Day Nine

I am sitting in a little motel with the sound of raindrops, as our camping trip with the mythical tent continues (thanks for that term, Brian!). This morning began with a continental breakfast in our lodge in Dease Lake, chatting with a couple of ladies from Portland Oregon who are returning home from a trip into Alaska. We headed out northbound again on Hwy. 37 and were treated to 4 more bears (one of them a young grizzly, which they apparently call Cinnamons here in the Yukon, and Brown Bears in Alaska). Also a fox wandering along the side of the road.

The road leads into Cassiar, which is basically an abandoned town, with only a Jade-selling enterprise there now. There is also a mountain range lying just to the west of us, called the Cassiar Range. Shortly after that we left British Columbia for the Yukon Territory, and then joined onto the Alaska Highway where we were stopped for a quick police roadcheck. We turned east for 20 km., to visit Watson Lake, a small community, but also the 3^rd largest community in the Yukon.

The visitor centre gave us a passport for visiting numerous touristy/interesting places to visit, with an accompanying chance to win a gold nugget (my odds have to be better than my lottery tickets, and also free). Right next-door was the signpost forest, a huge collection of signposts from visitors – over 83,000 signs to date. Across the road was a Northern Lights Theatre Centre, which has a domed digital presentation about the Aurorae, and also about the immensity of the universe. As we are here approaching the summer solstice, we will not be viewing any Aurora Borealis on the trip...so we settled for the theatre version. The presentation was good, but will never match an IMAX theatre presentation.

Then it was time to wash the car again, having covered most of it on our trip yesterday to Telegraph Creek. A quick lunch in the only open diner we could find, and we headed west again on the Alaska Highway. Of course, as we passed our Hwy. 37 Junction again, we had to go through the police check again. We hadn't been drinking at lunch, so made it through again. After about 100 km., the rainshowers we'd had on and off all day became less intermittent and more steady, so we decided to find a room rather than a wet campsite. Choices here are limited. We passed a motel/lodge which looked quite rundown and scuzzy, and finally chose a second motel which has also seen better days. Coincidentally, it is called the Continental Divide Motel, as we are again on the divide where rivers drain both north and west. I went to check in, and discovered that they have no tv, no WI-fi, and don't accept plastic payment (cash only). As I tend to live off my Visa card, this was a problem. I offered them the remaining cash in my wallet ($55.00) as payment for the $70.00 room, which they accepted. However, that meant eating cheese and crackers for dinner, as we couldn't use the restaurant, and had limited food on hand – although we'd really had lupper in Watson Lake. Without the Wi-fi, I'm pre-typing this Blog for when we may find some tomorrow. The plan is to continue west another 350 km., which gets us to Carcross, and then turn south to turn into Alaska to visit Skagway. Hopefully, we can then catch an Alaska State Ferry to go a few miles south down the Lynn Canal (another estuary, not a canal) to Haines, Alaska. From there we will be able to drive north back into the Yukon, and eventually take the “Top of the World” Highway from Chicken Alaska to Dawson City. It's a circuitous route which misses Whitehorse, but we will get that on the way back southbound again. It also gives me time to memorize a few more verses of “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, which I still don't have down, and need to know before reaching Lake Lebarge (just north of Whitehorse).

Driving west into mountains, rain, cold

Bargain Accommodation