Norseman RV Park and Marina Atlin, British Columbia Canada

Mileage:  42,612

This morning we said goodbye to Lee and Claudia.  We are hopeful that our paths will cross again.  They are going to be in Anchorage at the same time that we are.  If we don’t see them then, we are going to Arizona next winter and we will be sure to find them there!

We began our day with road construction and “Severe Dust.”  The tar and chip road surface is appropriately named because it chips your paint and your windshield!

We have had several bald eagle sightings in the past couple of days.  Whenever I see bald eagles, I am reminded of my high school yearbook caption.  It is from the lyrics of a song from the musical “Pippin”

          “Rivers belong were they can ramble

          Eagles belong where they can fly

          I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free

          Gotta find my corner of the sky.”

I think that I have found my corner.

I don’t mean for this blog to be a wildlife count but I never want to lose that sense of wonder.  I always want to take notice of the beautiful sunset, stars, mountains, bald eagles and other awe-inspiring stuff.

Today we left the Alaska Highway to take a side trip.  We thought that we were in a remote wild area before but as we turned left to make our way toward Atlin…we really left the world behind.   It was a scenic route 100 km in real wilderness…we like that feeling.

We saw a buck and a couple of smaller grizzly, one who was limping and only walking on 3 legs.  Ahead we could see an awkward looking creature crossing the road and it wasn’t until we got closer that we realized that it was a porcupine.

When we arrived at Norseman RV Park and Marina, we knew that we had found a gem.  We have the “penthouse” campsite.  It sits off to itself with an unbelievable view.  I feel like a character in an enchanted tale.

Tim spent some time talking with Norman, the camp owner.  Atlin Lake is a glacier fed lake, hence the aquamarine water. Since the spring has been so cold here the lake is unusually low.  By fall the lake will be several feet higher.  This is a view from Norman’s deck of our campsite.

Our back-country adventure today took us to gold mining country.  We walked to an old dredge site.

We also saw modern active gold mining sites.

And some waterfalls.

We met two guys fishing at Surprise Lake that were telling us that they had just seen a mamma grizzly and 2 cubs in their camp.

We traveled to a lookout to see the Llewellyn Glacier in the distance.  I was told that this glacier stretches all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

There is an old country song by Brad Paisley…If you want to have a little fun you have to get a little mud on the tires!

At our campground the owner feeds Eddy the bald eagle fish scraps for dinner.  It was an amazing spectacle to witness.  Unfortunately that video is too large to load onto the blog!

IMG_2479

Mary, Ed and Dee Dee…thanks so much for reading the blog and your really nice email.  We want to let Mary know that we are safe staying in the RV and taking pictures of grizzlies from the RV/Jeep window.  We did buy bear spray before we left home and we promise to take it out of the cupboard right now and put it in the Jeep to carry with us when we are on walkabout!

Mary, here is a picture of our rolling bed and breakfast!

The sun goes down so late that we haven’t stayed up to watch the sunset at all during this trip.  Being in this place tempted me to watch.

9:30 PM

10:00 PM

10:30 PM

11:00 PM

11:30 PM

11:45 PM

12:00 PM – Good night!