During August 2003 I drove through British Columbia and into the
Northwest Territories on a combined confluence hunting and sightseeing trip.
I started close to 49°N and went as far North as 61°N, covered
6,200 kilometers (3,850 miles), did 7 successful confluence visits, and
had another 12 confluences that are incomplete. I made
a map that shows the route,
and the confluences in the order they were done, with the successful ones
shown with black markers. The incomplete visits are a mix of actual attempts
and situations where I drove somewhat close to the confluence, and included
a 'visit' as a way to document the confluence location for future visitors.
The first confluence on the trip was
52°N 121°W.
17-Aug-2003 -- After my successful visit to
60°N 123°W the day before, I spent the
night at the Beaver Lake Forest Service recreation site, which is about 10 kilometers
north from the junction of the Liard Highway and the Alaska Highway.
When I got up in the morning, I discovered I had a flat tire. As I was working
on putting on the spare tire, a couple from Fort Nelson drove up. They asked if I
had seen any bears (I hadn't). They were there to check on the
Highbush
Blueberries,
to see if they were ready for picking, and naturally they also attract bears.
Although not part of of my plans, I had to drive back into Fort Nelson to deal
with my flat tire. It was a Sunday, so neither tire store was open. It turned
out that the flat tire was not repairable (broken sidewall), and we couldn't
find a suitable used tire at the gas station. I ran into one of the employees
of one of the tire stores, who had just stopped by the store to pick something
up. I had to pay the surchage for a Sunday callout, but he sold me a new tire.
By the time I had dealt with the tire problems, and done some grocery shopping,
it was after 1PM before I left Fort Nelson. About 53 kilometers along the Alaska
Highway, west of the junction with the Liard Highway, I stopped to take a
picture of the view to the SSE. The
highway in this section is rising up out of the Fort Nelson lowlands, through the
northern Rocky Mountains foothills. Shortly after this, the highway passes the
Tetsa River Provincial
Park, and 124°W, and then further along the highway passes along the
northern edge of the
Northern Rocky Mountains
Provincial Park, the third largest provincial park in BC.
The scenery in the area is spectacular, with the highway reaching Summit Pass, at
1,267 meters (4,157 feet), in
Stone Mountain Provincial
Park. As I continued west along the highway and through the park, I came across
stone sheep and
cariboo on the highway. Further along the highway,
after it had descended into the valley to the west of the park, I stopped at a pullout
beside the highway, next to a river. There was a
sign about Flash Floods, and across the river was
an alluvial fan.
I stopped again where the highway crosses 125°W (Waypoint 070) and took a picture
facing west. The confluence is 24.6 kilometers
north from this spot. The closest access to the confluence that I'm aware of would be
the access to the
Toad River Hot Springs
Provincial Park.
The next confluence on this trip was
59°N 126°W.