I left my friends’ place late Saturday morning:

the best non-advertised campground near Prince George 🙂

Getting out Prince George was harrowing. Instead of using my common sense that told me that highways 16 and 97 north would intersect with signage at some point, I used Majel. She led me down a road with a bridge with a 2m clearance. Miranda needs just over 3m. Thankfully, there was a crescent road right before the bridge, so I was able to turn around effortlessly, get back to the 16, and ignore my GPS all the way to the 97 north. 🙂

I stopped for gas at a Mohawk station that sanidumps.com claimed had a dump station, but it was closed. 🙁

My next big stop would be Dawson Creek, about 400km north. I decided to go halfway to arrive in Dawson Creek mid-day Sunday and stay through to Tuesday morning.

The drive was lovely and fairly easy. Lunch was had at a rest stop on the Crooked River:

Crooked River from rest stop

There was a couple in a large class A parked here with me. They pulled out before me, but our destinies would be matched for a time…

During the lunch stop, I decided to get over the Pine Pass and then stop for the night at the first suitable rest area.

Pine Pass is the lowest and most northerly highway crossing over the Rockies. Everyone I spoke to in the past few days told me to beware this crossing, that the climate would change quickly and that the going would be treacherous. I’m getting tired of people working me up like that because the Pine Pass was easy peasy to cross!

There was a beautiful rest area just after the summit:

Azouetta Lake, just past the Pine Pass summit

The couple from Crooked River were there and I was asked where I planned on spending the night. We had both had the idea to stay right there as the views were spectacular, but the high winds coming over the pass worried us. We therefore decided to rendez-vous at the next rest area, about 40mi (75ishkm) north.

So, that’s where I spent Saturday night, at the West Pine Rest Area:

West Pine rest area

It was just going on four when I pulled in, so I went for a quick walk to stretch my legs, gabbed with the couple for a bit, then just crashed with a cold beer. What a tough life I lead. 🙂

The evening was pleasant, if a tad noisy, and I slept way too well, awaking this morning at 8!!! The couple was long gone and I was equally eager to be on my way. Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway was just 200 km away.