Alaska #2: Willam's Lake, BC to Yukon and Alaska
News, Photography ·Wednesday August 20, 2008 @ 23:47 EDT (link)
20080818: (William's Lake, BC to Charlie Lake, BC: 424 miles.) Up at 0730, had breakfast with Alan and Shirley, leaving at 0903, heading east on H-20 back to H-97N. We got to Prince George at 1240, stopping for lunch and gas and to call our agent, heading on at 1500. Here we hit our first construction delay, fortunately only 5 minutes. Stopped briefly in Chetwynd to get some soft drinks for the cooler; there we turned north on H-29, meeting back at H-97 (now the Alaska Highway; it starts in Dawson Creek, which we visited on the way back) at Charlie Lake. We went south a little way on H-97 to go into Fort St. John for gas, stopping for about half an hour (1825-1855) at their info center to ssh to my server, check email, and look at campgrounds. We decided to camp at Charlie Lake Provincial Park campground (arriving 1058, site #37); the rates were reasonable and the sites were clean, although they were gravel and not dirt, and a little exposed. Our stove fuel ran out, but we were done cooking for the night so we planned to pick up a refill when we could.
20080819: (Charlie Lake, BC to Watson Lake, YT: 547 miles.) Up 0800, packing and getting breakfast (generally cold cereal and hot drinks: tea or coffee). 62°F in the morning, going down to 47°F at 1150 near Buckinghorse River; 1244 drove through Prophet River, looking for fuel and not finding any. Fortunately we tried to keep at or above half a tank, since we expected fuel stations to frequently be few and far between on the Alaska Highway. 1322-1328, construction wait (56°F) and escorted by our first pilot car (no good reason; it wasn't dusty or difficult); 1345-1347, another wait. Gas at 1400 in Fort Nelson ($1.529/L, or $5.79/gal.), and we stopped for lunch at Subway and at the info center, heading on at 1450. Stopped at a scenic overlook 1536-1541; more construction 1622-1628, 1710-1713 (and pilot car); stopped at 1849 in Liard River for gas, heading on at 1905. We saw several moose and buffalo off to the side of this section of the highway. We reached Watson Lake at 2102, stopped for gas again at 2131, looked for hotels, didn't find any, and decided to drive on to Whitehorse through the night.
20080820: (Watson Lake, YT to Deadman's Lake, AK: 600 miles.) At 0148 we entered Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon: color us unimpressed. We searched, but there was no room at the inns, except for the "Family Inn" on 4th, which was overpriced and marginal at best (I'd have certainly felt better if Canada had thought to include a right to keep and bear arms in their constitution). We took a room at 0236; full rate even though we had to be out by 1100. We stayed up until the deadline, too, sleeping until 1000 and then showering etc. and calling our agent from the lobby pay phone (we'd promised to check in daily, not that it ended up doing any good).
We also had to call our bank: they were sporadically denying my debit card, since it was being used so far from where we lived: they did fix it for us, after getting a raft of personal identifying information. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that: on the one hand, it's good if it does put an early stop to use of stolen cards; on the other hand, it does nothing if the card is used in the area in which it's stolen. If we have to tell our bank when and where we're going on vacation, it's a privacy violation. Unfortunately I don't think it's possible to opt out of this "protection"; if one could, then it would be acceptable; otherwise, it's a bit looming and Big Brother.
We left Tim Horton's in Whitehorse at 1124, got gas, and headed on, sleeping briefly at a rest area. At 1330-1350 we walked the "Spruce Beetle Trail" at the same rest area, and learned why so many of the trees were brown and dead-looking. More construction with a pilot car at 1449; gas. We started running into frost heaves, or hillocks in the road caused by underground frost, at 1630. They didn't impact driving too much. More construction 1734, got gas in Beaver Creek at 1828, and got out our passports. We stopped at the Alaska sign and border flags and monument 1854-1859; pretty dull day for pictures (got some on the way back).
At Alaska customs 1901; waited in line about 15 minutes, then told we had to dump our firewood (we'd bought more than we needed at Charlie Lake) in Canada; done that at 1920, no problems crossing after that, despite most of my documents being at the U.S. passport office. Stopped in at the first info center (for Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, which we were driving through) at 1937, but it was closed. Various stops for pictures culminated in picking a campsite at Deadman's Lake, a free campground on the Refuge, at 2035. Little bit of rain, but not too much for cooking; met a nice couple from Fairbanks, which might have been what convinced me to change our plans to go there instead of Anchorage (also, Anchorage was a fair bit farther). Slept 0004, up 0800 (Alaska time, as are all times until we leave the state).
20080819: (Charlie Lake, BC to Watson Lake, YT: 547 miles.) Up 0800, packing and getting breakfast (generally cold cereal and hot drinks: tea or coffee). 62°F in the morning, going down to 47°F at 1150 near Buckinghorse River; 1244 drove through Prophet River, looking for fuel and not finding any. Fortunately we tried to keep at or above half a tank, since we expected fuel stations to frequently be few and far between on the Alaska Highway. 1322-1328, construction wait (56°F) and escorted by our first pilot car (no good reason; it wasn't dusty or difficult); 1345-1347, another wait. Gas at 1400 in Fort Nelson ($1.529/L, or $5.79/gal.), and we stopped for lunch at Subway and at the info center, heading on at 1450. Stopped at a scenic overlook 1536-1541; more construction 1622-1628, 1710-1713 (and pilot car); stopped at 1849 in Liard River for gas, heading on at 1905. We saw several moose and buffalo off to the side of this section of the highway. We reached Watson Lake at 2102, stopped for gas again at 2131, looked for hotels, didn't find any, and decided to drive on to Whitehorse through the night.
20080820: (Watson Lake, YT to Deadman's Lake, AK: 600 miles.) At 0148 we entered Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon: color us unimpressed. We searched, but there was no room at the inns, except for the "Family Inn" on 4th, which was overpriced and marginal at best (I'd have certainly felt better if Canada had thought to include a right to keep and bear arms in their constitution). We took a room at 0236; full rate even though we had to be out by 1100. We stayed up until the deadline, too, sleeping until 1000 and then showering etc. and calling our agent from the lobby pay phone (we'd promised to check in daily, not that it ended up doing any good).
We left Tim Horton's in Whitehorse at 1124, got gas, and headed on, sleeping briefly at a rest area. At 1330-1350 we walked the "Spruce Beetle Trail" at the same rest area, and learned why so many of the trees were brown and dead-looking. More construction with a pilot car at 1449; gas. We started running into frost heaves, or hillocks in the road caused by underground frost, at 1630. They didn't impact driving too much. More construction 1734, got gas in Beaver Creek at 1828, and got out our passports. We stopped at the Alaska sign and border flags and monument 1854-1859; pretty dull day for pictures (got some on the way back).