After the glories of Denali Highway, we headed south on the Richardson Highway to the Tok Cutoff and were blessed with clear views of the Wrangell Mountains. Stunning against the brilliant blue sky. We declared camp at the Gulkana River boat ramp and had a good night in spite of the proximity to the road.
The Tok Cutoff was 125 miles of incredible foliage and frost-heaves on the road. Many of the “services” along this road have already closed for the season. We enjoyed the scenery and were happy to reach Tok, where we stocked up on diesel and DEF and sighed our farewell to Alaska. With 3,500 miles to go, we are now truly on the way home.
You hear so much about the challenges of building the Alaskan Highway (also known as the AlCan) and right away we witnessed what permafrost can do to a road. While the speed limit is 65 mph we were not able to even get close to that. So, our traverse to Whitehorse was going to take longer than anticipated. Turns out, this is a good thing.
We finally made camp at Lake Creek Campground in Yukon Territory and were all happy to pull into a level creekside site with enough daylight to walk Maddie and get our bearings. We were running late in putting dinner on the table and taking showers but we still needed/wanted to unwind with a movie. We watched the latest Denzel Washington movie just released on AppleTV and were startled to look up and see that it was well after 1am when it was finally over. We usually give Maddie one more chance to pee before we head to bed and wow, in spite of a full moon, the northern lights were starting to dance. It was the most spectacular light show. So viscerally moving. I was struck by how full my heart felt. Amazing!
The drive to Whitehorse took us around Kluane Lake which is the largest lake contained entirely within the Yukon (which is saying something as there are so many lakes and many of them large) at 158 square miles. Until 2016, Kluane lake was fed by meltwater from the Kaskawalsh Glacier. It is reported that over a period of 4 days in May 2016, the voluminous glacial meltwaters were diverted from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, which means no more water for Kluane Lake. The lake is changing to an isolated basin and is receding. Sand dunes have started to appear in the dusty flats surrounding the sides of the lake. Climate change? It gave us pause.
We soon found a pull out that offered us a much needed stop and brief hike. The trail was an interesting and informative, though short, interpretive trail where we learned all about the spruce beetle.
We hit the IGA to pick up our favorite sprouted bread in Whitehorse and headed down the road to Marsh Lake. We had a lovely campsite near the lake and once again loved our time on the beach.
Next stop was Watson Lake and a stop at the Sign Post Forest to post our sign. We had stopped by the Sign Post Forest on our way North in June, so we’ve had some time to figure out what we were going to post. We used a cutting board that was ready for a new job, acrylic paints that we purchased in Kenai at a fancy new Walmart, designed it in Procreate, Dan drew the outline of the Mothership and I painted it, Maddie picked out the spot (notice the height) and Dan mounted it while Maddie supervised. We missed a paddle boarding opportunity the next morning and vowed we would not pass others up.
Heading south we stopped at the Liard River to have a walk/hike with Maddie along the river bank before visiting Liard River Hot Springs again. The hike was quickly abandoned when we examined all the cool tracks on the embankment of the river.
After our relaxing dunk in the hot springs, we headed south to Muncho Lake Provincial Park where we got a great campsite at their Strawberry Fields Campground. The squirrels were a great distraction for Maddie while we set up camp and Dan blew up our paddle boards. Late as it was, we left the paddling for the morning.
We got on the road after a brisk, refreshing paddle across Muncho Lake and back. It was a good day to be on the road in BC — we saw a few caribou and several black bears along the highway. The lakes in BC are beautiful and we joke that we could paddle from one to the next all the way home.
We made it south of Fort Nelson, and then almost to Fort St. John where we decided to leave the Alaskan Highway and cut across to Prince George via Highway 29 and Highway 97. We were hoping to avoid some of the smoke from forest fires across BC. It has been a beautiful drive, while the foliage is not as exciting, the forested wild land has morphed into farmland with the lush Peace River Valley opening before us. We enjoyed a quick rest stop at Moberly Lake and the home of the chainsaw carving championships in Chetwynd.
We don’t want this to become a full on sprint for home, even though we all are kind of “smelling the barn.” The warm temps and serene lakes are call to us so we quickly found Tundya Lake Provincial Park and made camp where we could also paddleboard.
Next destination is Kelowna Area but we know we will have a stop along the way.
