July 2nd - July 3rd

We got up this AM and said goodbye to Whitehorse but not before we had the truck & RV washed. A couple of days of rain and road construction really did a number on the vehicles and this is not the last.  A couple of shots from Whitehorse...

We took our time and drove about halfway from Whitehorse to Dawson City. We drove about 45 MPH (Biker Arda thinks she could keep up on her bike – HA!) and stopped at several places before selecting our camp spot for the night.

We did see some very interesting sights. It is very difficult to explain the ruggedness of this land or capture it in pictures. The roads for the most part are excellent. The worst parts seems to be under construction but we know we have some "maintained" gravel roads to drive after we leave Dawson City so we'll let you know what happens.

We decided to dry camp at McGregor Creek (mile 142 on the Klondike Loop). There is nothing here but small trees, which have grown back since a fire in 1995, some open fields and us. BA thinks she may see some animals as we have only seen squirrels and magpies today.

We didn't see any animals but we were safe… at least we woke up in the morning. We had another 180 miles to go to Dawson so we just took our time. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining and very few clouds in the sky. In fact, the temperature was in the 80's by the time we reached Dawson. We did stop a couple of time to see the views… they are gorgeous.

About our clean truck and RV... they are not clean  anymore.  We ran into construction about 30 miles north of where we camped and that was all she wrote about being clean!

One place we stopped was Gravel Lake that is used by many migratory birds on their way north or south, depending on the time of the year, as the vegetation is very rich because of the minerals in the soil.

We did see a couple of wild animals today… a shrew and a muskrat plus some birds. Our list of animals now include:
• Muskrat
• Shrew
• Ground Squirrels

• Moose – young bull still with velvet on his antlers at Don & Gale’s in Schroeder MN. Plus a calf on the side of the road.

• Cows

• Dogs

• Horses

• Cats

• Antelope – North of Sheridan and all the way to Shelby

• Sand-hill Cranes – in Belfry MT

• Pheasants – in Belfry MT

• Bison

• Stone Sheep

• Bears – Sow w/2 cubs and another Black Bear.

• Magpies

As I said earlier, the roads have been reasonably good. It seems I may have spoken a little too soon as the closer we got to Dawson the more we experienced the "frost heaves". The bigger ones weren't too bad as you could avoid the worst part but the smaller ones just crept up (should I say gotcha!) and away we went a rockin' and a rollin'. We were lucky as everything stayed where it was supposed to in the trailer.

When we reached Dawson, we set up camp in the Goldrush Campground, which is located right downtown. We actually walked the entire town in about 30 minutes and we weren't walking fast. All the streets are dirt, even the main street and most of the buildings have been restored either, to their original state and use or are now used for other businesses. There is a lot of hotels, bars, restaurants, plus 1 grocery store and a hardware store.

Did you know? 200 lbs of bacon, 800 lbs of flour, 200 lbs of corn meal, 150 lbs of beans, 75 lbs of sugar, 150 lbs of dried fruit, 50 lbs of rice, 75 lbs of coffee, and 1 case of condensed milk were on the list of mandatory goods each person had to bring over the Chilkoot Pass to the gold fields.

Keep your loops open!

June 29th - July 1st

After leaving Watson Lake on the 29th, we drove to Whitehorse (about 6 hours) where we spent a couple of days. The drive to WH was uneventful as in no animals seen. It was a dry day and we stopped several times to enjoy the scenery… it was beautiful. What is becoming apparent is the vastness of this area (northern BC, northern AB, and the Yukon… we haven't even made it to Alaska yet!). We thought it would be vast but it is better than we ever imagined.

We crossed the Continental Divide at it lowest point in N.A.  It wasn't much, just a roadside plaque...

It is hard to say, "Morning dawned" when it never really gets dark. From about midnight to 5:00 AM outside looks something like it does just before the sun comes up. It is light but there is no sun. The sun "sets" about 11:00 PM so when we go to bed, it is like going to bed about 7:00 PM. It is very hard to explain - weird. On the 30th BA went for what else, a bike ride while WD went to the local GM dealer to have the oil changed in the truck. After WD was finished, we met in town and then went to the Information Center so BA could change out of her biker clothes.  We also stopped at Wally-Mart where there were more RV's than some campgrounds we've been in.

 Next, we walked through town and ate an excellent lunch of BBQ salmon on a Caesar Salad… the salmon was fresh and the BBQ taste not very strong making it an excellent meal. Of course washing it down with a Yukon Red, a local beer didn't hurt either.

After lunch, we needed another stroll so we went to the fish ladder. It is the longest wooden one in the north rising up 60'. The salmon travel over 2000 miles to the ocean when they are about 2 and then return to spawn in August when they are around 5 – 6. It really is amazing how far they travel and that they can find their way back to the same place… must have a good GPS!

We also took a tour of the Klondike of Dawson ship. This ship was retired in 1955 when the road between Whitehorse and Dawson was opened. Prior to that, it was the main means of transportation to take goods to and from Dawson. The ship ran 4 – 5 months a year as this was the window of time between the thaw and freeze-up so what you didn't get in that time period you waited another year. It took 1.5 days to go to Dawson and 4 – 5 days (up-river) on the return trip.

We were enjoying the area so much we decided to stay an extra day and celebrate Canada Day here. We are glad we did, as it was very interesting to see how this small corner of the world celebrated this occasion. They had a parade starting at 11:00 AM which ended at a local park where there were lots of activities… swearing in of new Canadian Citizens, pancake breakfast, Vietnamese food, your normal junk food, rubber duck races, belly flop contests, local entertainment, etc.. It was really cool to see and participate in this - especially the beer tent!

Tomorrow (2nd) we are off to Dawson City. We will only drive a couple of hours and dry camp for the night and then the next day go on to Dawson City. I will update my Tally when we have internet again.

Now for my feature article… Did you know? There are ~32,000 people living in the Yukon with ~24,000 of them in Whitehorse. There are also approximately 50,000 moose, 10,000 black bears, and 4,500 wolves in the Yukon.

Take care and keep the loops open!

June 28th

Another day in paradise.  We are in Watson Lake taking a rest day from driving so it is a lazy day.  We have some shopping to do, wheels bearings to grease, a thermometer to fasten to the outside of the RV and catching up on e-mails, bills, etc.

We took a walk this AM to the "Signpost Forest".  This was started by a US Army soldier working on the highway.  Today of the over 62,000 signs the earliest date is 1954 as the wooden signs deteriorate over time.

In the center of the Signpost Forest are several pieces of equipment used in the building of the Alcan Highway.

I see my buddy Cowboy Tom also left a sign here... don't think Cowboy has ridden this way...  

Until the next time we have internet...  Keep your loops open!

June 27th

Today started out as another rainy day. Not very heavy but enough that one did not want to get out of the truck. The temp was also about 43 degrees which didn't help either.

It was a good day for seeing animals. We started out with Bison (or Buffalo as they say in Canada). There was a family unit with cows and calves and a big old bull sitting on the top of a hill overlooking his harem.
Next, we say a black-bear sow with 2 cubs. What was neat was watching them enter a pipe that went under the road and then they exited on the other side. You might say it was a bear crossing without the danger of being hit by a car.

Then we saw another Bison family unit and a little while later another black bear only this time he was brown. We did see one other lonely Bison (he must have lost his harem). That was the end of the animals for the day.

Another interesting site along the road was the "Internet Corral"… yes you read it right. It is not an "Internet Café". We didn't stop so who knows what the inside looks like. You may have to lasso a connection.

We only drove about 2 hours down the road to Watson Lake as there a few things to see here and we wanted to take a couple of days where we weren't "on the road". Actually we picked up an hour too as we are now on Pacific Time. Driving with BA is always a hoot! Did you know that the campsite we are in has free TV on Saturday? That is what BA read in the description of the campsite book. Imagine our surprise when we found out it was free satellite TV – every day is an adventure!

We walked over to the Northern Lights Center to watch an I-max movie on Astronauts and the Northern Lights. It was very impressive as well as informative. It would seem that we would not see the Northern Lights on this trip or at least our chances are minimal given the long daylight and that they occur mostly in winter. It was worthwhile going too.

Next, we walked to a local "department store" (about the size of a very small convenience store) but they had just about everything from fishing/camping equipment to clothes to bikes, etc. etc.

We also went to 5:00 PM Mass at St Anne's Mission in Watson Lake. The priest was surprised to see 10 people at the mass as they normally only have a couple people in attendance. The mass on Sunday AM has about 25 people total, as this is a very small church. It is also a very short walk from our campsite as the RV park is right behind the church… very convenient.

Did you know?  Moose can swim continuously for several hours, dive up to depths of 20 feet and remain submerged for over a minute!

Keep your loops open!

PS  We don't have phone service in the Yukon.  We were told that Bell Canada has a monopoly here and doesn't have agreements to "hook-up" with other carriers.  It will be a several days before we get to Alaska when we should have coverage again.  In the meantime we may or may not have internet   

June 26TH

We spent the night in a "Litter Barrel" turnout.  It was not too bad especially if compared to the night before when we stayed in a campground and someone's security alarm kept going off.  We only had 1 truck pull in and he shut it down quickly.  It did rain all night so we were wondering if our rig would float… fortunately, it didn't come to that.  Weather was different as the temp dropped to 34 degrees and we were in a snow storm as we passed by Summit Lake.  The snow didn't stay on the road but it was in the bush for a while.  It continued to rain until about 2:00 PM.

We also learned that when a sign states "watch out for falling rocks", you had better pay attention.  We saw one large rock (about 5 foot around) sitting right in the middle of the road.  There were also lots of smaller rocks along the way too.

Another thing we learned today… what the sign "loose gravel" means.  It means that the chip-seal road has been badly torn up and repaired with lose gravel.  It wasn't even packed down or had oil/tar sprayed on it. 

All in all the roads have been pretty good but it is always a surprise to open the trailer door to see what we have shaken loose that day… so far, no messes just a couple of cans.

Internet access and phone service has not been too reliable but what would you expect when the satellite radio can't even pick up a signal and we aren't even out of BC yet

.

Today must have been animal day… maybe they were getting ready for the weekend gawkers and were practicing today.  We did see a whitetail deer, moose calf, a moose cow, a stone sheep, and some buffalo.  It was great to see all the animals in their natural habitat.

Tonight we are staying in the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park.  This park has a boardwalk, which takes one through a wetlands area containing 250 boreal forest plants including 14 different orchids.  There are lots of bears and moose in the park because the plants are much richer because of the hot springs.  There are also 2 hot spring pools, Alpha & Beta.  Arda and I enjoyed Alpha which is the hotter of the two.

Tomorrow, it is northward again but not sure to where. 

Did you know?  Black Bears must consume 20,000 calories per day prior to hibernation.

Keep your loops open till next time.