OVERLANDING WILD AND BEAUTIFUL NORTHERN BC | ATLIN & TELEGRAPH CREEK // EFRT S7 EP54

The Epic Family Road Trip. The Empty Nest Edition. Another camp spot. We were just going by. We saw the tracks as we usually do and we couldn't resist and we came in here. I'm going to mark this one as well. Man, if we weren't moving south to meet up with the kids again, we would camp at all these places. But look at what I'm looking at. I love how quiet and remote it is though. So there's a trail all along this ridge here and there's camp spots throughout. So if you're ever in this area, don't miss this spot. Lando's having a blast chasing squirrels and just getting some exercise. Just a little bit further. We're doing it again. This trail is just amazing. You just can't stop and turn around. Got to keep exploring. Lando, you want water? Today we are making our way into British Columbia and down to the small scenic and secluded village of Atlin, BC. All right, we made it to Atlin. We had some suggestions on YouTube saying if you're up that way again, don't miss the Atlin country. This whole area is just spectacular. We're going to try to get a feel for it and then we're going to go find one of the many camp spots along this lake that we saw on the way in, in the town. What a camp spot. Look at that. Unbelievable. We're right on Atlin Lake here and we're finding all kinds of beautiful camp spots, but this one is incredible. We're just going to get out and look around. I don't even need to filter that stuff. The water in this lake is so clean, crystal clear and pure. You could probably drink right out of it, but we always, regardless of the water source, we always filter it through our Lifesaver water filtration jerry can there. Crystal clear, cold drinking water in abundance here in BC. I'm just going to use some of that water and make up a coffee for the road and then we're going to get back to the Alaska Highway and carry on south to Watson Lake area. We've got a few places we have never been to that we want to check out, like Stewart, BC, where there's glaciers that you can get fairly close to. That's where we're going next. We're taking you with us. That was an incredible spot. What a nice place. Hard to believe places like this exist. Just amazing. This whole Atlin area has exceeded our expectations. It's beauty beyond belief. Wilderness, quiet, hardly anybody here and just beautiful camp spots everywhere you look. There's only one road into Atlin, BC, which for people to get there, you have to actually, from BC, you have to go into Yukon, come across the Alaska Highway, and then come down into this part of BC. The only other way would be to fly in by float plane or helicopter over the mountain, so it's very remote and kind of isolated, which is what makes it so special down there. Years and years ago, during the gold rush, some gold was found in that area. That's kind of how the town got started. People that were going through Skagway and trying to get up to Dawson City realized there's gold a little bit closer. Some of them just said, hey, I'm going that way. It was a much easier trek over to Atlin than going all the way up to Dawson City. When the gold ran out, it became a new gold rush of tourism. People would come up on a train as far as they could to Skagway. Then they built a little single track that would take people to the lake. Then there were big boats like we showed when we were down there that would take people across the lake. The town kind of thrived for a while on tourism. They called it the Switzerland of BC, I think is what the nickname was, because of the snow-capped mountains. Almost all year, there's snow-capped mountains around it and just the natural beauty. People would come up here and be guaranteed to see bears and moose and all kinds of wildlife. Then in the Great Depression in the 1930s, mid-1930s, tourism dropped off because the Depression was going on. It only is now recovering from that. I guess it kind of dropped off the map for a while. Now people, modern-day adventurers, go all the way down the Atlin Road just to hang out there for a couple of days. It's well worth it. You'll notice on our trip so far, we've been doing free camping, just finding spots. There's plenty of them. They're very remote and quiet and beautiful. There's a lot of people that aren't comfortable doing that, as we weren't in our first year or two of travel. For those who want campgrounds, there's plenty of campgrounds in Yukon and in BC and in Northwest Territories. You can pick up a booklet at a visitor center when you get to Yukon, and it'll show you where all the campgrounds are. You can pay online or pay when you get there. They're unserviced, most of them, and wild and beautiful. They're only about 20 bucks a night. That definitely is an option for you if you're going with your family or you're in a motorhome or you have a trailer and you don't want to get stuck in the wilds, in the bush. Those campgrounds are beautiful. That is a great option for anyone wanting to do the same trip we're doing. With this route we took up to Tuktoyaktuk and back, it's an in and out route. You might think, well, you've seen all that land, you're going back over it, but it's unbelievable going back in the other direction. Everything looks brand new. Not only that, but we're going through Teslin right now, Yukon, a small village of Teslin, Yukon, right along the Teslin Lake for the last hour. It's a huge lake. It's spectacularly beautiful. When we came north, it was pouring rain, so we actually didn't see it. But now we're getting, on a beautiful Sunday day, we're getting amazing views of the lake and the mountains around it. So it's, never worry about retracing your steps coming back out on an in and out route. You get to see it from a whole new perspective. We just pulled onto the Stewart-Cassier Highway. It's a two-lane small road, but we're now back in B.C. and just want to say, Yukon, you've blown our minds. What an awesome place. Hey, Carol, what do you think? Oh, I loved it. It's gonna take a few days to let it sink in. I was already kind of missing it when we were getting close to the border. But yeah, the colors and the mountains and just everything about it, definitely blew me away. And I can't wait to get back there again and just explore it some more and do some hikes and just go even further. And I didn't realize how far away it is. Like, it's far. And I always thought, like, we kind of camped in remote places. That was camping in remote places. And that was really, really special. And now that we got a little taste of it, I think we want to go even more. Yeah, with all the exploring we did in Yukon, all it did was reveal more and more places that we need to explore there. So we'll definitely be back and hopefully with the kids in the full rig. That'd be very fun. But yeah, so here we are in beautiful B.C. British Columbia has an unlimited amount of beauty and wilderness to offer as well. So we're excited about what we can show you guys. Good morning. We had a beautiful camp just beside the same river, but just one, I don't know, probably 100 feet that way. But this morning we came in and drove a little further and you can camp right here on the shore of the river, which is just a beautiful spot. We're almost tempted to stay one more day. It's so beautiful, but we have to keep moving south. But we've marked it and we'll come back here. But you've got a river with probably trout and for sure grayling in there. So if you're into fly fishing, you cannot find a better spot to camp right on the banks of this beautiful, quiet river. We're in northern B.C., just south of Yukon, and it's a gorgeous, remote place. We stopped in the tiny village of Dease Lake and we're now headed out to Telegraph Creek. Last time we were here with the kids, we went about halfway down this road. We didn't go all the way. The weather got really bad, so we turned around and came back. But we're excited to complete the quest to get out to the tiny town of Telegraph Creek at the end of this road and see what that's all about. But it's, I can assure you, beautiful scenery on the way. We'll probably camp halfway back. But if you're in Dease Lake, just a little traveler note, there's no Wi-Fi for days here. And then you get into town and there's a little college there, a small building just off the main street. You'll find it and you can get free Wi-Fi there. So we got in there, did what we needed to do, tried to connect with the kids, but they've been off grid themselves in Iceland and now for two days. So they must be having the time of their life way out there. So we left them a message and they'll get it when they come back to civilization. But yeah, join us as we take the truck down the Telegraph Road to right to the end. This is, I'm just going to mark this for future reference, but it's a gorgeous little clearing just off the Telegraph Road and it has a spectacular view. In the background we can see Mount Azizo. We couldn't see it last time we were here because of the clouds and the rain, but it's a snow-capped mountain. I think it's a flat-topped volcano and we'll see it more as we get towards Telegraph Creek. Caroline's going to be excited to see this. Yeah, 20 percent grade, so have your brakes in good order and come on down. That was unbelievable. That was so cool. It's unbelievable, this little town perched on the side of the cliff at the end of that road. What a neat place. I thought I'd been to towns that are in the middle of nowhere, but this is like on a whole nother level. It sure is. How cool. Absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, so just as we pulled into town we met a lady who was just explaining to us that basically the whole town, all five of them, are packing up not just for the day but for the season, so they're pretty much shutting down the cafe. They closed the museum just as we arrived, so we'll have to come back and get a tour of that someday with the kids. I definitely want to and apparently the fish run in July, so July is the time to come and experience it. The second week of July and the local native people that have been fishing on this river forever will show you how to prepare the fish and dry them and all that kind of stuff, and they do it. Just 18 kilometers up the river is a little, there's no town there anymore, it's just called Glenora. There's really just a sign left, but that was the site of a gold rush before the Klondike and apparently up to 10,000 people lived there at one point, and just for about four years and then the Klondike gold rush started and everybody packed up and left, so some of these buildings were moved from Glenora here to Telegraph Creek, including that one which is a Hudson's Bay Company store from 100 years ago. So cool, and this town is so hard to get to. You've seen the road coming in here. We're going to take it part way out and find a camp spot for the night. Ready to go find camp? Yeah. So I don't know if you guys can see Lando right there, but he has been stalking these little birdies that are in that tree, probably the whole hour that we've been cooking, and he's just sitting there just in one spot the whole time, just totally happy. I guess it is, but yeah, he's in heaven at this camp spot, that's for sure. It's so funny to just see him just sit there. And in the meantime, we'll see you down the road. There's a bunch of these little black flies or gnats, I'm not sure what they're called, but they don't seem to bite, but they're annoying to get in your nose and your mouth and your eyes. So Carol, who thinks of everything, brought these little mosquito nets with us. First time we've had to use them, and I think as soon as the sun goes down, these things will be gone. Let's see how Carol looks in her little getup. These work great. You have kind of a whole suit, that's great. Yeah, and I even have little legs, so if it was like, say, mosquito-y, then I could work the camera. I wish that there was something for Lando, though. Yeah, he's just playing his little bit. I don't know if you can see them buzzing around. This isn't bad, I thought it would bug me. Ah, fun and tender. I know.