What a mess! Dust was everywhere. The road is constantly being repaired and resurfaced because in that area the ground is usually frozen all year long - they call it "permafrost". The top layer of frozen stuff melts and makes the ground all soggy but underneath it stays frozen. So then they pave the road with gravel and tar it over and think it's done. But -- when the ground thaws more than they expect it to, it causes the roadbed to shift, and it breaks away and leaves giant potholes and dropoffs to nowhere. They call that "frost heaves". Most of the road stays just gravel, I guess because it's easier to repave with rocks than it is with tar.
...that's 50 KM...about 30 mph
Along the way, of course, the scenery was just spectacular...
From time to time you might notice something that looks like a tennis racket in the photos...well...that thing turns out to be the answer to pest control...the electronic mosquito zapper! It is an essential tool for living up in the North Country...the mosquitoes are abundant and relentless! It's a button that you push on the handle of the racket that delivers current to the metal mesh. Just touch it to a mosquito and -- ZAP! it just disintegrates. We wound up having three of those zappers to accompany us along the way.
So...at the last 25 percent of the Cassiar Highway, guess what? They pave it! It was just smooth as anything that last quarter length. And - the end of the Cassiar brought us to the Alaska Highway. Next stop - Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, and the Famous Signpost Forest.
No comments:
Post a Comment