August 31
53mi/85km
2000ft/609m elevation gain
It was a wet day today, but the scenery was pretty cool. In the morning, the rain was pretty light and intermittent. We were still on the dirt forest service road and spent the morning dodging potholes that have turned into mud puddles.
After twenty miles we passed a really nice campground on Dragon Lake and decided to stop for an early lunch. The sun came out and dried us off. But by the time lunch was over, the rain was back. We never saw the sun again. After only a few more miles the dirt turned to pavement, which allowed us to pick up the pace a little bit.
It started raining hard as we approached our junction with highway 113 and turned into the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Beds. The lava flow here is very recent, from the 1700s, and killed over 2,000 people, rerouted the river, and dammed 2 new lakes. The rain lightened for awhile so we could enjoy the terrain.
Eventually we came to a place called the Drowned Forest. We saw some cool waterfalls, with turquoise colored water.
Then we came to Lava Lake, which was formed due to the lava flows, and also has beautiful blue-green water. We saw an Osprey fly over the lake. The rain got harder, and softer, and harder. By the evening we were soggy and ready to get in the tent.
We followed a side road down to the shore of Sand Lake. There was a nice clearing and great views so we called it. The rain softened again for us while we set up camp and ate dinner, and came down harder not long after we got inside.
We knew there was heavy rain in the forecast for tomorrow, but today was supposed to be pretty clear, so we hoped maybe the front came in early, but we checked the weather report and tomorrow still looks like rain all day. At least we’ll reach Terrace tomorrow and we’ll have the chance to properly dry out.
Aside from the wetness, overall the day was not too cold, and the scenery was top notch. This is a place I’d love to see in the sunshine, and yet it feels fitting to see it in the rain. And we even saw a bear today, a pretty big Black Bear in the road this morning. The way they can disappear into the foliage here makes me wonder how many bears we’ve passed by but haven’t seen.