July 3 - Fort Nelson, BC

We're in Fort Nelson, BC tonight. Arrived about 8 p.m. local time after starting out at 9:30 this morning. Another day of hilly, mountainous terrain but we did a little better on gas mileage, averaging 7.59 mpg on a 155 mile section of road. This stretch of road had some very curvy, narrow sections, especially around Muncho Lake and beyond. Also some steep downhills that were a bit scary, with 7, 8 and 9 percent grades.

We had a bonanza of wildlife viewing today, starting off with a lone buffalo sauntering slowly down the middle of the road within an hour of leaving Watson Lake and two others grazing on the side shortly thereafter.

Then, we saw two herds of bison, with lots of precious young calves, just before and after Coal River Lodge; one herd had over 30 bison and the other over 40. The young bison calves look very similar to caribou calves.

We saw five stunning stone sheep just after Muncho Lake, four caribou just past Summit Lake, and a total of eight individual black bears at various locations, most quite small, grazing in the grasses along the side of the road. Also saw one deer and a marmot.

We're camping tonight (much to Mike's chagrin) at the Triple "G" Hideaway RV Campground at the north end of Ft. Nelson. Because fuel is costing us more than we anticipated, I convinced Mike that we should cut back on other expenses. So far, gas prices in Canada have ranged from $5.14/gallon to $6.50.