Gone Birding June 6, 2011 Bargain Hunter
Bruce Glick is currently traveling the Alaska Highway with his wife Helen. You can keep up with their travels by following his Gone Birding column.
First days on the Alaska Highway
On Friday, May 27, Helen and I officially headed out on the Alaska Highway from mile marker 0 at Dawson Creek, British Columbia. If the first three days are any sign of things to come, we are in for an amazing trip. Much of the first day was spent driving through miles and miles of fields and forests, but we also saw our first Black Bear before camping in a beautiful provincial campground beside a fast-moving river. A Goshawk called nearby and a Varied Thrush sang its beautiful song from somewhere across the river, while Gray Jays and White-throated Sparrows stayed close to our camper.
Day two took us on north through Fort Nelson and into the section of the Alaska Highway that crosses the Canadian Rockies. As we got closer to the snow-capped peaks, the scenery became more and more impressive. The road climbed to 4,000 feet at Stone Mountain. When we reached the summit and saw the Stone Mountain Provincial Park along the shores of the still-frozen Summit Lake, we decided to stop and spend the evening and night there. The views were spectacular and the temperature hit 70 degrees under blue skies. It was still quite light at 11pm put we didnt have any trouble sleeping, having hiked part way up the mountain after supper.
Day three dawned cold and partly cloudy but the sun soon broke through. Heading down the highway from the Stone Mountain summit, we saw a car stopped along the road and soon we were looking at four big Stone Sheep on the rocky slopes above. They seemed to be posing for photos and we stayed around for a long time, just enjoying these amazing animals.
But this is supposed to be a column about birds! About 10:30 in the morning we pulled into Toad River Campground and Restaurant. It was a busy place with RVs waiting in line to gas up while folks went inside to see the collection of 7,500 hats or enjoy something to eat. Meanwhile, I had noticed a nice lake behind the restaurant and walked over to check it out. Wow! Just scanning the lake I could see 8-10 different kinds of ducks and several Horned Grebes. In the campground were five or six active Tree Swallow nests and Cliff Swallows had built mud nests under the eaves of two cabins. Overhead I could hear Purple Finches and Pine Siskins singing. This was too good to miss – we quickly registered and picked a campsite with a wonderful view across the lake to the snowy peaks behind. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the birds and the scenery, and as I finish writing, its 11:30 pm and time to get some sleep – day four is coming up. More about that next week. You are also welcome to follow our blog at: northbynorthwest2011@blogspot.com
Bruce Glick
birderbruce@yahoo.com
please dont call me these days since our phones are off while in Canada – thanks!
