Day 8-9 Hinton/Jasper, Alberta

Our adventure continued on Day 8 when we left Banff National Park at 5:45 a.m.

We arrived at the Columbia Icefields around 9:00 for a 10:45 tour time. Since RV parking is limited, we got an early start to make sure all our rigs could park safely.

We were driven to the Athabasca Glacier in this Snowcoach. We learned that the glacier is over 400 ft. deep!

We were surprised at the texture of the ice. We were expecting it to be frozen and slippery, but it was actually more like slush. We also lucked out and the day we were there it was around 45-50 degrees!

Such an awesome experience!

We continued on our drive to the Hinton/Jasper KOA (which was about a 227-mile drive day). As we got closer to Jasper, we saw the destruction from the 2024 wildfires. The devastation was so sad to see. Miles and miles of scorched earth, and we didn’t even go into the town of Jasper which was decimated.

Day 9 – We spent the day getting caught up on things full-time RVers do while others went exploring the Hinton/Jasper area. We had a blog post to write, laundry to do, maintenance on the rig, and a repair on our dresser slide so that it would go in and out properly. That evening our ambassadors treated us to a cookout!

Day 10-11 Dawson Creek, British Columbia

Day 10 – Well, we didn’t get out as early as we’d like because our bed slide decided was jealous that the dresser slide got all the attention. I pushed the button to bring it in for travel and it chose not to. Fortunately, our tail gunner ambassador, Alan, helped Mike to push the slide in and we were on our way.

The drive to Dawson Creek then became a bit more stressful as we began driving through smoke from a nearby wildfire. We did see this caribou along the side of the road, and as you can see it was really smoky.

We stopped for lunch in Beaver Lodge and had to get a picture with the town mascot!

We made it to Dawson Creek mid-afternoon and Alan and Mike fixed the slide so they don’t have to push it back in again!

We enjoyed social time and a great Alaska Highway Presentation by Brooklyn of the Dawson Creek Visitors Center. She told us all about the town and how the Alaska Highway came to be. You can read all about it here

Day 11 – We all went to the Dawson Creek Visitor’s Center this morning and got a group picture at the beginning of the Alaska Highway.

Mike and I took some of our own as well. The statue in the center of the traffic circle is a monument to the surveyors who built the highway and it’s pointing toward the start of the Alaska Highway. Mike even found an ancient artifact!

We walked downtown and found some cool murals with the history of the town, and we went to the Butcher Shop and got a delicious t-bone to grill for lunch.

After that we drove out to the Kiskatinaw Curved Bridge that was part of the original Alaska Highway. It is no longer in use, but it was completely constructed with wood.

Day 12 – Fort Nelson, BC

Our 284-mile drive to Fort Nelson began at 4:30 a.m. as we were trying to beat any road closures due to wildfires on the route. We had a smoky ride to Northern Lights RV Park in Fort Nelson. There were wildlife sightings, but the pictures weren’t the greatest.

We had about 22 miles of scorched forest and smoke along the way.

Day 13 – Laird Hot Springs, BC

This day was all about beating the road closure. The Alaskan Highway closed from 6 am to 8 pm daily due to wildfires and we needed to beat the 6 am closure. So we all left Fort Nelson at 3:45 am. Our drive was 189 miles, and surprisingly not as smoky as we’d feared.

Once we got past the closure section, we stopped at Northern Rockies Lodge. We got there just as they opened at 7:00 and enjoyed coffee and breakfast sandwiches before taking a much-needed nap. After almost 2 hours, we got back on the road and made it to Laird Hot Springs around 10:00. Fortunately the campground was ready for our early arrival!

We even had wildlife sightings and great pictures!

After a relaxing soak in the Laird Hot Springs, we got ready for our next travel day.

Day 14 – Watson Lake, YT

We didn’t have to get up nearly as early for this travel day! We left Laird around 10:00 for our short 130-mile travel day to Downtown RV Park at Watson Lake. And we made it to the Yukon!

On our way we stopped for fuel at Coal River. This was one of the original base camps for workers building the Alaska Highway and we got a great history lesson about the area. And there was still one of the original cabins on the property.

As we continued on we saw bison—lots of bison! One even crossed in front of us on the road. We did have a bear cross in front, but we were too far away to get a good picture.

We had to stop and take a picture of the Welcome to the Yukon sign. We found out that the Alaska Highway goes back and forth between British Columbia and the Yukon Territory seven times, so this was just one of those crossings.

As we were setting up, I pushed the buttons for the bedroom slides and neither wanted to work! They both decided they’d had enough, I guess. Since we’re not in a location to get it fixed at the moment, we’re living with climbing over the bed to get to the closet and lifting the mattress up to get to the dresser drawers. But, hey, it’s all part of the experience and adventure!

After we got set up at Downtown RV Park, the whole group went over to the Sign Post Forest which Watson Lake is most known for.

The Sign Post Forest was originally started by a soldier working on the Alaska Highway when we put up handmade signs pointing in the direction of home. After the highway was built, people kept adding their own signs from home and it has grown to thousands of signs from all over the world. We made our own sign to put up and also took pictures of signs from home that we found.

We must say that our first 2 weeks have been quite and adventure!

If you missed our first week, click here.

We’re Mike & Jennifer Skinnell, and together we are The Rambling Quilter. We travel the country full-time in our 41ft. fifth-wheel pulled by our F-350 – affectionately named Beauty & The Beast. Jennifer writes our blog, travel articles, contemporary romance, cozy mysteries, and “Don’t Wait – Our Full-Time Journey Through Breast Cancer”. Our blog is purely for information and entertainment purposes. However, if you’d like to support Jennifer’s writing career, her author link to her books is below.