Day 5: Jasper to Charlie's Lake CG

I neglected to mention in yesterday’s post the fact that I received a love note on the evening we arrived in Jasper. I went out to the Triumph late at night and there was a business card on it from a fellow Triumph owner, who had an address in the U.K. He proposed I go to his room, and we could have a beer and discuss things Triumph. Among his many other daunting responsibilities, Porkchop is serving as our cultural ambassador for this trip. His instincts told him that I should decline the invitation, for a number of very sound reasons. The following morning, Adam ran into this fellow and informed him that the “guy” riding the Triumph was, in fact, a girl, and this seemed to upset him that a lady could be riding the same bike he was on, and he went on to make some critical comments about my bike. Good call, Porkchop! With all of our things dried out, we set off north from Jasper to Highway 40, a very remote road with only one town along its 200 miles before getting to Grande Prairie.

We did get a fair bit of rain, but nothing like the deluge from the day before. Some improvements had been made to the road since Mark and I rode it last, but there were still some stretches with potholes and other obstacles. The skies cleared as we entered Grande Prairie. After loading up on some provisions for the evening, the road west took us through Dawson Creek, mile 0 of the Alaska Highway.

We camped at Charlie’s Lake CG just outside of Fort St. John. If you ever happen to find yourself on the Alaska Highway, you should stay here! There is a little bit of road noise, but the quaking aspen trees take your mind off of it. We went on a 3 mile nature hike though the aspen grove to the lake, tracked a moose (and fortunately didn’t find him), and listened to various songbirds.

Evidence that too much motorcycle riding turns you back into a 5 year-old!

Distance covered: 402 (606 km) Total miles: 1566