Hwy 40 runs pretty much along the ridge lines for a distance of about 200 miles. For the first 75 or so miles, there was very light traffic. Then, about 15 miles or so short of Grande Cache, the truck traffic really picked up. Large double-trailer tankers, large trucks pulling trailers loaded with heavy equipment. I even saw one truck pulling a huge trailer with a second tractor at the rear pushing it up hills and restraining it down hills. When I got to Grande Cache, I couldn't believe how much the town had grown. I finally put two and two together and realized that this area of NW Alberta and NE British Columbia was in the midst of an oil and gas boom. There are pumps everywhere, drilling rigs all over the place, and storage yards where tanks are (I guess) storing the crude for shipment either to a pipeline or a refinery. Anyway, the whole area is booming and it's no wonder I had trouble finding a room! What a huge change from 7 years ago when I was last through here.
Anyway, the terrain was hilly, woody, and pretty. Here are a couple shots between Hinton and Grande Cache:
And a couple between Grande Cache and Grande Prairie:
No where near as spectacular as yesterday in Banff and Jasper Parks, but pretty none the less.
I stopped in Grand Prairie to view the (you got it!) Grande Prairie Museum. It was actually pretty interesting and had a lot of artifacts from the settlement of the area, which occurred primarily from about 1890 on.
These were posters that were used to lure people into settling the area. Same deal as in the US...160 acres and its yours if you homestead it for five years.
This is interesting. I would never have guessed that they would have preferred travelling in the dead of winter:
And they had some interesting information about the very early days, when the Hudson's Bay Company controlled the trapping and settlement in the area:
When I got to Dawson Creek about 3:00 today, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had spent two days here in 2010 and I couldn't recognize the place. From a sleep little town to a booming small city...again, the oil and gas boom. Trucks, oilfield workers, new buildings, much more traffic...everywhere!
I'm staying two nights here and tomorrow I plan to ride to Chetwynd and then to Hudson's Hope to tour the WAC Bennet Dam. I know...but I've never been down that way and I'm pretty sure I never will after tomorrow. Also, there are a few interesting sights in Dawson Creek worth seeing.
Miles today: 294
Total: 3,935
