Day 82 – May 31- Road from Charlie Lake to Prophet River

The day got off to a bad start when we decided to go to the restaurant across the highway from the campground.  We got in the car and drove over, only to find the place boarded up and a fence around the parking lot.  We returned to the campers and hit the road.  Not too far into our day we stopped at the Shepard’s Inn café for breakfast.  The food was good, the coffee was strong and the place was my image of what a café on the Alaska Highway should be – nothing fancy, just good food and service.

We drove on and soon we could see the Canadian Rockies in front of us covered in places with snow.

We passed Buckinghorse river and the provincial park we had first planned to stop before we found a former park that allowed free parking about 30 miles on north.  As we were driving I saw a dark form on the side of the road about the same time Rick came on the CB to say there was an animal on the left.  It turned out to be a cow moose.  She let us take her picture and we moved on.  A little later we came on a caribou on the side of the road grazing on the grass.  Again we took pictures and moved on.

We turned onto the road leading into the former Prophet River Provincial Park and found two sites for the night.  It was about 2 or so in the afternoon.  We just got the dogs walked when it started to rain.

The rain stopped and I took a walk.  I was going down this trail and it hit me – I am in the wildness of British Columbia and no one knows where I am.  I was armed with a camera and my stupidly.  I turned around and made it back to the camper.  Later I was walking the dogs and I heard shouts of “Get out of here” coming from another campsite.  There was a blast from an air horn – the handheld type used at sporting games or on boat.   Then what sounded like a gunshot.  Guns are hard to come by here in B.C. so I figured they had an unwelcomed animal near their camp.  As I got close to their site a guy and young boy came out to tell me they had what appeared to be a young grizzly behind their camper.  The gun sound was what he called a “bear banger”.  I got to thinking about it; I was back there a couple of hours earlier on the path I was walking.  Good thing I turned around.

This is the path I was walking down

Dorrie made a great meat loaf for supper, along with mashed potatoes and corn.  It tasted wonderful and we all enjoyed the meal.

So the day’s bad start turned out good – had a good breakfast at Shepard’s Inn Café and got pictures of two animals.  Life is good!