Day 15. Watson Lake YK to Fort Nelson BC

Now from the warmth and comfort of a nice hotel room, the day doesn't seem to have been that bad. Ohh yes it does............. No mechanical problems, no problems with us, just the weather, and the weather, oh and more bloody weather. It started raining last night in Watson Lake after we had returned to the 'Nice Motel', and we were assured from 'them that were in the know', that is what the forecast was for the following few days. Deep joy! So no surprise then when we woke this morning to discover it was raining. Not too hard, but rain none the less. The motel has no breakfast facilities, and Watson Lake seemed pretty devoid of any possibilities. I suggested to Wend that try 'bubba' once again, turns out he wasn't on duty. Probably his collage day............. I was fast running out of patience to bother with breakfast. Both bikes needed gas, and we wanted to take some photo's at the signpost forest before departing the glories of Watson Lake.

The signpost forest is an unusual place. It is probably the worlds largest collection of illegally obtained town signs, and now mimicked the world over. Started in 1942 by a homesick GI, Carl K Lindley of Danville IL. Carl was a member of Company D, 341 Engineers, working on the Alaska Highway. He erected a sign here pointing the way and stating the milage to his home town. Others followed his lead, and are still doing so to this day. On 20 July 1990, Olen & Anita Walker of Bryan, Ohio placed the 10,000th sign. In 2009, there were over 67,000 signs on display. The town still asks visitors to bring their home town sign. In 1992, Carl K Lindley and his wife visited the site, 50 years after his first post was erected. When we visited it was raining and we were about to get on our way, so we didn't spend a lot of time here. However, it would be fun to return with a home town sign one day. Trouble is, which home town would it be?????

We had read in a tourist brochure, that the Alaska Highway from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson, was probably the most beautiful of the whole highway. Shame then that it was raining and preventing us from making a few stops along the way. The road snaked through the cloud covered mountains, perfect biking country. Wendy remarked this evening that I have a different way of approaching twisty roads. She told me that where most riders appeared to slow, or approach the corners/bends with a little caution, I increased my speed! Don't know what she is talking about, 'Beemers' are made to lay over into bends. Unlike Harleys which take them much more cautiously - in the back of a truck............ Anyway, the roads were lovely, and at the beginning, had very wide cut edges. That is to say the bush was cut back about 50' plus from the edge of the road. The reason for this becomes evident as you ride down the road. Even more so when you learn the area is known as the 'Serengeti of the North'. We saw 3 bears, including a sow & her cub by the road side, and several woodland Bison. One group had 3 males - big buggers at that! The only thing to dampen our spirits, was the persistent rain, which at times was quite hard.

The planned leg today, was to be about 510km/317miles. I refuelled in Watson Lake and that would see me through the entire leg. 'Sydders' on the other had, only has a fairly small tank - not that size is an issue you understand - and requires more frequent stops. I had planned to take breaks every hour and half so Wendy could get fuel and we could stretch our legs. At the first stop, we were both getting pretty wet, and Wendy was quite cold. She filled 'Sydders' and we both went inside for a hot cup of coffee and a 'hearty' breakfast. While we did so, we met another couple from Toronto on their trike. They had also pulled in for fuel and a warm up. Fed, fuelled and warmed, we were back on the bikes and on our way.

After a while where we had been following a beautiful river valley, we crossed a bridge, left the river behind us and started to climb. I noticed in the mountains above us, the cloud covered tops were still covered in snow and ice. What perturbed me more, was that we were getting ever closer to the snow line which at one point seemed very high above us. Now through the teeming rain, there were occasions when we were almost at the same altitude as the snow. I took a glance at the OAT gauge on 'Gerties' travel computer and was horrified to see we were down at 4'C/39'F. I was starting to get a little cold now, so I knew Wend would be bloody frozen! A hotel/lodge came into sight, and I dropped into the car park. We parked up the bikes and were discussing the options when the couple from Toronto also arrived at the Lodge on their Harley trike. We were all soaked - this was not fun any more, it was survival - I kid you not! Other people were arriving and due to the weather, elected to stay - as did our companions heading to Toronto. We also bumped into another Harley couple, who we had met on the way to Prince Rupert.

Wendy and I discussed the options, including the possibility of staying - it was very tempting I must say. However, we were already 2 days behind schedule and further delay was not really an option. If we did stay, we'd have to 'crank out' about 650/700km tomorrow!! Instead, we brought in some bags from the bikes, put on some dry clothing, got back into our wet riding jackets and headed back into the pissing rain. Now before everyone jumps on my back as the heartless bastard who pushed Wendy back into the cold, I did offer to stay if that is what she wanted to do. I also said that her safety was of paramount importance, and if at any time she wanted to stop and overnight, I would have no objections. I have a much greater tolerance for the cold, and I was acutely aware that Wendy was suffering with the cold and wet - we both were. So, under those terms, we elected to push on. I think the couple from Toronto thought we were mad, especially after one biker who arrived at the Lodge from the south, said he had encountered snow at the top of the pass, and that was a good two hours away.....................

On we went and the scenery was really beautiful. Well let me qualify that statement - it would have been if we could have seen it all and without the rain. As it was, we followed the valley getting ever higher with some remarkable views of a tumbling ferocious river out to our right. We arrived at the much vaunted 'Muncho Lake', once again, this would have been idilic on any other day - a dry day that is! The road beside the lake hung to the lake shore and twisted and turned all the way down the lake. Still we were not at the highest point which was at Summit Lake. By the time we arrived at this picturesque lake, we were at about 3.5'C and pretty well soaked. At least we could now look forward to a decent, and hopefully the temp would start to rise again. We had spotted a couple of potential refuelling spots for Wendy & 'Sydders', but each time we arrived the rest stop was either closed, or as with the last one, out of gas! We later learned that as this was Canada Day and lots of folks heading home for the weekend, they'd probably cleaned out these small service stations. Our only option - press on.

Now out of the mountains, the road improved and was a lot straighter - we could get the 'hammer down'. Well, certainly Wendy thought that as when I checked in my mirror, she and 'Sydders' were practically getting onto my luggage rack! I had been concerned about fuel conservation, Wendy more concerned about 'getting there'! By now we had been riding in appalling conditions for a little over two hours and I wondered if Wendy would make it all the way to Fort Nelson. For the last 80 or so 'klicks', we held our breath to see how far 'Sydders' could string out a tank of gas. As we arrived in Fort Nelson the low level light came on - perfect timing. We found the hotel pretty easily - well, Wendy did. She called me on the radio and said, "I think that's the Woodlands to your right". The give away being the 'kin great' hotel sign! This quite new four story hotel, has a large canopy at the front entrance, which is pretty much where we dumped the bikes, and got out of the saddled for the first time in a little over 3 hours. With the extreme cold and being soaking wet, Wendy immediately cramped up, and had to be helped of off 'Sydders'. Inside the hotel foyer, we both started to uncontrollably shake with the cold and wet. We looked a really sorry sight! As quickly as we could, we stripped bags from the bikes, checked in and fled to our room on the 4th floor. There we discarded wet cloths all over the room in an attempt to dry them overnight. Even our passports and wallet/purse were not immune from the soaking.

Once again warm and dry, we headed down to the restaurant for dinner. It being Canada Day, most folks are with their families, so it was pretty empty. However, the food was great and they served AAA Alberta beef! We had a great dinner, washed down with a passable BC wine, a couple of 'special' coffee's, then into the bar for a nightcap. I think we had earned ever last morsel of food and every 'splash' of booze'. Once my latest scribblings have been published, it's time for a nice comfy bed and hope all of our biking gear is dry by the morning. Just two more days riding to go, one more night on the road. All being well, we'll be in Dawson Creek tomorrow, and I will be back on well trodden roads - courtesy of Greyhound. So for tonight, nite nite all, talk to you again tomorrow.