Tag: wildfires

Port Alice

This port is located down another road near Port Hardy. It is a very narrow, winding road and there were lots of logging roads which went off to the sides with big trucks driving very fast and kicking up lots of dust.

I drove for quite a while and finally arrived at a beautiful spot with lots of pickup trucks and other vehicles which had hauled boats on trailers to the water. I went in the office to ask some questions of the harbourmaster and as I was leaving I said “Thank you, I’m going to go take some photos of your lake”. She immediately responded “It’s the ocean”. Silly JohnBoy, that’s why it’s called a Port.

This body of water is the Neroutsos Inlet, named after Captain Cyril Demetrius Neroutsos.

Port Alice is in the lower right quadrant of the map above.

After taking my photos, and forgoing a side trip which the young ladies at the Visitor Center in Port McNeill told me about (on a long gravel and dirt road, too far off the paved road to attempt with all the logging trucks running around, to find the “Devil’s Bath”) I reversed course and headed back to Campbell River.

I came across this sign, which I had seen in another location not conducive to stopping to take a photo of it.

It reminded me of the many humorous road signs I saw when I traveled to Canada’s Maritime Provinces in 2019 (see multiple posts). I haven’t seen too many so far this trip but maybe I will when I start getting out into the countryside.

Shortly after I got home I went back out to take a photo of a helicopter I saw at the hospital the day I arrived in town, and saw this ominous cloud in the sky as I drove towards the highway. I knew it looked very different from other clouds in the sky that day.

Turns out it was the initial smoke plume from what became the Wesley Ridge Fire, further southeast down the island near Nanaimo. It was discovered around midnight the night before I took this photo and has grown steadily since then. It is near a small lake and many people have been evacuated from their homes. There was no visible smoke when I left early the next morning to drive to Nanaimo to take a ferry over to Vancouver but I could see the smoke at ground level once I got down there and could definitely smell it. Fortunately, no one has been injured fighting it.

JohnBoy travel update

I am writing this post from Boise, Idaho, where yesterday I went to the World Center for Birds of Prey facility operated by the Peregrine Foundation (think California Condors, Red-tail Hawks, etc.). I was there almost 2 1/2 hours and took lots of pictures which I promise I will post very soon. I travel up to Seattle tomorrow and will be there 4 nights before crossing into Canada, so I hope to use the early mornings and evenings there to make more posts. I also have several “multiple-nights in one place” stays the first two weeks in Canada so that should enable me to get caught up since I won’t have to unload and reload my car every day or two!

I’ve also been VERY lucky with weather in my first three weeks on the road but am sure I will encounter rainy days sooner or later. Many areas out here need the rain, but most of it I have encountered so far has been while I was driving or at night.

I have good news and bad news concerning wildfires. The bad news for people in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington state is that there are two wildfires there which just recently started and are destroying homes and businesses. The Cram fire in Oregon is currently the largest active wildfire in the United States and developed very quickly. The Burdoin fire, on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, is also wreaking havoc. Crews are working diligently to contain both fires.

Fortunately for me they are both well west of the route I will be taking tomorrow morning from Boise to where I will be staying in Bellevue, Washington. I’m sure I will see the smoke, and possibly even have to drive through some, but I don’t expect any detours such as what I opted to take around Kansas City late last week to avoid massive flooding there.

The good news in Canada and Alaska is that, for now, the wildfires I have been monitoring there appear to be under control and should not be a direct threat to my plans. Of course, more could start at any time. There were Red Flag warnings in western Wyoming two days ago for conditions which could have enhanced wildfire development but I didn’t see any sign of any fires anywhere.

So fingers crossed that conditions will continue to be favorable for me.

And one update on travel conditions in western North Carolina, along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Yesterday it was announced that a 12-mile section has been reopened after major repairs of damage caused by Hurricane Helene last fall. Here is a “before” photo I found online this morning which demonstrates why the repairs (rebuilding, actually) is taking so long.

(Photo credit: FOX Weather)

There are still many more areas along the Parkway in North Carolina which need rebuilding, and logistically it is more difficult to get materials up there to make the repairs than it was for what they had to do on interstate 40. The Parkway is a major tourist draw to western NC so I am sure they are progressing as quickly, but safely, as they can.