipated Cassiar Highway. We were told of its remoteness and beauty. We have looked forward to experiencing it ever since friends of ours told us about their trip 3 years ago. It also boasts of wildlife sightings. As we arrived on the highway, there was a barrier and a guy holding a sign, “STOP”! Oh no, we thought, the road has been closed again. There were 5 cars stopped ahead of us and one of the drivers informed us that there would be a 45 minute wait before a “pilot car” would take us through the burn section of the road. So we waited…. 60 minutes passed before our escort arrived. In the mean time drivers got out of their vehicles for a much needed stretch and that’s when the road stories and fish tales began to roll.

We were ushered 23 miles through mostly burned forest. There were still hot spots smoldering and some small, active burning going on around us. We could see in the distance a huge plume of smoke that indicated the fire was off to our left (east) and quite a distance from the road. There was, however, a thick smell of smoke and for miles after we passed through I could still smell it on my clothes. Someone had said that there has been a total of 50 miles of forest burned already.

This stretch of road did not disappoint us. We were hemmed in on all sides by majestic mountains as we drove thru the forested valley below. There wasn’t much wildlife to see but we did come across 2 mountain goats. There were topaz blue lakes that were so clear I could see straight down to the 40 foot bottom. I have never seen streams run so clear! It’s like looking at glass.

We are currently dry camping on pristine Dease lake in a campground that surprisingly has wifi! We drove a little over 150 miles on the Cassiar and just 6 miles north of Dease.

Pictures:
Pilot car through burn area on Cassiar Hwy
Burn on Cassiar Hwy
Burn area
Hot spots burning
Fire equipment on roadside
2 mountain goats on Cassiar
Gary's dream house in the Yukon
Water's Edge Campground view