A 3-day weekend in Atlin, BC
On Friday night, we made the 160-km drive down to the little town of Atlin, often referred to as the Switzerland of the North. Atlin has captivated me ever since my first visit in 1985, and was the perfect spot for our first entire-family trip in the motorhome.
It took longer than expected to get everything ready, and then we got stuck behind a very slow oversize load on the Atlin Road for almost 3/4 of an hour, so we didn’t get to Atlin until 10:00 pm. Once there, we quickly decided to stay at the Norseman RV Park on the shore of Atlin Lake for at least the first couple of nights, and it turned out to be so perfect that we stayed for all 3 nights.
We had camped in the driveway last weekend, so Saturday morning was no surprise except for the amazing view. The weather Saturday was cloudy, and we spent it walking around town – around and around, back and forth, putting quite a few km on. I met the owners of the Atlin Inn and got a tour of the hotel – they’re doing wonderful work on a complete rebuild. Getting someone to open a high-quality restaurant seems to be the biggest challenge at the moment – the dining room has an amazing view and a new kitchen, and will be a big factor in making the project work to its full potential. The character of the saloon is wonderful!
This photo was taken from the little park the hotel owners have built in front of their home next door to the hotel.
The ball diamond was a great place to exercise Monty and Bella, who aren’t used to being on a leash all the time.
This bald eagle was often perched on the power pole right behind our campsite. Norm, the owner of the campground, said that he was happy to have the eagle there, as it keeps away the messy Canada geese. Too bad it hasn’t kept away an ignorant neighbour’s 7 nasty, free-running little dogs. After their first attack on our kids, I kept large rocks in my pocket, and they’ve obviously had experience with rocks.
Sunday was gorgeous, showing Atlin at its absolute best. This was the view from the couch 🙂
What a cozy spot to come home to after another busy day!
Although it didn’t stay that way, Monday started off beautifully – this was shot from the lakeshore as the sun came up at 06:20. The church behind is St. Joseph Mission, in the Taku Tlingit First Nation part of the village. The couple with the Airstream trailer are on a major adventure from North Carolina – when they left Monday morning, they were headed to Johnson’s Crossing Lodge to drop the trailer and then up the South Canol Road.
Molly was a bit of a wild card in this whole RV planning process, but she seemed to really enjoy herself. She especially loved watching birds from her fuzzy blanket on the dash, and from the huge hall windows.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about our campsite was watching this busy little Beaver 🙂 C-GOZR is Atlin Air’s 1952 de Havilland Canada DHC-2 MK. I Beaver, and it was going constantly on Saturday and Sunday, hauling fish, hunters and tourists. Monday was slower, but I still got to hear and feel that engine’s thunder once that morning.
I’ll tell you more about the trip, especially about Atlin itself, via the Explore BC blog (with 20 or so photos) – I’ll post the link here when that’s posted, probably in 3-4 days. [It has now been posted]
About The Author
