Day 74 Tuesday July 12, 2022 Our destination today is Triple “G” Hideaway Campground in Fort Nelson British Columbia (BC), a 284 mile drive. We saw two bears (I only saw one, Lena saw two), a buck deer and a bald eagle feeding off something in the ditch by the road. After 70 miles we stopped at Shepherds Inn for a blueberry pancake breakfast for Tom and I, Lena and Gloria had scrambled eggs, bacon and tater tots and trappers bannock. That is a biscuit that taste like a pancake. They served 6-7 full slices of bacon with the meal.
We fueled up a few miles from the campground even though we could have driven a lot more miles but the rule of thumb traveling in remote areas is to drive on the top half of your fuel tank. With our TSD fuel card we can get fuel at most fuel stations that have truck lanes. We don’t get any savings but at least we can get fuel in some of the more remote places. The fuel in Canada is always higher than the USA even though they have lots of oil wells.
After we got set up and had lunch (Lena cooked stew beef in the slow cooker while we traveled) I cleaned the windshield and front of the motorhome. We have never seen so many dragon flies and lots of them had splattered on the windshield before we got here.
Day 75 Wednesday July 13, 2022 We departed today about 8:30AM for our 155 mile to Muncho Lake BC. We don't have as far to travel but almost all will be through some very rugged mountains. It is hard to imagine how the workers made the approximately 1500 mile Alaskan Highway through this rough terrain in 8+ months in 1942/1943. They had to be some hearty souls.
We stopped at Tetsa River Lodge for their famous Cinnamon Buns. We stayed there one night in their campground in 2015. Like a lot of businesses they were hurting during COVID. Their income is the campground, fuel sales and cinnamon buns and a gift shop, so it all depends on tourists traveling through. COVID is about gone but there is road construction right in front of their business so some travelers will not stop because they don't want to get out of line while the pilot truck is leading them through the area. And from the looks of it, the construction will last well into the late Fall or early Winter after the tourist season is over. Us and about half or more of our caravan stopped but not at the same time. We bought four, two to eat now with coffee and two for the road. The TG called them to let them know that a lot of us would be stopping for buns so they would have plenty prepared.
We had two sections of road construction where we had to wait for a pilot truck to lead us through. We got to Muncho Lake Campground about 1:45PM but it took us about 30 minutes before we could get to our site. This is a small campground right on the banks of the lake and the WM had to direct one RV at a time into their site, plus he had to call the right one down from the parking lot so they could get into their site and not block another RV. One of the men in our group had experience directing RVs into their site so he volunteered to help. He directed me into our site. I think he is only the second person other than Lena that I have ever let direct me into our site. Our motorhome is setting about 100 feet from the lake, with an amazing view out the windshield. There are two float planes docked along the shore. They take people on tours and fishing trips, etc. in the area,
We had our group meeting at 5PM and then went to the restaurant in the lodge for our meal at 6PM. Lena and I got Jager Schnitzel. It was okay but not the way we were accustomed to this type of Schnitzel being prepared. This restaurant breaded then fried it and then poured the gravy and mushrooms over it. We prefer it not breaded.
Muncho Lake
Day 76 Thursday July 14, 2022 It is 53 degrees this morning. One of the float planes took off right in front of us at 8:30AM. The mosquitoes are swarming this morning but none of them have bit us. I hope it stays that way.
We departed at 9:15AM and headed to Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory 155 miles away. Along the way we saw 5 sheep (3 adolescent and 2 adults), 3 black bears (one swimming across a lake), 12 bison and three of those ambled right down the center line of a bridge from one end to the other and had the traffic backed up about ½ mile. The bridge is the last suspension bridge on the Alaska Highway. It is nicknamed “Galloping Gertie”, You don't want to rush these big bison because if they get agitated and ram the side of your vehicle they can do some serious damage.
We stopped at Coal River for a break and noticed a sign just as we pulled in that they have pie and coffee for $6 in a small cafe. So we just had to try that out. We all got some hot homemade pie and coffee. Very good pie.
Just before the Yukon border we had to take a 3 kilometer detour off the road. A few weeks ago a huge beaver dam broke from all the rain and snow melt and it was reported that a 90' tall wall of water came rushing down towards the highway and washed a big section out. We could see some of the trees that were uprooted. Luckily there was an old section of the original Alaska Highway still in place. The road crews were able to trim back the growth beside the old road and open it up as a detour. If this old road had not been there the repairs to the wash out would not have been done before we got here and we would have had to make a major detour that would have messed up our schedule and some of the reservations the tour company had in place. Over the years some sections of the Alaska Highway has been rerouted to improve the road and they left the old roadbed in place which worked out really well in this case.
We arrived at 2PM in Watson Lake at the Downtown RV Park at 2PM and set up in site 28. Later Tom, Gloria and us went to the Sign Post Forest to hang our signs that I had made for us. We tried for a half hour or so to find the sign we hung in 2015 even with four of us looking we could not find it. It is hard to believe all the signs here form all over the world. It was all started by a homesick man working on the original Alaska Highway in 1942/1943. It sure put this little small town on the tourist map. At 5PM to tour group all went to the Sign Post Forest to put up a group sign that one of the men on the tour had made. Then we went across the street to the Northern Lights Center to view the film about the Aurora Borealis. This area of the North is one of the main viewing areas for it but it usually isn't visible until later in the year so we will not get to see it.
Day 77 Friday July 15, 2022 Today we departed at 8:05AM for our 264 mile drive to Whitehorse. After about 1.5 hours we stopped for a break at Rancheria Falls Recreation Area and took the 1/3 mile walk down to the falls. Along the path we walked right up on a Ptarmigan hen and her 3 chicks. The Ptarmigan is the Alaska state bird.
A couple of hours later we stopped at Johnson's Crossing for a snack break. Lena got a cinnamon bun and I got a chocolate chip cookie that was about the size of a small dinner plate.
We got to the Pioneer RV Park in Whitehorse at 2:30PM and set up in site 56. Like most RV parks in Canada the sites are close together. Along the road to here we saw a porcupine, 2 bears, 2 rabbits plus the Ptarmigan and her chicks. We have traveled about 590 miles in the last two days and Watson Lake is the only town we have been in. Lots of very remote territory here. We could see the mountains on both sides of the road for most of the day.
We went to Legends Smokehouse and Grill to eat, since we were too tired to cook. The food was good, service was slow because they only had one waitress to serve the whole dining room and she was doing all she could do to keep up.
Counting yesterday we crossed from the border between British Columbia and the Yukon 7 times. The road basically zigzags across the border for a long ways.
The Yukon territory has a population of about 42,000 people and about 31,000 live in Whitehorse.
Day 78 Saturday July 16, 2022 The group boarded a bus at 8:45AM for a tour of the town of Whitehorse and the S.S. Klondike II. The S.S. Klondike II is a steam powered paddle wheel boat that was used on the Yukon river for many years to haul freight and people up and down the river before the roads were built in the area. These paddle wheel boats had a very shallow flat bottom so they could maneuver the shallow sections of the river. Renovations are being done to the boat so we could not go inside it but we had a good local guide that explained how the boat operated and what it was used for over the years. It is dry docked now and is not used on the river. Now it is shown as a piece of history. We also saw a short 20 minute movie about the river and how the boats were used to transport supplies and people.
Then we stopped at the Visitors Center and saw another film about the history of the area. From there we got a driving tour of the town and then returned to the campground about 1PM. It was 48 degrees this morning at 6AM and had been overcast and a high of 61 degrees with a breeze all day. Big change from the 104 degrees in Tucson Arizona a few weeks ago. We had our drivers meeting and lite snacks at 5PM for our trip Monday to Destruction Bay. The sun finally came out so the afternoon was nice for setting outside.
Day 79 Sunday July 17, 2022 We woke up to drizzling rain and 48 degree temperature, so it was time for the hooded sweatshirts for our optional trip to Carcross about 40 miles away. Several of the group took the trip with their toads. One of the attractions at Carcross is the Carcross Desert. Yep, a desert here in the remotes of the Yukon with mountains all around the area. It is called the Smallest Desert in the World and does not have desert climate. It is actually an ancient river bed and sand continues to accumulate from a nearby river when the wind blows sand from the sandbars in the river when the water is low.
After we left the desert we backtracked a mile to the Caribou Crossing Trading Post for a hot cup of coffee. It is rather chilly this morning with the wind. When we walked in the lady said she had still warm cinnamon sugar donuts she had just baked. Lena asked her if she could make Lattes and she said yes. We were surprised. She actually did much better than most of the so called coffee shops, except Tim Hortons, that we have been to on this trip. The donuts were good also. We heard chickens out behind the building and there were two of our group also there having coffee. They told us the lady had told them that she was not allowed to use her fresh chicken eggs in her grill due to health regulations. She has to buy them from a grocery store to use in the grill.
Then we drove on to the little town of Carcross. It sits right on the banks of Lake Bennett which feeds into the Yukon River and is a small town with a lot of history. One little tidbit is that Fredrick Trump, Donald Trump's grandfather, lived there in 1898 and made a fortune operating a hotel and a bordello. He returned to Germany in 1901 and soon immigrated to the USA.
A lot of First Nations people live in the area. The remains of a steam ship, the S.S. Tutshi, sits along the edge of the lake. It was built in 1917 and was used like the S.S. Klondike II we saw yesterday to ferry cargo and passengers up and down the river until the good roads make it redundant. The owner and the town was restoring it to use as a historical tourist attraction when in 1990 just before they were to install the fire suppression system it caught fire and was destroyed. The burned out bow and some of the boiler room is still there so they built a structure over it and have several story boards up that details the history of the ship.
We visited the Visitors Center and the small shops where they sell their handmade jewelry, moccasins, clothes, etc. We also went to the Matthew Watson General Store, which is one of the oldest operating businesses in the Yukon. I bought me a red plaid flannel shirt (lumberjack shirt) and Lena got a pair of fingerless gloves and a pullover shirt with a dogsled scene on it.
I asked the lady at the Visitor Center about there snow fall. She said this past Winter it came up to her waist and she is almost 6' tall. I asked her about the roads. She said the roads are actually better in the Winter. The road crews scrap all the snow off except an inch or two and then the cars pack the snow and it is a smooth ride. They spread gravel in the curves and you can easily drive 100kph/60mph on the roads. She had her dog, Echo, with her and everywhere she went in the building the dog was right with her.
We returned to the campground and did some prep work for our 167 mile trip to Destruction Bay. We are expecting to encounter our first frost heaves tomorrow. Then the next day we are in for some major bad road conditions for 50-100 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment