Mile 0 and beyond

Mile 0

Dawson Creek is the official start of the Alaska Highway and the official beginning of our end.  I was lucky enough to find a thrift store in Dawson Creek and was able to buy a bread machine which I have been wanting ever since we stayed at the sheep farm and Dave feed us home made bread every morning.

The man who oversaw the campground outside of Dawson Creek directed us to the next campground on the Liard River.  The enticement there were the hot springs.  And what springs they were…a river actually, accessed by a ten minute walk over a board walk into a river that had several natural pools and man made steps into them where you could soak in very hot mineral water. The weather was slightly rainy and the air quite cool…just the way a hot springs should be.  It was WONDERFUL.  Again, since we had not had showers, and did not see the possibility of one in the near future, the hot springs were even better.

Our next stop was Whitehorse, where we decided to camp for 2 nights since we had driven for three long days and needed a break.  We passed the famous sign post park where visitors are encouraged to place town signs and apparently have been doing so for years.On the way we saw herds of wild buffalo, including one dead one on the side of the road with a roast cut out of his haunch for someone’s dinner, caribou, and goats.  We quickly learned that stopping in the middle of the Alaska highway to take a photo is NOT A GOOD IDEA.  However, stopping in Whitehorse was a good idea.  Cute town, great setting in the mountains and wonderful  activities.  Our first stop the morning after we set up camp was to approach the nearest RV park and beg for a shower which we got for $2.00 each.  Quite a bargain.  Feeling all clean and new, we went to see the a very long fish ladder which was built to help the salmon navigate past the only dam on the Yukon River.These boys and girls have travelled 1800 miles to get to this point so its nice that they get a little helping hand.

 

Then we went into Whitehorse for a tour with a costumed historian who showed us all the “old” buildings…from about 1903.  My favorite were the log cabin sky scrapers; three story log cabins built in the early 1900’s by a man who realized he could make more money building up than out. And they are still used today by three different tenants!

That evening we took a tour with a naturalist to the Great Salt Lake of Whitehorse.  What was so amusing to us was that, even though the tour had been advertised through posters planted all over town, no one seemed to know what or where the salt lake was.  However, Bruce, our guide did and we rode for about 10 miles outside of town to a funky, salt layered area that came about from salts leeching out of the rocks and being deposited in the lake that was evaporating and being covered with red sea asparagus.  And to make matters even more interesting, the area had been used for horse grazing and was littered with old horse bones, as well as fresh bear paw prints and digs, elk poop, giant ant hills and a toad.  We walked for about 2.5 hours in the area, through “quaking mud” which jiggled when we trod on it; across slumps created as the permafrost stats to melt and the land sinks, and around “boot-sucking mud”…no explanation needed. IT IS FALL HERE!

We also saw the world's largest weather vane.  The story goes that the propellers used to turn until an unsuspecting visitor was driving by in a wind and saw the propellers turning and thought th plane was about to take off and crash into him, which caused the driver to crash.  So the propellers are now welded shut and do not spin.  But the big plane, a DC-3 does swing in the wind.

  All in all, great diversion from the Alaska Highway.

Another day of driving got us to the western edge of the Yukon. Did you know that this territory is bigger than Montana, Wyoming and part of Colorado and has less than 30,000 people, most of who live in Whitehorse.  Whew. Pottstown, PA has 30,000 people.

And now we are in Alaska, having passed through Tok into the great Wrangell St. Elias National Park which is bigger than Connecticut, Mass. and Rhode Island combined and has only two roads; one 60  miles long and the one we are camping on which is 40 miles long.  The roads are dirty and gravelly and have wrecked havoc on our car. We also got our first stone chip on our front window.  Boo!We finally saw a moose (mother and yearling) on the way today. And our luck has held out…it rained all the way to the park and half way to the spot where we are camped.   Here I am writing this very post. And now, even though it is quite cold (about 41 degrees at 9 pm) the sun is shining brightly in the sky (at 9 pm) and the mountains are glowing pink.  Here is the view from our campsite.   What a place.

Today, August 25 wwe are spending in Anchorage and tomorrow we go to the giant Alaska StateFair in Palmer and will end the evening listening to Ralph Stnley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.  Quite fitting to both begin and end our journey with music.

Looking forward to arriving in Homer on Thursday to see Dylan without his beard in his new house, and to start making friends with Fred who will be our new dog in Alaska.  He’s Dylan’s second dog now and his knapsack is packed and he is ready for the move to Fairbanks.