Yukon Trip 2009 - Day 3 - Beaumont P.P.

There are some days when you are on a trip that are just to get from point A to point B, and this day was one of those. We said goodbye to our friends and were on the road by 9:30 am, headed north on highway 97 to Prince George. That city had grown considerably since the last time we were there. Fortunately, you no need to venture right into the city, but can skirt around the southern part to get onto highway 16, headed west. (We once were headed west to the Terrace area but got turned around in Prince George, trying to find the highway, and ended up heading east and going to Jasper instead - we were on holidays....what did it matter!)

This time we had no problem finding the right route, stopped at a gigantic Super Store for some groceries that had been missed in the packing process, and then headed west.
Lunch was beside this pretty little lake at the side of the highway....at least the lake itself was pretty, the spot wasn't, due to the garbage strewn all over the place!

This male Rufous Hummingbird was standing guard at the above spot, in fact it seemed everywhere we stopped, a male hummingbird would show up within moments. There were also Ringneck Ducks, American Widgeon, and a female Common Goldeneye on the lake. After lunch back on the road, heading west, the destination being Beaumont Campground on Fraser Lake.

Fraser Lake is a large lake, situated beside the highway. Beaumont Provincial Park is at the eastern end. As this photo shows the lake was high (there is normally a beach here) and the weather had changed from sunny to cloudy with showers, although still a warm 21 degrees. Only one loop of the campground was open this early in the season. You can see from the above pictures that the trees were just barely leafing out, despite that the mosquitoes were out in full force!

Ring bill Gulls kept up quite a ruckus the entire time we were there!

a closer view of a Ring bill Gull (you can click on the photos to bring them up to full screen, then use your 'back' button to return to the blog.)

I took a walk between showers and found a few wildflowers. The above are known as 'Twisted Stalk' - there are several varieties of this plant.

American Robins were of course in the area......don't think we went anywhere where they weren't!

There was a bit of a nature walk and I found these pretty little 'Kidney leafed Violets' growing along that trail. This was the only place I found these particular violets.

This pretty blue flower is known as 'Jacob's Ladder' - there are lots of cultivated varieties available at garden centers. We will be seeing a lot more of this particular flower in upcoming posts!

By evening the campsite had become quite full and the weather had deteriorated to rain. A 'caravan' of 5 rental truck and campers had pulled in, all heading to Whitehorse, so we weren't going to be traveling alone along the route. We eventually dubbed them the 'Turtle' caravan, partly because, they, like us, were carrying their homes on their backs, but also due to their driving speed. There was also a couple tenting....between the rain and the bugs I felt very sorry for them!

Birds seen at Beaumont: Black Cap Chickadee, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Loon, Junco, Rufous Hummingbird, Yellow rump Warbler, American Crows, American Robin, Lincoln Sparrow, Ruffed Grouse (drumming), Northern Flicker, American Widgeon, Mallards, and of course those Ring bill Gulls.

Campground fee: $15. Distance traveled: 820 km.