Charlie Lake to Summit Lake—June 1

As I head up the Alcan I am reminded why I love this drive so much.  The highway right of way, approximately 150 to 200 feet wide is lined as far as the eye can see by massive popular species, either Balsam, Aspen or Paper Birch with various fir species intermixed.  It you scan the horizon in front of you all you can see is a green forest in every direction with the occasional glimpse of the Coastal mountains in the far distance.  Traffic is a bit heavier than in earlier trips due to the large oil field presence now, but I would compare it with rush hour traffic in Realitos (a town of maybe 50 people in Duval County, Texas where I use to live).  The farther I get from Ft. Saint John the slower the traffic becomes and I might meet or be passed by someone every 30 minutes or so.  About 50 miles out I had to come to a screeching halt as a Moose cow and her calf ran alongside the car and I knew she was going to cross in front of me, which she did as did her calf.  Looking out the driver side window I watched the cow as she stood glaring at me while her calf moved toward the forest edge.  I actually felt like she was prepared to charge my vehicle so I didn’t have time to snap a photo before I moved on.  When I reached Fort Nelson I found a Tim Horton’s (of course) and had lunch where I had the last internet connection I expected for the next several days.  So I notified my family not to worry if they didn’t hear from me for a while as I would be out of touch.  After filling up with gas at $1.29.9 CAD per liter ($3.78 per gal US) I continued on.  I notice the campground in which I have stayed on occasion in Ft. Nelson by the weather was perfect and I decided to head on to Summit Lake PP at the highest pass on the Alcan Highway. This was a good decision.  I have passed by this location 3 times previously and it was usually cold and raining, but today it was warm and sunny as I pulled into the campsite.  Only one other person was there so I had my choice of campsites that backed up to Summit Lake (see pictures on Jim Hailey Nature Photography).  What a beautiful day and what a beautiful site.  The lake is crystal clear there was a Spotted Sandpiper calling on the rocks just a few yards from camp and I was visited repeatedly by a Common Yellow-throated Warbler (see pics), American Robins, singing Yellow-rump Warblers, one Gray Jay came to the table to check for scraps, an American Kestrel sitting atop a distant tree and a flyby Northern Harrier looking for a quick meal.  Later three others showed up to camp and I settled in for the night.  I’m so glad I decided to go the extra distance to camp here as I had always want too.  I had not seen the Stone Mountain Sheep (actually a dark morph subspecies of the lighter Dall Sheep), but I planned to go looking for them early tomorrow morning.