I got to witness my first Arctic twilight. While the sun set officially at 10:19pm, twilight lasted well past midnight. There was enough detail to see across the RV park. The cloud cover perhaps helped keep some light out as I had no trouble sleeping, and the dogs seemed fine as well. They barked at a few park visitors walking past the van, but they enjoyed a break from driving. I think both , suffer from constant motion as neither has any appetite and I'm out of raw chicken. Both were spread out across the foam mattresses and I slept in the front, huddled in the sleeping bag. It stayed in the mid 40s all night.aw
My first mission for the day was to check the tire pressure on my tires. All of them were low! The recommended PSI is 36 and all were at 28 or lower.
I finally left town at 8:30am, heading north. "You'll see lots of wildlife going north!" said the female attendant. Two big rigs left the RV park with me. And the attendant was right: 20 miles west of Fort Nelson, I saw my first three black bears. Then I saw grazing elk, lots of bison, a few sauntering moose across the road, and by the end of the day a red fox galloping on a guard rail following its meal, a wolverine and some kind of cantankerous beige rodent off the road.
cI also saw the most beautiful landscape along the Alcan so far. The stretch of road west of Fort Nelson to east of Watson Lake caused me to stop a lot to get out and explore and take some photos. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative and it rained heavy in spurts, bringing in the low fog that hid the peaks. This stretch consisted of various rushing rivers, glacial slides and lush green vallies. Nature here must be brutal during the snow melt, as river banks show deep erosion, snags and rolling rocks. I would have spent more time near Muncho Lake if the weather were more cooperative. Sheep are known to live around here.
The highway gained some elevation as the route continued west, then north. Snow-capped peaks opened up, as well as more wide river vallies full of glacial rocks and snags. Here is where rock slides are common, as the cliffs jut up straight off the road. I'm sure the scenery would be more spectacular under clear skies.
The MILEPOST guide, I've discovered, does not feature all the campgrounds and cafes on the Alcan. Businesses must pay to be featured in the guide. I found a few small rest stops along the way that were barely surviving, businesses that consisted of a few small cabins and overgrown yards that perhaps are now not attractive to travelers who want luxury resorts. Not all of these are featured in the MILEPOST. I stopped at the Rocky Mountain Lodge featured in the MILEPOST because it mentioned that its Kaese Spaetzli is excellent. But when I walked in the clerk, a young man from Koblenz, Germany, told me that Spaetzli is only served for dinner. The dining area was closing up. The biker group from yesterday had just stopped in and the server was clearing away the leftovers. At 1:45pm the dining area was closed although operating hours were posted to 2pm. I had to chuckle at that as this is so typical German: close the shop early if no one walks in to avoid having to stay open past 2pm. The dining area opens again at 5pm but I didn't want to stick around to try the lodge's award-winning Spaetzli. Business otherwise for cabins, RV sites and rooms was very steady.
The drive after the Rocky Mountain Lodge traveled through mixed forests, paralled creeks and lush vallies. The fog kept me from seeing more. I was looking forward to the hotsprings and approached them in the late afternoon under a constant drizzle, but was disappointed to see a long line of RVs at the gate. Did I really want to put up with more RVs? So many RVs take over the rest stops (although I can't blame them for taking a break from paying to park). I'm conscious of the dogs and won't let them out when there are RVs nearby. But when I find an empty area, yes, I will let the dogs out to stretch out and run.
I was hungry by the time I got to the hot springs, a place I had heard so much about. But in the end the cold rain and cool temperatures in the upper 40s turned me away from the springs. Instead, I stopped at the cafe across from the hotsprings entrance and had a buffalo cheese burger and frees. This cafe was run by First Nation women. Archival photos on the wall described the history of the area. I ate what I could and gave the dogs the last 1/3 of the very juicy meat.
I made Watson Lake my destination for the night. Just before entering the town I stopped at the "Air Force Lodge" that caught my attention, but could't stay there because no pets are allowed in the building (and I wouldn't want to pay $85 anyway). The building is a small lodge with 30 rooms that was transported in parts from Washington state to help with the construction of the Alcan. The new owner, Micheal, is a German from Bremerhaven and we struck up a conversation. He said there is a very active German/Swiss community in the Yukon, and this in part attracts tourists from Germany and Switzerland. These German-Swiss came here because land is cheap and it's more remote. Several streets in town have German names. This is something I'd be interested in learning more about.
The town of Watson Lake itself did not impress me, although I can appreciate it for a small, tight-knit community. All the hotels and restaurants were on the south side of the highway. There's the Bighorn Hotel that allows pets, the A Nice Hotel (!) and a few diners. But the big attraction in Watson Lake is the Signpost Park, a park that was innocently started by a "lonely GI" who posted a sign with his hometown and mileage to that town on a post. From that first sign to Illinois is now a crowded corner park of 86,000+ signs and license plates from around the world, many from Germany. It was 9:30pm when I stopped here and still very light out. A family and their dog Molly was out romping around. Now people leave signs with their names and arrival dates to Watson Lake in the park, which somehow takes away from the original concept. I did find signs for Benson, Sahuarita, Willcox, Arizona, as well as Augsburg, Hamburg and Berlin.
The sky was still overcast as I settled in the for the night. As expected, I experienced my first true Arctic twilight being so far north. At midnight I drove to Wye lake in the center of town and could still see detail. Even the dogs were confused. At 1am I took them for a short walk down the street where I was parked and could clearly see them both. As for me, I had no trouble falling asleep as I had a long day.
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