Whitehorse, YT to Dawson Creek (and Hyder), BC

We had all decided to leave Haines a day early, so after six nights, we packed up on Friday, July 31st and drove about 250 miles to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The border into Canada is only about 40 miles from Haines. The Canadian customs and immigration officer asked why we were leaving Haines on Friday, because we were going to miss the Southeast Alaska State Fair. The fair is a popular event in Haines and apparently all of SE Alaska and parts of the Yukon Territory.

After we arrived in Whitehorse and ran a few errands, we got together with Vince & Lisa for dinner. We all thoroughly enjoyed a nice dinner of steamed Alaskan king crab legs that we had bought several weeks ago in Valdez.

 

We said our goodbyes after dinner, as Julie and I decided to start heading back to Colorado a little earlier than we planned, to take care of a few things. Vince & Lisa are heading south down the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia to visit Jade City, Stewart, Hyder, Jasper and a few other places they want to see.

Saturday, August 1^st, we drove about 270 miles from Whitehorse to Watson Lake, YT. It was a fairly smooth ride with no road construction areas. This time in Watson Lake we stayed at Downtown RV Park. It was a convenient short walk to the nearby sign post forest, a couple of restaurants, and a grocery store.   

On Sunday we enjoyed a short drive of only 130 miles Watson Lake, YT to Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park, BC. On the way we saw three bison along the road and one black bear.

 

We stopped at Contact Creek, YT for diesel fuel. We stopped in 2011 and fuel prices were higher than today. In 2011 diesel was $1.31.9 (Canadian) per liter. Today it was $1.14.9 per liter.

 

Although the provincial park has a nice campground, all the sites are back-in and we wanted to leave the truck attached to our motorhome. We chose to boondock in the park’s overflow camping area (huge gravel parking lot) on the other side of the Alaskan Highway. We set up, put our bathing suits on, and walked the short distance to the hot springs. We missed stopping at the park on the way through in June and it’s well worth a visit. It is the second largest hot springs in Canada.

 

Monday morning, Aug 3^rd, we drove from Liard River to Fort Nelson, BC in rain all day. We saw a herd of buffalo and several single bison who insisted on walking in the road ahead of us.

 

We anticipated several stretches of road construction and sure enough we drove on a muddy, pothole lined temporary road. Hope the people following us through the detour didn’t mind our 15mph speed going through the potholes.

 

It rained all night in Fort Nelson but we headed out to Dawson Creek, BC, Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway, where we’ll spend two nights. After driving in rain out of Fort Nelson, we finally got blue sky, sunshine, and temps in the mid-70s.

We got an email from Vince & Lisa on Monday night that they had enjoyed their stay in Hyder, AK where they saw several grizzly bears eating salmon along the creek (from a special viewing platform), a wolf about a half-mile away along the creek, and the nearby Salmon Glacier.

 

Steve & Julie Cornelius