Day 12-14 D/A Adventure

Day 12. We awoke and started our generator to have our coffee. We actually had some cell service because we were near enough to Watson Lake that we were able to look at our phones, rather than having to talk to each other. We are not being rude because we are talking all day in the truck. Usually because we have no cell service and there are no radio stations up here.

We left the campground and turned west towards Teslin, Yukon. The road in this section of the trip is one that everyone hears about as a horror story. They were working on a lot of that road, meaning that there were a lot of gravel sections. In three areas we had to sit and wait for a pilot car to escort us through. There were probably a dozen gravel sections of varying lengths.

These are the types of roads that you can wreck your windshield on so we were careful not to follow too close to the person in front of us. It was also a smart idea to move over on the other sections that were gravel two lanes and you had a speeding eighteen to twenty four wheeler coming at you. With the one lane roads, it really bunched up everyone for the day.

As you can see from the picture we ran through some rain. It has rained everyday on this journey since we left Jasper, Alberta. So we have given up on trying to get the rig washed. It is pointless, especially when you go through so many gravel sections of road. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery again.

Sorry for the messy windshield. I have appointed the navigator as chief windshield washer and she doesn't realize that that needs to be done every time we stop for fuel, not once in every province or state. We passed a few Ewok looking things.

This one I was able to stop for because we didn't have anyone following us at the time. Not a very good picture there, eh?

This is the Teslin bridge as you enter town from the south. Second longest bridge crossing on the Alaskan Highway. We got in line to fuel up because it was still a long way to Whitehorse. We left Teslin to head towards Whitehorse, Yukon. Once we crossed into the Yukon we noticed that there are fewer places where people have pulled off of the road and camped for the night. Many places, including the rest areas have no camping signs or no overnight stays. I guess they want you to spend your money at the private and government campgrounds along the way. There were 3 government campgrounds between Teslin and Whitehorse. In the Yukon they call them government campgrounds instead of Provincial Parks, but they are the same thing. We set our sights for the middle one at Marsh Lake.

Most of the big rigs pass these small government campgrounds buy and head into town for the privately owned campgrounds with full hookups and 45 dollar beer. Not us though. We are liking these smaller campgrounds. They are quieter and the scenery is better.

This is our site nestled under the pine trees. $12 a night and the best part, free firewood!

Our chairs are enjoying the view of the lake through the trees. We walked down to the lake. Marsh lake is huge. We were driving along side of it for a long time.

We enjoyed the sun for a little bit and a fire until the clouds turned dark and another rain shower passed overhead. The drive has been amazing.

On a more personal note. I have decided to limit my beer intake to 2 beers a day. That's $3.75 worth until we get out of Canada. I would go broke before I ever got drunk here.

Critter count-2 black Ewoks, 1 brown Ewok and 0 Sasquatch's.

Day 13. We had a short drive to our next destination. We got up early because it was the weekend and we thought the campgrounds would fill up. We were right. We pulled into Wolf Creek Campground just outside of Whitehorse and the sign said full we drove in anyways and found a site. We claimed it and then went into town.

There are just over 40,000 people in the Yukon. 30,000 live in Whitehorse and they like to camp. Luckily we got our spot. . We left our chairs to guard our spot with a sign saying that we would be back. We went into town to the visitor center. We needed to dump and fill and they pointed us to a free dump station. Once that was done we did some sightseeing. 

This was a paddle wheeler that went up and down the Tagish River. It was a pretty amazing feat during the Yukon gold rush days. It had to go through Miles Canyon.

This was a stretch of fast moving water for a paddle wheeler to get through. The river is dammed now so it looks less violent. But many people and boats where victims to this stretch of water.

We went back to our campsite in Wolf Creek. Built a fire and then retired for the night.

Critter count-0 

We have days to waste before we get to Denali so we decided to stay 2 days here in Whitehorse. After being in the desolate wilderness for weeks it was kind of weird to get to this major city. This is the capital of the Yukon. I get a sense that they like tourists and that they don't. Especially as you drive around and you don't know where you are going. Lots of road rage. "Don't you know where you are going, eh? Get a road map, eh? F*** you, eh? Your mother wears combat boots, eh?"

Our second day was very casual. We went to the longest wooden fish ladder. Who knew there was such a thing?

We didn't want to pay to get in so we just looked at it from the outside. The fish aren't using it anyways.

We walked around downtown and had lunch and shopped a little bit. Then we drove to the small town of Carcross.

More beautiful scenery along the way. The clouds were acting weird.

We stopped at Emerald Lake for a photo. Before you get to Carcross there is a dessert. We didn't know that but it was there.

Well our extended stay at Whitehorse has come to an end and we must keep traveling north. The days are long here now. It really doesn't get pitch black at night at all.

Well she couldn't stand it anymore.

She had to wash off the back of the camper. Also on a personal note. We had a Cod dinner that I caught myself. Don't tell me that I don't know how to fish Jim and Barb. I got it from the frozen fish freezer at Wal-mart and it was good.

The End.