Maple Ridge to Alaska

[Matt]

Last spring I quit my job, bought a camper for the truck and took off on a 6 week trip with the girlfriend.

Our first stop was Sheridan Lake. We stayed there for 4 days and I caught some rainbows and a nice brook trout. Our next stop was Dragon Lake in Quesnel for an overnight. From Dragon we ripped all the way up to Muncho Lake where we spent 3 days. Muncho is a nice lake and I managed to get a few lake trout on the fly. I also watched a big bull moose feed at the edge of the lake at dusk one night from up close:



After Muncho our next major stop was Simpson Lake in the Yukon. Simpson is on the Robert Campbell highway north of Watson Lake:



We ate well. I bought these prawns off a commercial fishermen in Hyder Alaska:



I fished ever day and caught pike, lakers, grayling, rainbows, bull trout, sockeye and a chinook:








All in all it was an amazing experience. We covered 7K KM's and got a real feel for the province.

There are more pictures in my gallery:

Summer 2008 Trip - HuntShoot.com - Hunting Pictures

[Ranger]

Good stuff, Matt
Nice pictures.
Lots talk about it , few do it.

[Rock Doctor]

Looks like you had a good trip. Dragon to Muncho is a long day.
So have you decided where you plan to move to? What did the GF think of the whole thing. Did you stop in any of the comunities along the way, or just blast through? Did you drag a boat with you, or rent along the way?

RD

[Matt]

Thanks guys, it was an amazing trip. I keep meaning to do a full wite up on it.

I think we may have made a stop between Dragon and Muncho but I can't remember where.

We definately did't blast through, we spent time in Atlin, Haines (loved this place), Hyder, Stewart, Likely among others. We tried to spend most of the time in the bush though.

My strategy was to spend 2-3 days at a great spot and then drive 3-400KM's. Our multi day stops in order were Sheridan, Muncho Lake, Simpson Lake, Kluane Lake, Atlin, Kinaskan Lake, Mezziadin Lake, Quesnel Lake and Sheridan on the way back.

We wouldn't have stayed so many days at Sheridan at the outset but I threw my back out and was laid up on Oxycodins and budwiesers. That cost us 5 days and if I had those we would have run to the Artic circle on the Demptser. Oh well, give us something to do on the next big trip.

We had quite the setup. A picture will probably tell the story best:



Definately overkill. A 7.5' camper, 6x12 utility trailer, 12' Ugava with electric and 25 HP 2 stroke. A bunch of gas cans, batteries and propane tanks. Even a smoker! MPG over the trip was around 9 and gas was as high as $1.50 a litre in Liard.

Girlfriend had a blast and we both could have spent the whole summer in that setup. Treated her to a nice night at the the Bell 2 but otherwise she was happy reading and painting. We fished quite a bit together too.

I found work pretty quick when I came back. Couldn't find anything suitable in the interior but found a job where I office from home with my sales reps all across the province. We get to keep our home in Maple Ridge and I still get to travel to the Interior and the Island.

[Rock Doctor]

Nice little setup, not overkill at all. IMHO

On the bright side, fuel prices have dropped alot. Diesel at the pumps is about .88, and if you know where to go you can get it as low as .66


Have a good one,

RD