Saturday May 1, Day 3 Alaskan Hwy

A vista heading into the western side of the continental divide. (click on any pix to enlarge it).


One of many frozen lakes along the route on Friday & Saturday


The signpost forest in Watson Lake. This was started by a homesick worker on the Alaskan Hwy back in the 40s with a single sign saying the name of his home town and the distance to home. Today it covers a country block. There are thousands and thousands of destination signs from all over the world. We found signs for Hesperia, and San Bernardino.


Paulette taking a stretch break along the Hwy. The 5er is pretty dirty with road grime. Hard to tell in the pix but that lake between the rig and the Mountains is frozen.


Ice breaking up on one of the rivers.

We are as far north as we will get on our journey. Tomorrow we turn south for Skagway and depart Canada. I got a lesson in how far north we are when I looked for a RV campground here in Whitehorse, Yukon. The first one was closed; not open for the season yet. That has been the case for most RV campgrounds along our route yesterday and today. The second was open, and though a bit spendy I took it. Once registered and paid for I went to hook up and found the hard way there is no water or sewer service. I walked to the office and asked about it, and said the rates were pretty high for only electric hookup. She said I could have my money back if I wanted, but they are the only RV park in town that is open, and went on to explain that the reason is permafrost (her term, actually it isn't permafrost this far south). The ground hasn't thawed enough yet to turn the water on or to convey the contents of holding tanks to a septic system. I guess I'm thinking like a Californian, not Sgt Preston of the Yukon. Consequently we are parked for the night at the only game in town as the Wal Mart parking lot is full. They do have showers in the main building we can use. I wondered if we came too early, but in actuality we are right on the cusp for up in the interior, so down at lower elevations should be perfect.

Today was fantastic viewing (again). We only had 270 miles to traverse so took our time. We went through snow covered mountains, along frozen rivers, and beside many frozen lakes. The animal count was down today, at least I think it was down. We came upon a small herd of caribou, but they were back 100 yards (ok, meters here in Canada) from the road in the trees and I only managed to count a handful before we were past them. There were many more. It was like the forest was slowly moving. Plus one traffic jam for a black bear. A traffic jam up here is when there is one car pulled over taking pictures. In this case it was a tourist in a rented RV. We both laughed. Bears aren't in any shortage up here. I guess it was the first one they saw on their trip. The roads were better today and the hills less severe.

We crossed the venerable Yukon River today. One thinks of Jack London stories and the gold rushers of yesteryear. A few hundred yards from our camp is a huge sternwheel from an old riverboat.

Tomorrow we drop down to sea level and warmer temps... and thawed ground. Then wait a few days for the ferry. We'll be back in the USA so I'll have the phone turned on.
Mel & Hawkeye