Charlie Lake Provincial Park

Day 4
661 Miles
2574 Total Miles
Battleford Saskatchewan - Charlie Lake, British Columbia

We got up at 0330 and had the tent broken down and everything loaded up by 0400. We made good time and there was little traffic until we went through Edmonton where there was a lot of construction.

We finally made it to Dawson Creek which is the start of the Alaskan Highway. We took time out to do the usual tourist thing like having our pictures made with the Mountie under the sign that designated the start of the highway. We decided to drive a few more miles to Fort St. John and then find a place to camp. There wasn't a good place to camp there so we drove on to Charlie Lake Provincial Park. We quickly located a nice place to camp. The price was $14 to camp and an additional $5 for firewood. The firewood was damp but my Dad - who was known by my Scout Troop as Bonfire Tilley - quickly got a fire started. I went for a quick run and ended up at the front entrance to the park. I noticed a sign that said that the gate would be closed from 2300 to 0700. I asked the girl that worked there if there was anyway to leave before 0700 and she said no. This was a problem for us because we had made it part of our routine to get an early start. We had noticed that most of the big campers didn't get on the road until the afternoon. By then we would have most of our traveling done.

I returned to the campsite and informed Dad. He wasn't too happy but there was nothing we could do other then to pack up and leave. We decided to get up early so that we would be the first ones lined up and the gate.