We got an early start the next morning. As we left Dease Lake, the clouds lifted and the brilliance of these giant, deep blue and white marbled peaks of the Stikine Range and Cassiar Range was revealed. We saw another black bear (though brown in color) using the highway to get easily from here to there.
Our mid-morning stop occurred at Jade City, where 90% of the world’s jade is mined. A television show called “Jade Fever” was made about this location. The jade is sent to places like China, Vietnam, BC, and Australia where much of it is carved by hand with diamond saws and tipped tools. Apparently soft spots inherent to jade make it difficult to CNC cut so its still done mostly by hand.
Back on the road, we passed Good Hope Lake and pulled over at Boya Lake (now called by its indigenous name Ta Ch’ila). A friendly couple camping there stopped to talk as we pulled in and said that they often stayed several weeks at Boya Lake, believing it to be the prettiest lake in BC. Wow! That’s some claim.
In typical Canadian fashion, Boya Lake provides kayaks and life jackets for rent at the lake and it’s all done using the honor system for payment. The couple recommended that we at least take the lovely lake walk to a beaver dam, so we did.
First, this was the largest beaver dam I’ve ever seen and second, although the lake’s “beach” was small, I dare say that if I placed a picture of it side-by-side with some scenes in Florida, it would be difficult to discern which photograph was from BC! It really was quite a pretty lake, but we had miles to go so got back behind the wheel of the RV.
Later that afternoon, the skies grew dark and the landscape changed with it. A huge area devastated by fire left a vast wasteland for miles and miles. Strangely, as the clouds dissipated, so did the remnants of fire and green brush and trees sprang forth again.
As we neared the Yukon border, we saw another black bear eating the heads off of dandelions. He or she happily wandered from batch to batch, pulled off each yellow-head and savored the flavor.
Barely in Yukon territory, this highway, the Cassiar, tees into the Alaska Highway (also known as the AlCan). The scenery really seems to open up here – the trees are cut further back from the road and the road, itself, traverses expansive valleys. We spent a few hours driving the AlCan before stopping for the night at a rather ordinary lake,Teslin Lake.
Like the Sea to Sky Scenic Byway, the Cassiar Highway (this post and the prior one linked here) has something beautiful around every corner and over every hill. I’m embarrassed to admit to the number of photographs I took during this just over two-day drive. Taking this route up to Alaska may not be the fastest or most straightforward way to go, but the roads were in decent shape and there’s no denying that the scenery was worth it!
