Day 9 - Toad River

We blew right by Fort Nelson (after filling up with gas) and ended up at Toad River Lodge about mile 422.

It was a great day for seeing wildlife. There was a deer crossing the road right in front of us as we left Fort St. John. We saw some more deer, and while Aris and I were watching a red tail hawk dive towards some unsuspecting victim the girls shouted “There is a moose! And her calf!”

After that we saw at least 5 black bears and some big horn sheep.

Toad River is a small store/campground.  It is set in a small valley with beaver ponds and surrounded by forest covered mountains.  The full hook-ups were cheap and big enough for us to leave the pick-ups hooked up.  Around 10:00 I saw a cow elk cross the road and the traffic dropped off to nothing.

We got settled in at Toad River and had a great dinner that Aris cooked that was an onion stuffed with meatball and wrapped in bacon. Topped off with a salad and stuffing thanks to the girls, we ate our fill, but still had room to walk up to the store for soft served ice cream.

We made our way down to the beaver pond and watched (and photographed) a couple of beavers as the had their evening meal.

One of the bears we saw had a close shave. We saw two black bears. One was close to the road the other was back towards the woods about 50 yards from the road. We stopped to watch and the one close to the road stood up on his hind legs and was looking at the other one. All of a sudden he dropped down and ran out into the road right in front of us. A pick-up and trailer was flying by us and the bear ran out in front of him. The truck veered left and slammed on the brakes, and the bear hit the brakes too. The bear glanced off of the right front corner of the trailer. The bear jumped up and ran off, so we don’t think he was hurt too bad. He did leave a pile of bear poop in the middle of the road!