Page 70 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

Pouce Coupe
Location: Hwy 2; 6 miles southeast of Dawson
Creek; 73 miles west of Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Population: 800. Visitor Information: Village
of Pouce Coupe, PO Box 190, Pouce Coupe,
BC V0C 2C0; Phone: (250) 786-5794.
The first white man to settle in Pouce Coupe was a
prospector named Trembley, on his way to the Yukon
to dig for gold in 1898. He set up a trading post in
1909 and Police barracks were established in 1917.
It was the “End of Steel” for the Northern Alberta
Railway, which operated between 1931 and 1974.
The area offers downhill and cross country
skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing in winter, and
swimming, fishing, camping and hiking. Swan Lake
Provincial Park is open year round and located 12
miles south of town on Hwy 2. The shallow, warm
waters yield Northern pike and walleye.
Pouce Coupe Regional Park is just south of town,
situated near Bissette Creek. Sudeten Provincial
Chetwynd VIC Staff Park is 10 miles south on Hwy 2 with 15 sites and day
Sierra, Jillian & Tyria use area, and One Island Park lies north on Hwy 2.
photo by:
TRAVEL GUIDE The Hart Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in BC,
built in 1928 and still in use today with restaurant and
pub. The “Pioneer Capital of the Peace River Area”
Chetwynd is located in the Pine River Valley in Tumbler Ridge also supports a regional museum where the visitor
the southearst corner of Peace River Country and Location: At junction of Hwy 29 and Hwy information centre is located.
offers many services and attractions, including 52; 55 miles southeast of Chetwynd; 72 miles
RV campsites and nearby Provincial parks. Major south of Dawson Creek. Population: 2,500. THE ALASKA HIGHWAY
industries in the area include tourism, agriculture, Visitor Information: Tumbler Ridge Visitor
forestry, bio and wind energy, rail transportation, Centre, 265 Southgate Street; Phone: (250)
mining and natural gas production. 242-3123; Email: info@tumblerridgegeopark. The Alaska Highway
Originally known as Little Prairie by the ca; Website: www.TumblerRidge.ca and
indigenous people who traveled through this region, tumblerridgegeopark.ca. Beginning at the historic ‘Mile 0’ post in downtown
fur traders came here as early as 1778 following the Dawson Creek, your journey up the 1500-mile
water routes and pack trails of the day. By 1919 a log Tumbler Ridge is home to the Tumbler Ridge Alaska Highway will delight you with its diversity
cabin opened as a small trading post. This attracted United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural of bioregions and its pioneering communities. From
others to build around it, and so the community of Organization (UNESCO) Global Geopark, a the fertile Peace River hills surrounding Dawson
Little Prairie continued to grow. designated area with sites and landscapes of Creek and Fort St. John to the muskeg country and
The Pacific Eastern Railway arrived in 1958. The international geological significance. One of five foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Fort Nelson,
station was built in 1959 and the name was officially Global Geoparks in Canada and the only one in to the awesomely spectacular mountain parks along
changed to Chetwynd in honor of the Hon. Ralph western North America, the Tumbler Ridge Geopark your journey further north, the Alaska Highway is a
Chetwynd, past Minister of Railways and staunch comprises 34 accessible geosites that include route of travel that will continually dazzle you with
supporter of development in the Peace Region. mountain peaks and glaciers, waterfalls and canyons, its ever changing scenery.
Chetwynd marked the division of the tracks with one alpine meadows, caves and karst formations, and Constructed during World War II over an
branch going east to Dawson Creek and one north to dinosaur trackways and fossils. Dozens of hiking incredibly short eight months and twelve days, the
Fort St. John. trails and countless ATV, snowmobile and mountain 11,000 US soldiers and thousands of civilians who
The area has lakes and rivers teeming with many bike trails lead to special places and significant built it performed a feat never before accomplished.
varieties of fish and waterfowl. Enjoy swimming, discoveries are still being made every year. The To reach their destination in Alaska, they had to
canoeing, kayaking, ATVing, camping and hiking. Geopark also hosts an annual Fishing Derby in early build 8,000 culverts, construct 133 bridges and
Moose, elk, caribou, deer, black and grizzly bear July. cross eight mountain ranges to complete it in time
are plentiful. Winter draws many visitors for The Dinosaur Discovery Gallery focuses on for the anticipated war effort. Numerous historical
snowmobiling, downhill and cross-country skiing, the wealth of dinosaur and other palaeontological mileposts are situated along the route to help you
ice fishing and hunting. discoveries which first came to light in 2000, when identify the key locations that played major roles in
Known as the “Community Carved by Success” two boys stumbled across a series of fossilized its astonishing construction.
Chetwynd is home to a thriving arts scene. The Ankylosaur prints along the banks of Flatbed Creek More than one third of the soldiers who built the
Visitor Information Centre offers walking maps just below Tumbler Ridge. Tours are available to Alaska Highway were black men from the south.
showing the locations of the town’s award-winning two dinosaur trackway sites and include an evening Often living in tents with insufficient clothing, they
and intricate chainsaw carvings, now numbering over lantern tour to experience those tracks best viewed worked 20 hour days as temperatures hovered at
175. Enjoy easy and ample parking, fresh coffee and in the evening with low angle light. Hundreds of 40-below-zero for weeks at a time, hitting a record
tea, and helpful staff to answer any questions. dinosaur bones unearthed in the area are by far the low of –79 degrees. Upon completing the Highway,
The Little Prairie Heritage Museum features many were decorated for their efforts and sent to
homestead life and industry history. See unique oldest in Western Canada and have led to Northeast active duty in Europe and the South Pacific.
BC becoming known as a paleontological hotspot.
collections from early settlers, a trapper’s cabin The gallery exhibits over 300 million years of Earth’s The modern Alaska Highway of today is a far
brimming with trapping and hunting gear, BC Rail history. cry from the narrow, twisting trail that was first
car memorabilia and local fossils. This is a great constructed. It is mostly paved throughout its length,
place for a picnic and very popular for weddings and with ongoing seasonal maintenance and occasional
events. JCT. JOHN HART HWY 97 NORTH & BC zones of construction geared to keeping it in top
HWY 2 TO BC/ALBERTA BORDER/ALBERTA condition for travelers. The Alaska Highway journey
HWY 43 TO GRANDE PRAIRIE is one that you will happily talk about for the rest of
JCT. JOHN HART HWY 97 NORTH & HWY 29 your life.
NORTH TO FORT ST. JOHN/ALASKA HWY Communities abound along the route and you will
OR SOUTH TO TUMBLER RIDGE BC HWY 2 want to stop in each one to sample their attractions
and examine the history that formed them. For the
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