Whitehorse to Dease Lake

Day 16 (19 Sep) — Northern British Columbia

to Dease Lake

Breakfast at A&W again this morning.

The autumn colours were still beautiful. But getting bored of this scenery, or doing nothing but gaze at it, could bring a repeat of last year's tragic accident. It's on the way back that you let your guard down. Let's be really careful on the way home.

Just before Watson Lake we left the Alaska Highway and joined Highway 37, heading south toward British Columbia. Soon we crossed the border into the far north of British Columbia. Vancouver is in the same province, but it's bigger than Japan, so the distance is mind-boggling.

Highway 37: since it's called a highway, we expected a fast two-lane road with a 100 km/h limit, but it had no centre line, steep ups and downs and lots of curves.

We kept driving along a lonely road that almost no cars use. There were places like settlements, but no facilities to stay in, and we got anxious. In a small settlement of a few hundred people called Dease Lake we found a motel and went in. We thought it would be very expensive, but it was about 100 dollars, a relief. A clean, comfortable room with lots of natural light through big windows. Dinner was at the nearby restaurant, the only restaurant in this settlement. Here we ordered rainbow trout and salmon set meals.