Crossed over into the YT this morning after free camping on a lake in northern BC. Great spot shared with a couple from Vermont in a bad ass original Land Rover. In original I mean a first generation rig from the 50’s. He told me but I can remember exactly what year. They had it decked out with a roof top tent and solar – super cool way to travel. As it is an original the suspension is rough so they slow travel at around 100-150 miles a day. Nice chatting with them until it got dark enough to go to bed around midnight.
So I need to back up a bit to where I left off on my last post. I woke up Sunday morning at the B&B Austria House in Stewart after a terrible nights sleep. No idea why because the room, bed, everything was great. I was planning to return to the Salmon Glacier if the promised sunny day arrived, but it was not to be. The sky was dark with low hanging clouds hugging the mountainsides. So I packed up and headed back out to the Cassiar continuing north.
The day started with low threatening clouds but blossomed into the best day yet as far as weather goes. The Cassiar north of 37A was beautiful and I made pretty good time running up to Bell II where I stopped for gas and a sandwich. I chatted with a guy from North Carolina on a 1200GS that had just come down from his trip to Prudhoe Bay and he was able to give me some good beta on his trip. As I was starting to leave, Lee pulls up so we end up riding together to Dease Lake. This is where I wanted to stop for the day so I could make the ride into Telegraph Creek in the morning – a 75 mile ride on a dirt road boasting 20% grades.
We hadn’t figured out a place to camp quite yet but grabbed some dinner at a pizza place at the Northway Motor Inn. The guy from North Carolina stayed there the night before and said the pizza was pretty good. We struck up a conversation with a local guy and his wife and it turns out he is the facilities manager at the local college and offered tent space on the grass behind school. The only other camping option in town was at an RV pack so a nice quiet spot behind the school sounded appealing – and free! As we were finishing eating, Joe who we had met the night before in Stewart appeared. Funny how everyone keeps leap frogging on the way up. Anyway, Joe was planning to go to Telegraph Creek as well so we made plans to meet up for 9:00am start. Lee would not be joining us as he had been there a few times before and wanted to stay on his schedule.
The camp spot at the college was great – freshly cut grass behind the buildings blocking the road noise a bit. Not that there is much traffic on the Cassier – especially at night where it is a bit dangerous to drive with all the animals out and about. The overnight temps were in the high 40’s testing the limits of my camping gear. I have a 35 degree bag and my sleeping pad is not insulated. I was a bit cold and didn’t sleep all that great. Adding to the cold, the sun doesn’t set until late and come back up at 4am.
I met up with Joe at 9am as arranged and we took off to Telegraph Creek. It was an absolute amazing morning with clear blue skies with no clouds in sight. The road started out very smooth with a firm calcium chloride base – great when dry but super greasy when wet. If it were raining or had just rained I wouldn’t have made the trip. We covered the 75 miles in a couple of hours and agreed that the ride was as awesome as advertised. There were a couple of steep drops with loose rock and sand but for the most part it was manageable. We had lunch at the cafe in town and then made the return trip back arriving back to Dease Lake around 6pm. Also added a couple more black bear sightings to the tally. We grabbed some halibut sandwiches at The Shack, a little food hut near the highway junction.
While eating, we ran into a guy traveling with his two dogs by car that had come from the north and recommend a free camp spot about 250k out. About three hours later we pulled in about 10:30 pm with all the camping spots full. That’s were we ran into the couple from Vermont that invited us to share their spot. They were sleeping in the roof-top tent so there was plenty of space to set up our tents. Again it was still light out at midnight when we hit the sack. I slept better as it wasn’t as cold as the night before. Around 7:30am we packed up and were on the road by 9.
Next stop was Watson Lake which took us into the Yukon. We grabbed some breakfast at Kathy’s Kitchen and stopped by the visitors center to check on the status of the fire that had evacuated a town on our route for the day. We were told the highway was still open so all good. Next to the highway was the famous sign post forest that hosts over 80,000 signs dating back to 1942. Visitors are allowed to add their own signs so it’s and ever-growing attraction.
We ended the day just outside Carcross, YT at the Spirit Lake Lodge. We panicked as the weather was sketchy throughout the day – cold, windy and rainy – and booked a hotel about an hour from Carcross. Turns out sunny (but still cold and windy) in Carcross but I’m still glad we aren’t camping. As I’m outside typing this it is about 50 degrees and windy. I have my down jacket on but my hands are freezing. The WIFI doesn’t reach the room so I am on the patio outside the closed reception area where there is coverage. The innkeeper closes up shop around 8pm so if you don’t arrive before that you are out of luck.
Tomorrow we plan to spend the day in Skagway and take a 5:30pm ferry into Haines were we will spend the night and is billed as interesting town. My hands are now frozen and typing hurts so I’m out…
End of the road at the Stikine River…
