Day 9 – 🚐 Kilometers, Gravel Roads & City Shock – Our Journey to Fort St. John 🇨🇦

Today was one of those days that is best categorized as 'more journey than destination.' 😅 We got up early, made the camper ready, and set off – full of excitement for new adventures.

Well... and then came: forest. Lots of forest. And then... burned forest. 🌲🔥

On both sides of the road stretched mile-long areas that were destroyed in the wildfires of 2023 and 2025. A pretty sad sight – no postcard landscapes, no spectacular views. Just burnt trees and gray trunks as far as the eye could see. Time to lower our heads, turn up the music, and cover some kilometers. 📻

At some point, we thought: 'Come on, we have to have a little adventure today!' So we turned onto a 17 km long gravel road – a true thrill ride. 🚜

Our goal: a viewpoint over a waterfall. And what can we say... the waterfall was there. Somewhere. And it was… well… let’s just say: water was present. 😅

After this 'waterfall light' experience, we headed back 17 km to the highway. At least we had fulfilled our adventure quota for the day. ✅

On our way to Fort St. John, we made a small detour to a viewpoint overlooking a dam. And we got a special visitor: a deer walked a bit with us! 🦌

(We believe it just wanted to see if we had anything to eat.)

Then we continued on – and suddenly we were in the middle of Fort St. John. And wow… what a culture shock! 😳

So many lights, scents, cars, and streets all at once – after days in the wilderness, it felt like we had suddenly landed in a metropolis. Yet the city isn’t actually that big. Our brains needed a moment to process. 🧠💫

After a brief visit to the Visitor Centre and passing by an oil refinery, we searched for our sleeping place for the night – and found it on an old section of the Alaska Highway. 🏕️

The rest of the evening went according to the tried-and-true vanlife recipe: warm up dinner, eat comfortably, chat a bit, and then off to bed. 😴

Maybe today wasn't the most spectacular day of our trip – but hey, days like this are part of it too. And who knows what awaits us tomorrow. After all, Canada always surprises us the most when we least expect it.