Blogs from Yukon, Canada, North America - page 5

28 Jul 2016: Today's drive up to Whitehorse, YT was not as interesting as the drive to Waton Lake but it was not without its moments. First, we saw a Black Bear early in the morning looking for it's breakfast. I didn't have enough time to pull over and get a picture. Next, we encountered rock messages alongside the hjghway just past Nugget City. According to our Milepost guide, rock messages were first started in 1990 by a Ft Nelson swim team. One may also see inukshuks, rock cairns build by the natives as landmarks. We crossed several rivers and the Continental Divide, which we have crossed and recrossed on our travels. There were a few old lodges which have been closed for many years. Crossing the Nisutlin Bay Bridge, the longest span on the highway ... read more

27 Jul 2016: The gentleman at the adjoining campsite in Ft Nelson was returning from his third trip to Alaska. He advised us to stay at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake. Reviewing my itinerary, I found I had tentatively selected that during the planning stage so I felt my good judgement had been confirmed. Driving North out of Ft Nelson we encountered a sign reading something like, "No services next 152 km. Check your gas. I Checked my gas. One quarter full. Whoops, better turn around and fill up. We drove 17 miles before we could find a place to turn around. Seventeen up, back and back up or 51 miles was about an hour's worth of driving, not to mention seven gallons of gas. From now on, we will drive BACK to the ... read more

Left Watson Lake. Very small town and everything in town closes down at 8 pm. Went to ck in to a very unique hotel which I will explain but since it was 7:45 pm the owner asked me if I had eaten yet, and since I had not told me we better go quick. Went to the only restaurant in town, Kathy's Kitchen and awesome home cooking. So good in fact we went back the next morning for breakfast The hotel, Air Force Lodge was an old air force barracks that was remodeled. Room had 2 single beds and that was the room. Down the hall was the mens shower room and next door was the mens rest room. Here is the info and history http://airforcelodge.com/ Very cool place and we met awesome people from all ... read more

Today we drove down the Klondike Highway to rejoin the Alaska Highway as we continued south and east to saunter toward home. We passed rivers and lakes, forest and hills as well as more vehicles than we had been seeing further north. We also discovered another possible oddity with the camper. At first it seemed as though our black tank was filling unusually quickly, but now we think that our toilet sometimes does not drain as well as it should. We hope that it continues to work well enough to make it home without a major misshap. In the campground where we stayed for the night we noticed an impressive row of Canadream rental class Cs and a less impressive group of teardrop campers. We did get to the campground early enough for the boys to ... read more

It is safe to say that Yukon was, and still everyday is, one hell of a surprise for me. I don’t really know what I was expecting; anyway my hopes fell short. Larger than life is not a false statement. Maybe it’s the people. Having a smaller population, recluse, but not entirely of the crazy ‘civilized’ world might explain some aspects of it. For the seasons and the ecosystems are so much more capricious here than anywhere else I have seen, the people have learn to respect them more. Being aware of the energy it takes to produce quality, in food as in music, coffee and everything is a normal thing. Everything is of astonishing quality; everything that is local, anyway. Also I have never seen such a big concentration of outdoor enthusiasts. They run, half ... read more