Meet the Clark Family of Timber Point on Teslin Lake, Yukon Territory

Long post today, sorry guys. But read on, its a good'un.

We were making our way towards Skagway, AK and the road was dusty and jarring us to the core.
You see we're in frost heave country where the severe cold of winter (-50 is quite common) freezes the roadbed and the warming spring air essentially melts it, causing a heave and ho action resulting in the pavement riding atop the bed to buckle and break into a million pieces each about an inch square....and this goes on for miles and miles. The road crews have the short summer period to get out there, scoop up the damaged pavement, lay down new base material and pavement to get set for the coming winter and another round of frost heave.

The downside for the traveler is you have tens of miles of gravel, dusty, washboarded roadway  to contend with in these construction zones. The zones are broken up by miles of good pavement, whch only breaks your heart when you see the hated "Construction Zone Next 20 Kilometers Ahead" signs. And the truckers up here are batshit crazy, they come tearing down the opposite way or pass you at rediculous speeds spitting gravel all over the place. I've gotten pretty good at slowing down and getting as far to the right to reduce the carnage, seems to be working - no major body damage to the vehicles. But, it is nerve wracking and takes a lot of attention and focus which can make for a long day behind the wheel.

So we're bouncing along near Teslin Lake in the Yukon and we see a sign indicating another 10 mile stretch of road consturction coming up and we looked at each other and without a word spoken knew that each of us had enough for the day. Right at that moment we see another sign for a private campground called Timber Point RV Park right on the shores of stellar Teslin Lake. Applied the brakes, wound the LD down and copped a hard left into the RV Park.

We pull in and see a beautiful home, cabin and a huge freshly mowed grass field with picnic tables and campfire rings spread out all over the place, maybe 20 of them or so. No access roads, no RV pads, no site numbers and no one around so we just freestyled across the grass, found a nice shady spot, put her in park and set the emergency brake...mama, we're home.


Posted up at the Timber Point RV Park....not a great picture, it was actually a very level site, photo is a bit off kilter. Killer RV site.

Check in consisted of stuffing a $20 bill into a slotted box on a wooden pole and we're all tucked in for the night. There was one other fifth wheel trailer out there but as I said the place was empty with people.

It was a wonderfully warm day so we got into beach mode and went out to have a walk about.


Debbie gracing the entrance to the beach at Timber Point RV Park on Teslin Lake, Yukon Territory.....

Spent a very relaxed afternoon at the beach, went for a swim, bagged some northern latitude summer rays and generally just unwound.


Yeh, don't ask...that water was, let's just say, refreshing....

Now here's where things got very interesting and shows you how serendipity can hit you like a brick from behind.

We get back from a pleasant day at the beach, napped and had a nice dinner. Place provided free firewood so I sparked up a small fire while Debbie relaxed in the motorhome reading and looking at the gorgeous scenery surrounding this very nice lake.

I then decide to do a little fishing - to be honest I was very hesitant because my fishing license up here is only valid in BC and not Yukon Territory (YT). But I thought if an industrious and zealous fish and game officer was going to bust me out in the middle of nowhere with no one around, then hats off to him and I'll respectfully pay the piper.

So around 10 PM I went off and fished for a bit and met two young guys from Calgary who just stopped in for the nite on their way to a rafting trip. Mike and Austin, nice guys and we shared a few beers, life stories and a lot of laughs.

About midnight I return to camp, stoke the fire and was sitting by myself when out of the duskness comes Ben...he says, Are you Howard? Why, yes I am. Hey, my name is Ben Clark and my parents own this place. Seems Ben is out here for the weekend in the fifth wheel trailer we saw on site.

You want to go out in our boat tonite and do some lake fishing? Well Ben, I'd love to but you see I have a bit of a problem. What's your problem brah? I don't have a YT fishing license. He laughs and says don't worry brah I'm First Nation and we don't need licenses on our boat to fish our waters.

What??? Mind you this is 1 AM, so of course I say, 'hell yeh' I want to go out fishing on a moonlit lake with First Nation rules in full effect!

In Canada, the native people are made up of many different tribes but in the eyes of the government they are collectively known as First Nation and among other things they retain their ancestral rights to fishing and hunting...apparently licenses aren't required and there are no limits on what or how many may be caught.

Ben tells me he talked to the boys from Calagary, they said I was cool, so we're all off at 1 in the AM to do some fishing.

I could spend another 5 pages relating all of the fun and laughs that I had on this outing but let's just leave it at this....Ben turns out to be one of the most down to earth, funniest and warmest souls I have EVER met.

So off we go with Ben's girlfriend Cynthia, her nephew Joel, Ben's son Devon, the Calgary boys and Bens buddy and boat captain Saul...and yours truly. We pull into the beach after finishing fishing around 3:30 AM, howling at the moon and laughing our asses off. It was one of the best nights of my life. In fact I told Ben that and he said I need to hang out in the Yukon more often, brah. All great people that are running wild and free and everyone's their friend....cool as hell I say.

The next morning Ben introduces me to his father Jim who moved up here from Alberta in the 70's to work for the YT Road Department. He's retiring in 3 weeks after 35 years of trying to keep these roads up here together. Can you imagine going out in the middle of a winter night up here at -50 to plow, clear culverts, fix damaged guardrail, etc? Whoo boy, tough gig. But as he told me he found a home and he'd rather be no where else.

Jim met and married a super nice woman named Minnie who is First Nation, an accomplished professional photographer, activist on wildlife conservation, has the rights to several trap lines (she traps fur during the winter on her snowmobile!), fishes, hunts - in a responsible manner - and runs the household and RV park.

About 15 years ago she was single handedly responsible for putting a stop to the reckless hunting of the local mountain sheep whose numbers had dwindled to the teens. They're kind of like the bighorn sheep we see in the deserts of southern CA but their horns are thinner and of similar size, believe they're called northern sheep. This area marks the northerly boundary of these type of sheep and then the Dall Sheep takeover all the way up to the Arctic Ocean.

Since many of the local businesses relied on the income from well heeled hunters (I mean really, pay big bucks to hunt sheep? - why don't you just go out and hunt a cow, where's the sport in that, sheesh) Minnie was not very popular with her friends and neighbors over this but as Jim told me 'when you're right, you're right and you gotta stand up and be counted'. Further she is a very shy and softspoken person - but with a fiery heart and soul, I could see it in her eyes - so I know this must have been a very difficult thing for her to do. One hell of a person, I have all the respect and admiration for her - quite the lady my friends. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time with her as she was off to a Territorial Resource Council meeting to do her thing.

Debbie and I instantly hit it off with their family and really enjoyed getting to know them, we hope to be able to return the hospitality someday in San Diego. You guys would love to know them too and I know they'd love meeting you guys as well.

Back row, left to right - Cynthia, Ben, Jim and Saul

Front row, l to r - Joel and Devon

Turns out during the summer their beautiful home and expansive RV Park serves as a location for their large family to come, spend the weekend camping, catch fish, eat fish (Ben made an absolutely delicious batter and lightly fried fish dish, it was like eating candy) and hang out. It is very much like the Cory gatherings at the Lagoon in Carlsbad and the old Burke gatherings at the Camp in Burghettstown, PA. They have such a happy family and we talked quite a bit with them sharing our experiences with these types of family gatherings and how important they are in keeping large families together. It was very cool getting to know this happy family and we will never forget them.

Jim and Minnie's place...right by the beach, boieee!

Well after a three day diversion of the best kind at Timber Point we finally headed off to Skagway, arrived yesterday and posted up at the harbor next to the cruise ship lines. After I turn off the computer here I'm off to hike a bit of the Chilkoot Trail, the trail all the Klondike gold prospectors used to get from Skagway up to the gold fields. Supposedly tons of the old stuff they carted up there is scattered along the trail - stoves, shoes, beds, etc. Should be kind of cool, I like shit like that!
Then later this morning we're off (these cruise folks are everywhere and rather annoying - there are 3 Princess cruise ships in port this morning - time to beat feet we say!) via ferry to Haines and up the Haines highway.
Full report to follow....