Adieu Alaska, Hello Yukon

Did you know that Yukon is a native Athabascan word that means "Land of the Crappiest Roads on Planet Earth"? Well now you do, hey you learn something new every day here on the North to Alaska blog pages don't you?
Geezus, I mean these guys aren't even trying. At least in AK you suffer thru the construction work areas but hell, they're at least out there doing something.

Apart from the crappy roads the Yukon is one spectacular place with very friendly people and a destination I would highly recommend visiting - just get a rental car or maybe a hoverboard, then relax and let the rest fall into place.

One of the things we wanted to do during our AK planning was to cross the Top of the World Highway from Chicken, AK to Dawason City, YT. The views were described as the most beautiful anywhere in the world...you know, one of those g'damn bucket list things some people covet. Well, this day was POURING down rain and we were driving thru multiple rainclouds, so no views. The only view I had was in my rear view mirror watching the Fit slinging side to side on snot slick, muddy and uphill 9% grades. We were crabbing up these hills with 1000' plus dropoffs on either side with no guardrails...what's the old maxim, turn in the direction of the slide? Whoo boy, what a freaking ride!

I shoulda taken a picture...the LD and Fit were totally blanketed, I mean EVERY square inch, with brown mud. I had gravel stuck in the rocker panels below the doors of the Fit...serious business I tell you. I will have to pop the rockers off when we get home to clean it properly.

OK, so Dawson City - beautifully preserved and rehabbed buildings from back in the gold stampede days but honestly they kind of blow it with jamming the touristy stuff in your face. Now I am totally for the local economy doing well off of the tourists but I have my limits. And we have been seeing this same theme carried on throughout our visit to Alaskan/Yukon cities - enough of the gold stampeders, we get it. I earnestly pray that this theme will continue to help the local economy but it just doesn't seem to be that sustainable to me, hopefully I'm wrong.



Situated alongside the mighty Yukon River we needed to cross a ferry to get to town, pretty cool and one raging river.
We went into town, poked around, got the vibe - then we left.


Ferry crossing the Yukon at Dawson City.

On down the road to Carmacks, YT where we checked into a legit RV park with full hook ups (FHU) and I washed the mud off the LD and Fit...there was NO way we were going down the road any further looking like shit. In fact, it's kind of a mark of respect up here in the Yukon to have a dirty ass car/RV - everyone would ask, 'you guys just getting here? Cause your rig looks way too clean'. Yeh, we just got here Yukon guy...leave me the hell alone but thanks for noticing just the same.

Our next stop was a blast from the past, Timber Point on Teslin Lake with the Clark family. They are located along the only 200 hundred mile section of the Alaska Highway that you must travel going north and south between Alaska and the south. Strange that they were not around but the park was open, we put our $20 in the slot and spent a lovely day on the beach, fishing and bagging some rays on a sunny day.
Pulled out first thing Sunday Aug 7th and headed to Liard Hot Springs.

Now we're heading south and getting into the Canadian Rockies and the wildlife sightings were spectacular...check these out. Probably the best of the trip so far.

Brown bears, they're juveniles so they have black fur but notice the brown noses. Their coats will lighten and go brown as they age.

Moose, spied this guy on the trail to the Liard hot springs.


As we were soaking in the hot springs got to talking with a regular visitor and he mentioned that the pools on the downstream end are about 100 degrees F and the upstream end are around 130 degrees. He further said, if you can make it all the way thru the upper pool the custom is to grab a rock from the cliffside and place it on the stack poolside. We watched as two older women did this and I saw the twinkle of challenge in Debbie's eyes - I'm doing it she says.

Here's a shot of her in the hot, hot water after placing her challenge rock...good thing her child bearing years are over with...man that water up there was extremely hot.

And, who woulda thunk it, buffalo! No kidding, here they are right next to us.


Finally, mountain sheep...these guys are called Stone sheep and are a subset of the Dall Sheep found in AK and the Bighorn sheep found in CA. They like to graze near the roadside where they eat the salt leftover from the winter roadway deicing operations...I found this quite interesting.

We found a very nice spot at Muncho Lake Provincial Park in the Strawberry Flat campground right on the lake where we swam, sunbathed and fished for two days.

We also had another equipment failure on the trip...Debbie's phone went south. It started with her on/off switch not functioning correctly so as we were driving down the road she tried to fix it. I'm driving so I'm sort of watching this repair operation peripherally and I notice her jamming a toothpick into the edges around the switch...oh no, this isn't going to end well. She was ready for a new phone anyway so just as well. Only problem is Verizon does not exist in Canada so she will be wire-less for another week or so until we get back to the US/Verizonlandia.
After a long couple of driving days thru Dawson Creek - Milepost '0' on the Alaska Highway - and Prince George, BC we stopped in Valmount, BC nestled at the foot of Mt. Robson the tallest mountain in  the BC Rockies. Driving down the highway I see a sign advertising a Golf Course and RV Park which got my attention. Pulled in, set up in a nice quiet and secluded spot and hit the first tee. Debbie drove the cart, I hacked it up and we had ourselves a fun time on a beautiful day.


Mile zero on the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.
Not a lot to report other than we are now in Oroville, WA about 2 miles south of the border crossing at Osoyoos. Our plan was to spend a couple of days in BC's Okanagan Valley for some wine tasting but after arriving there the place was packed with summer vacationers and just didn't seem like a nice place to relax and enjoy ourselves so we hightailed it to the border. It was a beautiful drive thru the valley however and would be a great place to visit but not on an August weekend.

We're planning to take a couple of weeks in eastern OR/northern CA and then head home. Thanks for tuning in folks, more later from Bend, OR.
Take care.