A day in The Yukon

June 27, 2010
( click on pictures to enlarge)

Watson Lake to Tok, Alaska

A lot of miles across the lower edge of the Yukon. Cloudy and drizzly. Not as many mountains, but still wild country. Our motel at Watson Lake was on the Alaska Hwy a little west of town. It was tough finding a room the night before since our cells didn't work, and there was only one spot in town where I could access wifi in order to use Skype. Skype only seemed to work one way. I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. Finally I found a pay phone and spent a few quarters. When I checked in the lady said all the rooms in town were booked because of a big wedding. She didn't know who it was. She didn't have wifi because her computer was "busted".

In the morning the traffic on the Alcan was lighter than the county road in front of our house. A vehicle every half minute or so. Of course it was Sunday morning.

The fuel prices have been getting higher since Calgery. I'm running a spreadsheet with metric conversions to record the fuel ( 1 liter = .264172 gal or about 3.75 liter/gal). Fuel cost about the same when we crossed the border, but now is about $3.75 per gallon. We're getting about 20mpg.

Rain and drizzle all day, but not too bad. This is coming into Teslin, YT

We crossed paths several times with this
mid sixties wagon with South Carolina plates.

The only moose we saw was one Kernal lured up to us.
This one was as calm as if he were made of fiberglass.

Many uneventful miles to Whitehorse. A big city with a Walmart and a McDonalds.

When the Canadian dollar was worth $.70 these prices weren't too bad.
 A few more provisions and we push on.

FINALLY a real moose sighting. A cow off to the right, but gone before we could get a pic. At first impression it looks like a big horse. A couple of hours later a big Elk buck.

And a little later 2 more moose sightings. This is a cow moose with her calf next to her on the right.
They were wading in this lake about a 100 yards from the road. When we pulled up they started to leave.

I take some pictures just holding the camera out the window pointing it forward into the wind. Hence the antenna in the picture.

And a little break from all that healthy food we've been eating.












And now the push to the border. From Haines Junction, YT to Tok, AK (rhymes with oak) is about 300 miles. In that stretch there are about 3 gas stations and little else. The Alaska border is at about 200 miles.

About 9 PM Yukon time it starts to rain. It will rain steadily for the next 18 hours or so.
We get to the Alaska border at 2:56 AM Indiana time. With no real darkness and being 4 hours behind our regular schedule our biological clocks are a little screwed up. We are tired though and pull into a station to sleep a few hours (rain, rain, rain). We move on to Tok, AK by 8:30 EDT.

We now have cell and air card internet service for the first time in days.
A text to a few people. Garth wished us a happy anniversary.
It's our 35th! Imagine that!

We fuel and take another nap.
Then drag on over some of the worst roads of the trip (thanks Sarah) to Palmer, AK.
Milage: About 4075.