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June 6, 2017

Before we left Watson Lake, we stopped so I could buy a fishing license. Today’s drive was pretty through some more mountain passes (but not like the Rockies we had envisioned). We stopped along the way and had a small hike out to a waterfall. It was an easy walk, and we met some others along the way that were from eastern USA. We had a chance to compare notes – they are going to be gone about the same amount of time as we are, but they will be moving faster through the next week as their reservations in Denali are about June 12th.

Finally, we stopped for the night in another small Yukon government park. We were a bit later stopping, so not as much choice in sites, but we managed to find a nice one that we could see the lake from, even though we were quite high up.

After supper, we gathered up the fishing gear and headed down to the river. We met some men from Germany who had been out quite a while. They told us they had caught a pike from shore.

My luck wasn’t so good – just lots of casting practice. It was a rocky beach and Paul gathered up some pebbles while I fished. Another campfire (Firewood is free in Yukon government parks!) and still not much for bugs. It’s also strange now because we are starting to see a lot of light late into the night – at 11 pm it is still light.

Next up – arrival at Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon.

June 5, 2017

We left Liard Hot Springs, headed for Watson Lake. The roads thus far have been paved and relatively uneventful, but today we ended up with some construction and gravel and the dust was something else! At times, the visibility can be like you are in a snowstorm! Fortunately we don’t have to drive all the time like this.

Today was also the day for more wildlife. We saw a couple of bison soon after we were on the road today as well as a fox and moose. The weather was nice for driving, a bit on the cooler side, but pleasant to be out in.

We arrived in the Yukon just before noon – we’ll drive in and out a few times before we stay in it bound for Alaska. We made our stop in Watson Lake just after lunch. This campground is what is common up here for campgrounds – a gravel lot beside a gas station. If not a gas station, they will be beside a motel. This one has a large, modern store as well as a nice laundromat so we’ll take advantage of being here early to do a few loads of wash. Won’t be hanging it out to dry though with all the vehicles driving through the gravel…

We walked over to the Sign Post Forest with a sign we had brought along.

At present count, there are over 80,000 signs from all over the world. Some are just city signs, while others have the names and places where people have come from. They are creative – written on whatever people had with them if they hadn’t planned on bringing something. – toilet seat, dishpan, tin plates to name a few we saw.

Next up, more lakes.. and first fishing attempt!