Dawson Creek to Teslin
June 11, 2023
On Monday, June 8, we woke to a smoke-filled sky with light ash falling onto the camper and a red sun trying to burn through the haze. While we knew that the fires in Canada were close to us this was the first day that the weather had been affected. The smoke and ash lessened on our 280-mile drive to Fort Nelson that day, and our thoughts were with the firefighters that there might be some helpful rain.
In Fort Nelson, we toured the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, where there were vehicles, radio equipment, cabins, and an impressive display of mounted animals. We spent more time than planned just because there was so much to see. Marl Brown, who recently passed away, was a passionate collector whose varied interests and hard work made the museum possible.
On the drive west from Fort Nelson, we were surprised by a baby black bear just on the side of the road, followed in quick succession by several adults, plus a mother bear and a cub! All of them were munching on the dandelions growing roadside which we later learned is one of their favorite foods. Local Alaskans sped on by so they must be used to seeing them!
After driving 350 miles for the day, we camped at the Tetsa River Lodge. The Lodge is famous for their cinnamon rolls and we had been anticipating them all day! We split one along with delicious homemade rolls and soup.
The owner’s feisty 12-year-old dog awakened us later that night barking at a big black bear in the empty campsite between us and our neighbor. Good dog!
Friday we got more cinnamon rolls and drove to Muncho Lake. The large lake was still with its surface like a mirror, but the persistent smoke kept us from seeing the beautiful blue color everyone raves about.
We stopped to take photos and promised ourselves to return sometime when we can fully appreciate the beauty of Muncho Lake and maybe even go kayaking. At the nearby Mineral Lick trail we hiked down to see if any moose, caribou, or stone sheep were there as they often come to get the minerals they need from the hillsides.
Although we came up empty on the wildlife, we met a German couple whose truck camper had a great quote on the back – they were surprised I was able to translate it (Thank you Herr Braxton for 3 years of high school German and for those brain cells who are so happy to have been helpful). “Wenn Nicht Jetzt, Wann Dann? “ is “If Not Now, Then When?”
Later, we saw this group maybe getting their minerals roadside? Still so smoky!
Our camping spot for the night was at Liard River Hot Springs, and just before the entrance, we saw a bear and then an enormous bison.
A tall electric fence surrounds the campground to keep out the bear, bison, and moose that occasionally do manage to find a way in!
Fortunately, we got there early enough in the afternoon to secure a campsite as the campground was full by late afternoon. The hot springs are outside the wire on a boardwalk past marsh and wetlands.
Liard Hot Springs is very hot at the source but cooled off enough to soak in the middle section where we enjoyed chatting with other travelers.
Saturday was a big day with a fun destination – Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest! On our way, we first stopped at Smith River Falls
and then at Whirlpool Canyon (whirlpool to left)
The Yukon!
Bison are numerous along this section of the road and you have to watch for them.
You really have to watch for them!
We think the car ahead of us was feeding this bear? As we drove up it was standing on its hind legs at the drivers side window.
And thought we were good for a handout too? NOPE!
The Official Yukon sign
The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake takes up at least a whole “city” block now, but we found a great spot to put our Free Range Fun Hogs sign I had ordered back in Washington. It has been quite the journey to get to this point planning, working, and traveling!
We went to the Northern Lights Center Planetarium to watch a show about the aurora borealis or Northern Lights. Later we drove to the nearby Watson Lake Forest Service Campground to reserve a campsite before it filled.
On Sunday, 6/11, we drove in and out of the Yukon and British Columbia on the way to Whitehorse. It was after we left Watson Lake that the surroundings felt unexpectedly different, in a good way. The land had the look and feel of untamed wild, with big vistas where mountains in the distance still had snow chutes, and the two-lane road cut to the horizon between a forest of spruce and lodge pole pines crowded to the edges of dark swift running rivers that likely saw no human traffic. It would have been no surprise for a trapper or prospector to emerge roadside from the wilderness. The youngster in me who read every book by Jack London breathed a sign of thanks to the older me.
We then spent hours at the George Johnston Museum in Teslin.
In addition to owning the first automobile in town, George was famous for his self-taught photography. The Chevrolet he drove on the frozen Yukon as his “road” is perfectly restored and on display.
The museum also told the story of the Alaskan Highway from the perspective of the First Nations it displaced, complete with George’s photos and artifacts of the way they lived before the road came through.
Honestly, it was a little unsettling, like the Joni Mitchell song “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” The Tlingit Heritage Center nearby offered some lovely artifacts to appreciate, and we were thankful to learn that the First Nation people are experiencing a resurgence of interest in celebrating their culture.
The next stop a little further on was a display of several abandoned vehicles from the building of the Alaskan Highway, and we weren’t sure at that point how we felt about the Highway.
As the day ended, we found a private and peaceful boondocking spot on a lake where we sat in our chairs and listened to the loons while we thought about it all.
“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” – Jack London