June 16, 2025 - Driving to Alaska
Dawson Creek to New Hazelton
Today would be a long driving day:  nine hours or so.  I checked the British Columbia road conditions page and the wildfire still had route from Fort St. Nelson to Toad River closed.  So, instead of taking the Alaska Highway, we took the John Hart Highway west (Highway 97) towards Mackenzie and then south to Prince George.
   
I kept seeing mounds of stick and wood debris and telling Lynnette they were beaver lodges.  She didn't believe me though.
   
We came to this little town of Chetwynd, British Columbia, which was interesting because of all these carved wooden statues along the highway.
   
 It turns out that Chetwynd is the "Chainsaw Sculpture Capital of the World".   They have an annual chainsaw carving contest; the first taking place in June 2005.
   

Most are bare wood but some are painted like Paul Bunyan here.

We continued on Highway 97 until it reached Prince George -- a good size city of 77,000 people.  After lunch at a Dennys, we turned west on Highway 16, an important section of the Yellowhead Highway, and a part of the Trans-Canada Highway that runs across Western Canada.   Going east on Highway 16 takes you to Jasper and then Edmonton.
   

Highway 16 took us to the very small district municipality of New Hazelton where we spent the night at the Buckley Valley Motel.  Believe me when I tell you there isn't much to choose from in this entire area.  I think New Hazelton had one other motel.  But it did have three Chinese restaurants!  Actually, the Buckley Valley Motel was fine.

I had picked this motel when planning the trip back from Alaska via the Cassiar Highway.  So when we changed plans to drive the Cassiar Highway going up, I just made a new reservation here.

I think by this time the Alaska Highway had opened up between Fort St. John and Toad River, although only single lane.  But the die had been cast.
   
   
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