Winter Driving Along BC's Stewart-Cassiar Highway, March 2012 - More Winter's Madness?

 

On the way home from the Yukon, we came south from Watson Lake along Hwy 37, instead of returning via the Alaska Highway.  To make our journey more challenging, we did the section between Dease Lake and the Yellowhead Highway 16 three times with the hope of getting some sunshine and interesting light to photograph the spectacular snow-capped mountains.

Location Map: BC's Stewart-Cassiar Highway #37, Watson Lake to the Yellowhead Highway.  Source: http://www.stewartcassiar.com/trip-planning/maps/

Although the snow-covered roads were generally plowed and sanded, both the weather and road conditions made driving a challenge at times.  This part of British Columbia receives about 6 m of snow each winter

Large snowbanks with no shoulders to pull off.

We spent 3 days heading south, back north, and finally south with hopes of getting more than overcast skies and snow squalls.  When the sun finally shone for a new moments here and there, the views are fabulous, but tough to capture because:

     -  Hard to get clear vistas without some kind of foreground, so lots of tree silhouettes

     -  Few places to pull off onto the shoulder of the road during winter with the huge snow banks; some up to 2m in height

     -  Lots of logging and mining truck traffic

     -  Off the road, the snow was really deep!!! I went in to my waist several times when I wasn’t expecting to.

Nevertheless, I'm glad that we persevered.  I could have spent a week cruising back and forth along the road, looking for the perfect shot.  We're looking forward to traveling along this road during late August - early September sometime in the future. 

More Winter Madness - Yukon, March 2012

After enjoying our mid-winter get-away to Yellowknife two years ago, we decided to drive north to the Yukon last March.  To many of our friends and family, this was just more 'winter madness' by the Knight's.  Whatever you think, we had a GREAT trip.  We saw another part of our great country that many never get to see, and during a season when many people head south to warm sunny beaches.  While most people do not like winter or snow, we do.  And, winter travel has some other benefits.  There are few other tourists, no line-ups, and definitely no bugs!

Alpine-glow, St. Elias Mountains, Kluane National Park, YT

We traveled in our 2009 Toyota Tacoma and Four Wheel Camper.  The winter roads were generally well maintained.  If the weather forecast was marginal or poor, we stayed put or didn't venture far.  We over-nighted in motels most of the time because it was difficult to find serviced pull-outs or camping areas with running water and toilets during the winter.  Nevertheless, we did camp out half a dozen times and thoroughly enjoyed it, even with temperatures down to -28'C!!! 

Tacoma & Four Wheel Camper, Kathleen Lake, Kluane National Park, YT

Our favorite campsite was at Kathleen Lake in Kluane National Park where they keep half a dozen campsites plowed during the winter for the occasional stray visitor, like us. We had 10-15 cm fresh snow each night.  We cross-country skied right from our campsite through the woods, down to and along the shoreline of Kathleen Lake.  The picnic shelter at the lake had a large wood-fired stove.  This was a great place to read and cook supper at the end of the day.  We even managed to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis through a brief gap in the clouds at about 0530 one morning, but alas, not long enough to photograph.

Based on the images, I'll let you decide whether or not we were entirely mad to travel north during the winter.  We don't think that we were 'mad', but then assessments by the mad tend to be unreliable.

Sunrise over the St. Elias Mountains, Kluane National Park, YT