Fort Nelson BC

First, I want to go over Dawson Creek a little more. Later in the day Wednesday, two men rode up on their bikes and had the campsite next to me. Now I do not go out of my way to meet people but I had to talk to these bike guys. Also they were right next to me so it was pretty hard to avoid them. They are biking from Fairbanks to West Glacier. I'm tired driving that route let alone biking it! All those mountain inclines!!! OMG! I happened to have my Brainerd dive shop T shirt on. It turns out that they are from Pine River, Mn. One was born and raised in Arlington, Mn. Small world. They are living with whatever they can carry on their bikes. I have a queen bed, TV, a microwave and air conditioning if I need it.

One of the guys was also doing a blog. He gave his blog business card. Now that guy is prepared!

I went to downtown Dawson Creek Wed night. Everything was closed so I could walk around unimpeded. You could tell that 20 years ago it was a very nice downtown area, before the Walmart and strip malls.

 

 

That's me in there. I have to see if Marne can crop and edit this photo so I actually can be seen.

Dawson Creek has all of the murals painted around the downtown district. A few samples:

                      (Notice how the power pole is incorporated into the photo on the left side.)

I was disappointed that Dawson Creek was not as rustic and wilderness as I had imagined it would be. I certainly thought that Fort Nelson would give me that "Ely" feeling. If you look at a map, Fort Nelson is waaaaaaaaay north and in the middle of nowhere. Wrong!

Fort Nelson is another bustling town with smaller strip malls and a lot of traffic. What I have learned is that the oil industry has changed everything. I was told that if I had been here 10 years ago things would have been quite different. But this area of Canada is all oil boomtown similar to what North Dakota is going through. It's all oil industry, construction and oil industry construction. Not that it's bad...it's just certainly not what I expected this far north.

There are so few towns up here that each town has become an area hub for the oil industry and workers. My imagination and reality just are not matching up.

I drove around last night to try to find old, downtown Fort Nelson and never found it. Before I leave the Visitor's Center where I am at right now, I'm going to ask if there is an older district.

Today I took a day away from driving to do chores. I got a 2 mile run in, washed the RV, did laundry and a few other chores. Oh, and I slept late also.  :)

I don't have to be to Skagway, Alaska to hike the Chilkoot Trail until July 31st. I have a reservation to begin my hike on August 1st. I am close enough to Skagway now that I can have shorter driving days and more camping.