TOAD RIVER

DAY 8

    Today is when we hope to make it to Tetsa River to camp for the night.  We have been kind of pointing at this stop because it is advertised as “World Famous Cinnabons”, as well as campsites along the river.  This was to be one of our longest days with total mileage of 357 miles.

     Leaving a bit later than we anticipated, 7:30, meant that we would have a long day on the road. 

    This proved to be a red letter day in terms of seeing wildlife.  We encountered Black Bears on two separate occasions, both immediately on the side of the road.  One was alone, grazing on the grasses, the other two were a mother and cub. The cub looked to be a yearling and was following mamma everywhere.

    Shortly after, we spotted two Moose and were able to get our typical picture, from the rear.  Snapped a bunch of pictures and hope that some will show the moose’s face.  Moose were again on side of the road, only this time they were munching on the grass and perhaps the lichen underneath.

 

 

    Coming around a bend and looking at the forest hoping to finally see a Grizzly, we came upon two Caribou.  You got it, they were grazing along the side of the road.  Nice looking animals and they do not seem to mind that we stopped and took pictures.

 

                                                                                           Caribou Grazing

   I think we need to explain about the Canadian Roads.  All the roads are clear cut for a distance of about 75 feed on either side of the highway.  There is grass growing in this “neutral” zone and it is a natural place for wild life to graze.  You can see instances where the forest has tried to reclaim the neutral zone, but the trees have been cut and cleared.

    We got our first look at what we thought were big horn sheep.  Not so intimidating but maybe not as large as we had anticipated.  We discovered later that we were in fact not looking at big horn sheep, but Stone Sheep.  They are descended from Dall Sheep (Big Horn) but have thinner horns and are smaller.  There were 6 of them and they were very wary of us in the RV.  We were no more than 15 feet from them and did not get out. We were fortunate to be able to take a lot of pictures, and are hoping some are head shots, as even the sheep were bent on showing us their posteriors.

     The scenery today began to become a bit repetitive, if not monotonous.  Still seeing the Canadian Rockies to the west, with the road traveling through smaller mountains and down through valleys.  The forests are so thick that it is impossible to see more than a few feet past the front edge next to the road.  We cannot identify with  certainty what type of trees are here, but guess that we are looking at Aspen, Birch, Spruce and some kind of pine.  The conifers are short and have a very small canopy, maybe 10 feet at the largest and the largest tree has a trunk that is maybe 8-10 inches in diameter. 

     Coming over a ridge or hilltop, we get views that stretch for miles and miles and miles. Our guess is that we are looking at forest and mountains that are much farther than from the Coast Range over the Central Valley to the Sierras.  And then we cross another hill or mountain and see the same thing all over again. 

   

 

    We finally arrived at Tetsa River, pulled in and checked the campground out.  Don’t think so.  Bathrooms were a portable trailer, 1960’s style with prices painted on a sign attached to the bathrooms.  Looked like part of the campground was for permanent residences, with trailers similar to the bathrooms.

                                                    Laundry, showers and washrooms note prices
   We decided to at least see what the world famous Cinnabons were all about and went into the store/office.   Neat old place that reminded Jim of Happy Camp or Feather Falls.  Looked about the souvenirs and then went up to order our Cinnabons.  Discovered they also made fresh Sourdough bread.  This place smells like heaven.

   Approaching the cashier to order, the man behind the counter was a twin to Gabby Hayes.  He wore faded denim overalls with straps and had a full salt and pepper beard (mostly salt).  He looked to be about 70 years old and had a very good sense of humor.  We ordered our Cinnabons, bought a loaf of sourdough that was so hot from the oven it could not be wrapped yet and returned to our RV.

     Temptation was too much.  We sat right there and ate our fresh out of the oven Cinnabons.  The whole thing, and washed it down with ice cold milk.  UMMMMMMM  UMMMMMM UMMMMM.    Don’t know if they are better than the ones in Stanley, Idaho or not.  Will have to get Big John McIntosh up here to try them and see what he thinks.  Close tho. 

   We could not justify cutting the bread just yet because of the cinnamon.  Ok, maybe just a thin heal.  Maybe put a little butter on it and share it.  Wow.  It was good.  Really good.   Not good enough for us to spend the night here tho.

   Off we go.  It is about 2:30 in the afternoon so we have made very good time.  Our new goal is to make it to Toad River.  We are both tired from the driving and all the days on the road, but think this maybe an opportunity to make up a little time.

    We make it all the way to Toad River at about 4:00 when we pull into the campground at.  We have been joking that it is still early and we can go farther on up the line.  We have traveled a total of 348 miles. Neither one of us wants to be the one to say we cannot go farther.  A quick smile by one of us and we have decided to spend the night.

                                                                           Toad River at 10:00 pm

     Toad River is cold with a very stiff breeze coming through.  We started to spend the  evening outdoors and quickly gave the area back to its most common habitants.  Mosquitoes the size of ground wasps.  And they did not like company.  Treated us like we were their favorite fast food joint.

    Pretty campground with great views of Toad River and surrounding mountains.  We decided that we would take a little nap before dinner so at 5:00pm, we both climbed on the bed for a quick siesta. 

    So with our Siesta over at 9:45, we felt it was too late for dinner and did what anybody sensible would do. We popped popcorn and had hot chocolate.  Worked on the blog a bit, returned  some emails and tried to catch up with the Giants.  Frustrating that the Canadian government does not order all Giant Games broadcast.

   Irene went outside to document our nightly routine. Taking a picture to show how light it stays up here.  11:00 at Toad River was finally dark.