Johnson Creek to Toad River
Day 12
At Johnson’s Crossing, you cross one of the longest wire bridges. Now, this bridge is getting old and has a strange creaking and grating sound as you rode across. It felt like one of those movie scenes where the hero is riding across something that is breaking up behind him.
What a relieved sigh when you get back on pavement. Earlier in the trip at one of the ferry docks, I talked to a rider who was ferrying back to Bellingham because the gravel roads and wire bridges had got to him. Heading back is always the saddest direction. Anyway, we got back to Watson Lake for lunch and this is where I noticed my front tire worn down past the wear bars, mostly on the sides, so from here on to where I got a new tire, I took it easier. The good side of this situation is that I got great gas mileage for a while.
We passed the Laird Hot Springs on the way up in the rain, but this time we stopped, and it was worth stopping. We recommend stopping (see pictures). So, after a couple of hours, we were off again and stopped for the night at Toad River. In the restaurant, here, you find hats nailed to the ceiling. The story goes that a regular left his hat on the table to go to the john and when he got back it was stapled to the ceiling
The next day in slightly overcast weather, we headed up into the Sentinel Range through Muncho Lake Provincial Park and summit of 1100 meters (3300 feet). Then on to Stone Mountain Provincial Park and summit 1296 meters (3900 ft) at summit lake pass we saw the most wildlife. There was a herd of about fifty wild buffalo with caves...
Next came a few bighorn sheep and a herd of fifty or so mountain goats.
Then further on, a moose and than a caribou. Once out of the mountains, it was a prairie ride, pass Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, to Dawson Creek for the night.
