Day 13

I forgot to mention the best part of our bike ride in Dawson Creek. We saw a beaver swimming down the creek with a good sized tree branch in his mouth. We followed it for a little while but the creek took a turn and we decided not to keep going. I was just really eager to get back on the bike.

Today was a day to put on some miles so it was spent driving. But that's not a bad thing, driving here is really amazing. We left Dawson Creek at 8:34 and our goal was to get at least as far as Fort Nelson. We made it to Fort Nelson at 2:30 and decided to keep going since it was so early. The drive today was a different kind of beautiful - rolling mountains covered with thick forests. Everything was so lush & green except for the logpole pine trees that have been ravaged by pine beetles (I'm assuming they're like bark beetles). The forests in Montana, Alberta, & British Columbia have really been hit hard - it's pretty sad. We also saw a couple of bears just strolling down the road today.

We stayed at the Tetsa River Services & Campground and it was pretty hilarious. The park is nothing like the description in our "Mileposts" book. We were parked side by side on a large cement slab next to an old (really old) tack building with construction supplies piled on one side. The price included water & electricity but we couldn't locate the hookups. It turned out the electrical plug was under one of the eaves on the tack shed and the water was around the back of the shed - we would have needed a 50 ft. hose to reach it. There were also piles of old horse manure all over our parking slab. On the good side, the surrounding forest was very pretty, the price was only $25.00, the people who ran it were very nice, and, most importantly, the woman made huge homemade cinnamon rolls that were absolutley divine. I do have my priorities.