Kinaskan Lake Provincial Campground BC, Canada

Mileage:  47,873

Overnight the smoke from the wildfire moved across the lake, the morning air was acrid and heavy.  This is the view from the bench where we sat last evening.

The sun was glowing red as we made our way south on the Cassiar Highway.  We saw what was probably a coyote.  Too big to be a fox and definitely not a dog, he was in the road ahead of us and quickly disappeared along a creek bed.

We stopped for fuel at the Tatogga Lake Resort.  The old man there was in no hurry.  He told me to stay inside a while and he would go and take care of Tim and the fuel.  He had a museum of full sized mounted animals…wolves, stone sheep, a moose, bear, and lots of mounted heads and pelts as well.  He had all kinds of advice for us…where we should camp and where we should go.

As we traveled, the smoke hung in a perpetual haze all the way to Kinaskan Lake.

We arrived around 11 am.  The next campsites are further than we wanted to travel today.  It was 79 degrees.  Warm enough for short sleeves and flip flops.  We have a beautiful site on the lake.

After lunch, we took the Jeep looking for a place to explore.  We found Willow Creek Forest Road 300.

We drove in 10 miles before turning around.  I’m not sure how much further it might have gone on.  There was a lot of bear scat.  We must make too much noise coming down the road because we didn’t see a single bear.

We crossed a creek on this bridge.

We forged this flooded portion of the road…flooded because of a beaver dam somewhere back in there.

Logged out.

The smoke dissipated this afternoon with just a thin haze remaining.  The old guy from the gas station this morning told us that the bear come out along the highway at around 7 pm to feed on grasses and dandelion by the road.  After dinner, we went bear hunting.  We took the access road to the power line and drove along the ridge.

No bear, but incredible views of the lake.

Tomorrow we will continue south on the Cassiar Highway.

Water’s Edge Campground Dease Lake, BC, Canada

Mileage:  47,790

We stayed at Boya Lake for a while this morning to enjoy our breakfast and discuss our options.

We had the company of this gray jay.  I am quite sure he was looking for breakfast too!

We made our way south on the Cassiar Highway.  The Cassiar Mountains were picturesque, swathed in thick stands of spruce with rocky, ragged peaks.  All along the road were sparkling rivers, lakes, ponds, and creeks.

We stopped at Jade City.  This store actually operates a jade mine.  There are several mines here in the mountains.  Each year they mine 1,000,000 pounds of jade.  It comes out of the ground in big huge boulders.  Then the jade is cut and polished for statues or jewelry.

Old truck.

While we were riding today, we saw lots of signs warning of moose but we saw no sign of actual moose at all.

Once we had driven through the mountain range, the road followed the contours of Dease Lake.  This large beautiful lake is about 35 miles long.  It was mirror still and glittering like a jewel in the sunlight.

We stopped for the night at the Water’s Edge Campground.  We have a lakeside spot.  We hiked down the steep bank to the water’s edge…such a pretty place.

We found these moose tracks by a small pond.

We walked along the gravel beach and sat on big rocks for a while…just taking it in.  As we were returning there stood a moose in the lake.  She was about 100 yards away.  She saw us and walked back into the woods.

We could see where she had crossed the rocks…she left a wet path behind.  That’s as close as I need to get to a real moose!

The sky is a little hazier on the other side of the lake.  This is the result of a nearby wildfire.  We had planned to take Telegraph Creek Road tomorrow, another gravel road side trip.  The road is closed and the town there has been evacuated.  We read online that the fire has destroyed homes and businesses in Telegraph Creek.

Another reminder that the wilderness up here is nothing to be taken lightly…it can be dangerous…even in the summertime.

Our evening spot.  We haven’t gotten to watch a sunset in a long time.  The sun is going down earlier now.

 

 

 

 

Boya Lake Provincial Park British Columbia, Canada

Mileage:  47,700

I was sad today.  Today is Oliver’s 2^nd birthday party.  It is one of those days when you desperately wish that you could be in 2 places.  We were hoping to FaceTime but we haven’t had one little bar of service since we left this morning and then, for such a short time (after the party was well over) that the pictures couldn’t even download…

As we leave the Alaska Highway and the Yukon behind, we cannot help but reflect on how far we have come.  When we started here more than 2 months ago, we were excited to see what was ahead of us.  All of our imaginings were surpassed by our experiences…the beauty, the wonder, the awe of this vast frontier.

There was a sign indicating that we were in the territory of the Little Rancheria Caribou Herd.  A moose and her calf sauntered across the road in front of us and scrambled up the bank.  I guess they didn’t read the sign.

We knew that there were wildfires in British Columbia.  We spoke with someone this morning who had changed his plans because he heard there was smoke on the Cassiar Highway.  As we approached our turn, we could see plumes of smoke in the distance.  It doesn’t matter which way we go south, we will encounter the smoke from the wildfires.  We do have options if the smoke is bad.  We can turn around, we can stay put for a couple of days, or we can drive as long as we need to…we have no particular schedule.

We saw miles and miles of devastation from fires in previous years.  Fires were very bad here in 2010, 2011, and 2012.  This area is so immense that there are patches of old burns mixed with lots of untouched forest.  There are still many more green trees than there are burnt trees.  The burned areas are just beginning to recover with some low growing green underbrush.

The beginning of the Cassiar Highway was very rough chip and seal with some loose gravel.  We already have damage to the windshield of the Jeep.  We stopped and wrapped the windshield in a tarp in an effort to protect it from further harm…it seemed to have worked.  After 20 miles, the road was suddenly paved, new and smooth.

2 mule deer.

The same woman who told us we must go to Skagway also told us about Boya Lake.  This is in my top 10 campgrounds of all time.  The lake is crystal clear with a white marl bottom.  The water appears to be aquamarine and it is gorgeous.  We found a lakeside spot.  There is a fire ban here…no campfire tonight…but we can definitely understand that.

We rode our bikes for a short time in the campground.  We found the Lakeshore Trail and hiked around the water’s edge.

When we returned, the wind had changed.  The very subtle shift caused the smoke to move over the mountains and across the lake.

As we sit here outside writing the blog, there are ashes falling from the sky.  We are not sure what tomorrow has in store for us.

Ashes

Several weeks ago, when Kyle was with us, I decided I wanted to go back and read two novels, Hatchet and The River, that he and I read together when he was in middle school.  I had since ordered them from the Maryland Digital Library and just finished the second yesterday.  They are survival stories set in northern Canada.  I had also ordered Into the Wild.  Tim and I are reading that now.  It’s amazing that if you have been someplace and then you read the book, it becomes a richer experience.

Teslin Lake Yukon Government Campground Teslin, Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  47,489

To leave Skagway you must travel out on the road you came in on.  Today was bright and sunny with blue skies and so this ride was a pleasure.  We made our way north back through the odd rock formations that remind me of scenes from Planet of the Apes or Lord of the Rings.

And such beauty…

Back through customs and into Canada.

A medium sized black bear bounded across the road in front of us.

The wildfire in Carcross is still burning.  It had moved another ½ mile south in the days that we were in Skagway.

We headed east on the Alaska Highway.  We crossed the Teslin River Bridge.

We camped at the Teslin Lake Yukon Government Campground.  By the end of the afternoon it was full.  We are thinking that most people are headed south before the weather turns.  This campground has a path down to the lake.

Tonight, we are burning moose poop.  In a gift shop we had seen moose poop firestarter for sale in small bags for $5.75.  On our walk we passed by a pile of nice dry poop nuggets and we decided to give it a try.  It works!

Tim saw this sign yesterday and he had been thinking of it.

Garden City RV Park Skagway, Alaska Day 2

I’m really glad we chose to stay in Skagway for a second day.  This morning we took the road to Dyea.   This was a great place to explore with the Jeep.

The native Tlingit people established the village of Dyea.  The Taiya River and the Chilkoot Trail were used as a transportation corridor by the tribes so that they could trade goods.  When the gold rush began, the stampeders came into the harbor and used the trail to reach the interior of Alaska.

During the Klondike Gold Rush, on April 3, 1898, men were traveling in a steady stream on the trail.  The Tlingit guides were concerned about avalanche dangers but the gold seekers did not pay attention to the warnings.  More than 70 men were killed in the avalanche that day.  We went to the Slide Cemetery.  It is a little disconcerting to see all the grave markers with the same date of death.  These men came from many places…Colorado, New York, California, Oregon, Washington, Florida, and Denmark to name a few…hoping to strike it rich.  The percentage of people who actually found gold was very low.  Most people were not so fortunate.

There were big trees in this area.  We haven’t seen big trees in weeks.

The scenery was very beautiful.  The river by the road was wild and rugged.

We were standing on a bridge over the river when the clouds lifted.  There was a glacier that hadn’t been visible before…gorgeous.

We traveled to the end of the pavement and then on the rough dirt and gravel road.  We took it as far as we could.  There was a very steep, very pitted and rocky hill and we stopped the Jeep to investigate before going further.  The trail turned to muck and stopped not far after the crest of the hill…ride over.

We stopped at the turnout to look down on the town of Skagway.

We took a bike ride this afternoon and then this evening we had dinner at the Skagway Brewing Company and took a walk.

The old truck of the day.

 

Garden City RV Park Skagway, Alaska

Mileage:  47,339

Happy Birthday to our dear, funny, crazy, and smart grandson, Oliver!!!  Hugs and kisses from Alaska sweet boy!!!

As we left Carcross we passed the wildfire we had seen last night.  There were 2 young men taking pictures and they were in a fire crew truck.  They had just been in Watson Lake in British Colmbia (BC) fighting fires.  “British Columbia is burning.” They were sent to Carcross, Yukon to monitor the fire.

They told us that the Carcross fire had been burning for a few weeks.  It could have started from a campfire but more probably from a lightning strike.  No one was really certain.  They are hoping that the fire will be self limiting.  Maybe it will run out of fuel.  It is somewhat contained by the lake and the rocky peaks.  “Winter is coming quickly here.”  It had calmed down but flared again this Monday due to windy conditions.  Today is was smoldering, though we could tell it had moved further south.

The road to Skagway was as lovely as advertised.

The scenery here is unlike any other that we have seen.  The rock formations are almost otherworldly and it looks like film crews should be out here filming SciFi.  The road follows lakes and rivers.  There are rocky foothills covered with sparse trees and lichen.  The lakes are gorgeous green-blue.

As we reached the summit there was misty rain.  It was quite chilly and it felt like it could spit snow!

Skagway is in southeastern Alaska.  We went through customs back into the US for a couple of days.  It is a gold rush town and a harbor town.  We took our bikes to go explore.

We finally saw salmon in a stream…one salmon all by his lonesome…not looking very healthy.

Old trucks today.

This might be the proverbial “turnip truck.”  “I might have just fell off the turnip truck but I didn’t let it back up over me!”

A pleasant evening was spent drinking a nice pinot noir and Guinness and sharing yummy appetizers…smoked salmon spread with fried capers, sauteed clams, king crab bisque, and firecracker prawns.

We walked after dinner.  The town is nice and quiet now.  All the people have gone back to their cruise ships.  Most visitors come here by boat.  There was a glacier that was obscured earlier by clouds.

The train through town.

First along Pullen Creek and then along the Skagway River.

A really cool house up on the mountainside.

 

 

 

Carcross Campground Carcross, Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  47,234

At a scenic turnout we saw this tremendous beaver dam.  It is a magnificent work of engineering.  The water level at the top of the dam was about 18 inches above the lower level.  The dam was working to flood the surrounding area, making it marshy and muddy.

Another large dog-like animal print…

Today we arrived in Whitehorse.  This was our opportunity to get our groceries and other chores done.  The last thing we did was to go to a truck tire place.  We wanted an expert to look at the tires.  The guy, Danny, was great.  He knew tires.  He checked the air pressure and filled the tires and did a visual inspection of each tire.  Tim feels so much better knowing that the tires are good.  We have put almost 9,000 miles on the tires this trip and some of the miles were on pretty rough road.  We were finished around 3 pm.

Having finished everything on the list it was time to move on.  Skagway was one of the side trips we did not take on the way north.  We talked to a couple the other night and the woman insisted that we should go.  The scenery she said was worth the drive.  So, we are headed toward Skagway.  The scenery is gorgeous so far.

To get there we have to go through Carcross again.  The town of Carcross used to be called Caribou Crossing…so named because a herd of caribou migrated through here every fall.  There was another town called Caribou Crossing and it was causing lots of confusion.  Now this is Carcross.  There are still caribou here but in much lower numbers.  The local native people and the Yukon government are working together to help revitalize the herd.

We stopped at Carcross Desert.  Not a real desert because it is not hot or dry here.  These sand dunes are left behind by an ancient glacier.  They look really out of place among all of the mountains and lush greenery.

We are staying at Carcross Campground, another government campground.   Once we were set up we went to Carcross Commons to The Bistro for dinner.  We walked for a short while after eating and watched a pair of bald eagles over the water.

We went for a drive and looked at the mountains in the distance.  There was a low-lying cloud over the mountaintop that was an odd color.

We noticed that it was billowing up from below and then we knew that it was smoke.  This was a wildfire.  We drove about 10 miles to investigate.  The fire and smoke spanned a distance of more than 4 miles.  The area with the greatest amount of smoke had visible flames.

There were hundreds of other smaller fires and smoking areas and great swaths of blackened and charred mountainside.

It was both fascinating and sobering to watch the power of all that fire. The flames are all on the other side of the lake.  We have no idea how long they have been burning.  There is no way that firefighters could get resources there to put out the blazes.  We had heard that wildfires are usually left alone unless they threatened homes and businesses.  Fire is a necessary part of the ecosystem here.  90 percent of the wildfires are caused by lightning strikes.  We have to go past this area again tomorrow on the way to Skagway.  It will be interesting to see what things look like by then.

 

Fox Lake Yukon Government Campground Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  47,186

It had rained steadily all night and into this morning.  We were thinking about the women in the canoes headed downriver.  We tried to catch a glimpse of them as the road neared the Yukon but we didn’t see them at all.

Today’s ride continued through heavily forested areas interspersed with wetlands.  We saw lots and lots of ducks.

We stopped at this historic roadhouse.

After a short drive, we got to Fox Lake before lunchtime.  There were beautiful sites right on the lake but the wind was blowing.  We found a space tucked into the trees that still had a great view.

We spent the day relaxing in the hammock.

Tim made a friend and had her eating out of his hand.

Some nice Molly Dooker after dinner while watching the sun on the lake…

 

 

 

Tatchun Creek Yukon Government Campground Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  47,100

As we were leaving, a short distance from the campground, a black bear was ambling along the tree line.  He rose up on his hind legs as we passed by.  We knew that there were bears in those woods!

We stopped at Pelly Crossing in search of fresh water.  We were directed by the local native people to use the Selkirk Water Treatment Plant.  With good directions we headed off.  The young guy even came to check to see if we found it okay.

Today was an ordinary ride with thick stands of birch and spruce trees on both sides of the fairly decent road.  The wildflowers that were so plentiful just weeks ago are gone.  The fireweed is starting to turn orange and red.  We passed an inland salt lake with crusty white edges.  We saw a lot of ducks and some grouse.  The grouse don’t seem to be very smart.  They are so camouflaged because of their color that you don’t see them until they are right next to you…then they take off in a flurry of feathers.  Bottom heavy, they are slow to launch.  They fly a short distance and disappear again into the brush.

We got to the Yukon River and the view was very pretty.  We met a couple from Ontario on their way to Top of the World Highway.  They sold their house a month ago and are living full-time in their truck camper.  They plan to make their way up the Dempster Highway all the way to the Arctic Ocean and then will head south through the states to Mexico where they plan to overwinter.  We wish them well!

The Tatchun Creek Yukon Government Campground is quiet.  Our site sits right next to the creek.  It was a pleasant afternoon to be outside reading.

We took a short bike ride that was shorter because of gravel road and very steep grade.  We rode a trail that took us to the bank of the Yukon River.

We met a woman traveling the river in a canoe with her daughter and 8 other women.  They started in Carmacks and will finish on Friday in Dawson City…106 miles.  We saw this couple riding the current of the Yukon around this river-bend.

A nice fire and some wine and some music and some dinner.  Life is good!

We plan to go to Whitehorse in the next day or so.  It is the last big hub before we head down the Alaska Highway to the Cassiar Highway.  We will take that all the way through British Columbia and into Washington state.  I’m not sure how long it will take…we are still more than 1,000 miles away.  We intend to enjoy the ride.

 

McIntyre Park Mayo, Yukon, Canada Day 2

It was 39 degrees this morning when we got up.  We are seeing more trees turning yellow and brown.  We know it is time to turn around and head south.  We don’t want any part of what Mother Nature can do up here in the wintertime.  The town of Mayo advertises itself as both the hottest and coldest town in the Yukon with a recorded low of -80 and a high of 97.

But for today we are going north to finish the Silver Trail.  The sun was shining brightly as we left for Keno City.  Areas of marsh and pretty lakes as well as spruce forest flanked the gravel road.  We saw geese and ducks and grouse.

Tim was driving the obstacle course that is this road, carefully straddling potholes and avoiding sinking shoulders.  There is just too much road here for all of the crews to keep up.  It looks like every road sustains damage with the seasonal changes.  The road construction/repair season is so short…they probably never finish before it is time to begin again.

This is our last look at the beautiful Ogilvie Mountains.  They served as a backdrop on our ride.  Keno City is an authentic old mining town.  For a short while it tried to be a gold mining town.  Silver was discovered and was more prevalent and profitable in the early 1900’s.  We toured the Keno Mining Museum which was a very tangible history of the silver mining industry.

After walking the town, we took the Jeep and found the 4WD Sourdough Trail.

This turned out to be a wonderful surprise.  The scenery was gorgeous as we traveled above the tree line in the mountaintops.  We had our lunch along the ridge.

Mining on the mountainside.

Keno City far below us.

You have to take what the road and the weather and nature offers.  Today we had gifts of all 3.  We met this fox in the road as we made our way back.  First on Tim’s side of the Jeep and then he circled around to mine.  I thanked him for posing for pictures.  He flinched at the sound of my voice before running into the weeds.

Old truck of the day.

We had a pleasant evening by the fire, watching the flowing river and the eagles soaring overhead.