Alaska Trip, Into the Yukon -Watson Lake and West

 

June 18, 2018

The 323 mile stretch north and west of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, took us through the northern Canadian Rockies.  The night before reaching Watson Lake, we parked at a wayside beside the Smith River, kind of backed into the trees. Once the sun lowered and shadows lengthened, mosquitoes were everywhere! Again, we waged war with them before bedtime. We DID get some sleep – with sheets over our heads!

In the morning we escaped our mosquito haven before breakfast and found something to eat at Coal River Lodge just up the road. To get there we drove through/past a small herd of wood bison and later a couple of bears grazing near the road.

And when we arrived in Watson Lake and found an open Ace Hardware store at the edge of town, we stopped and loaded up on mosquito zappers, bug sprays, stinky coils to light and let smolder outside our door when we’re parked, and sealing tape to put around the edges of the slide-out, where Michael thinks the mosquitos are making their entry. Armed with our new weaponry, our confidence to face the northern Yukon was renewed!

What Watson Lake is famous for, besides being a welcome center to the Yukon Territory, is its Signpost Forest, a collection of 85,000 signs that has been growing since 1942. Anyone can add to the collection by stopping at the Office for a hammer and nails!

Watson Lake Signpost Forest

West of Watson Lake the Alaska Highway winds through more beautiful country with the Cassiar Mountains in British Columbia to the south and the Pelly Mountains in Yukon to the north. You can’t help but feel the vastness of the Yukon Territory as you drive these miles. Long stretched-out ascents and long, long descents down, then up and over the spruce covered hills. How many spruce trees? Countless!! Rivers run alongside the road much of the time. Coal River, Swift River, Liard River, Little Rancheria, Teslin River to name only a few. The town of Teslin is a First Nations village built on Teslin Lake – a breathtakingly beautiful setting as you approach it from higher terrain and look down on the open valley of bright blue water and dark evergreens. The newly constructed Tlingit (Klinkit) Heritage Center is in Teslin along with other Native craft outlets and a regulation curling rink. Hunting, fishing and trapping are essential livelihoods in this remote area.