Candlelight dinner, Sinatra and the finest waterfront view on the Cassiar Highway

A burned out section of trees along the Cassiar Highway

The last couple days of camping along the Cassier Hwy have been perfect. The Cassier is a very narrow highway with a lot of rough areas and frost heaves but not too bad if you watch your speed and pay attention to the road.

I am in no hurry and will pull over when someone gets behind us on this road. Although it may take awhile to find a place because the road often has no shoulder and a 2-6 foot dropoff.

Pictures and words do not adequately describe the beauty of this place. Last night we pulled off and camped by a little fast flowing stream. Completely serene if you don't count the hordes of hungry mosquitoes which we're learning to cope with. A little deet goes a long way. Only problem is opening the door to dash into the 5'er quickly without allowing a thousand mosquitoes to join with you. Lucky the interior is lightly colored so the mosquitoes are easier to hunt down. We had about 50 come in with us last night despite our best efforts. The mosquitoes aren't always out but when they are, look out.  And somehow they seem to find a way inside our rig.

Boondocking at it's finest

In the morning after the sun came out we sat by the stream, read, and soaked in the sunshine. Of course we had bear spray handy just in case as we've seen many on this road already. The nice thing about not being on a schedule is you can just take your time and head out if and when you feel like it. I also did some more work on the furnace (loud vibration noise) and got that quieted down. Then we pulled out the torque wrench to re-torque the lug nuts of the 5'er. The tire guys were pretty good but I wanted to double check the lug torque because having the incorrect torque on a 5'er can cause some serious problems. 

Camping Spot high overlooking Dease Lake

So tonight we're camped on a very high ridge overlooking Dease Lake. We enjoyed a great candlelight dinner in our own special waterfront diner while listening to Frank Sinatra. It was pretty cozy as rain clouds rolled, and listening to the raindrops.

Candle light dinner on Dease Lake during a nice soft rain

We read about Sawmill recreation area which supposedly had 6 campsites by the water. Oh and it also had a boat landing. We took the narrow half mile turnoff which was barely a one lane road that wound it's way down the mountain and over a small stream. After a couple minutes I started thinking that this didn't look like the kind of road I should be dragging this 5'er down. But I kept up hope that at the bottom of this twisty narrow road there would be a place to turn around.

When we finally got to the bottom there was a small turnaround and about 20 trucks, boats and cars all mashed in on the road with no place for anyone to go. The small loop had all the vehicles double parked. I was able to pull in just the length of my rig while a couple people came over and apologetically said that a few vehicles might be leaving soon. There was one small cut that I did manage to back my rig into with only inches on both sides. Just enough to escape this madness and race back up the mountain on that narrow one lane dirt road, hoping that I wouldn't meet anyone on my way up. Yvonne promptly poured me a cold beer as soon as we got setup at our the lakefront camping spot.

Plus the fact that these camping spots are FREE makes it even sweeter.

Warmest place in the 5'er (Furnace duct is under the floor here)