We are in the Yukon!
How cool is that…and no we haven’t seen Yukon Cornelius, yet. We will be on the look-out!
We left the Stewart-Cassier Highway and got onto the Alaskan Highway for exactly 14 miles. We can now say we have been on the Alaskan Highway…too many RVs and trucks for our Rig and our style.
We turned off in Watson Lake and headed into town for provisions and information on the wildfire that was burning near the Robert Campbell Highway(highway up here is a very loose term), our intended route. A quick stop at the visitor’s center where the sign post thingee is from when they built the Alaskan Highway, cool but not quite our taste, and the grocery store and we were off. The wildfire was still west of our route and although there were smoke advisories, and some evacuations we were cleared to head north.
The Robert Campbell Highway started off paved, quickly turned to hard pack and then to gravel. Once again, we were reminded of the Maine logging parcels we drive on back home to go canoeing, long dirt roads surrounded by pines. The only difference was the huge swaths of burnt areas from previous wildfires, they were a little unsettling. Wildfires up here are just part of life. No one seems upset. They keep the forest regenerating. We have now gotten used to seein huge swaths of burnt trees.
During the 370 km (that’s about 230 miles for those in the States) we traveled, we saw more bears than vehicles. That would be 4 black bears, a lynx, a really cool black and brown fox and a momma grizzly with her cub (and yes, we only saw 3 pick-ups the whole way in). Oh, and we saw a few flurries. Good thing we packed warm gear.
About halfway , we stayed 2 nights in a Yukon Provincial campground on Frances Lake, I know we splurged and spent $12 CAD a night. It is absolutely beautiful and peaceful. We thought we would be the only ones there, due to the low volume of traffic, all going the other way, but surprise, surprise there were about 12 other campers already there (there are only 24 sites).
