June 11 Day 25 Lake Watson, YT
***Save money, those who follow us--When you enter the Yukon, gas drops over 20 cents/liter, that's 80 cents/gallon. At Mile 590 on the Alaskan Highway, the first gas station in the Yukon at Contact Creek Lodge, had great prices.
We got up at 5:00 to get an early start, and we heard our neighbors pulling out. By 6:00 the 5 spaces on our left were vacant. When we left at 7:15, the sun was bright. I'd read that the best wildlife viewing was at dawn, so I worried that we'd started too late.
However, within 15 minutes I found a young moose prancing about on what looked like a farmer's field. Unfortunately, there was no shoulder to pull off on, so we couldn't get a picture.
A white-tailed deer skittered away when he saw us approaching. Then we saw a black bear grazing. Shivers!
It was hard to miss the herd of 7 young caribou. It was blocking the road! (Picture 1) Someone had spilled something that they were intently licking it, moving only slightly as vehicles passed them, then returning to their favorite site in the road.
There was traffic at Stone Mountain, and the one stone sheep we saw scampered away as a car went by too fast.
We gassed up at Toad River (much to our regret because we could have saved lots by waiting a few miles). We passed up their blueberry pie this time (it was delicious last time). First timers, stop and see their phenomenal hat collection, and sample something from their bakery.
We want to do new things this time so went another hour down the road to Northern Rockies Lodge at Lake Muncho. The lake is a beautiful blue-green color because of the copper in it. It reflects the surrounding forest beautifully. There are precious few turnouts around the lake, and they were occupied. It's a windy road, and level spots are rare.
I take back everything I've said about prices up here and my comments about last night's special. The placemat at the Northern Rockies Lodge Restaurant was very informative and made me appreciate the rigors of keeping a business open in this area. It was noon, and there was only one other group of 3 men in the dining room. The lodge has 45 guest rooms, cabins, and chalets, and 21 units are open year-round in the main lodge. They operate diesel powered John Deer generators to provide their electricity. This power plant consumes 8000L of diesel per month. I know they pay less, but if they paid the price we did at their pump, that would amount to $12,800 per month. Their groceries are delivered 2 x a week from Edmonton, (800+ miles away). A 50-pound bag of flour is 60% more expensive by the time it is delivered to them. In 2008, BC government imposed a carbon tax on top fo the sky-high fuel taxesl This applies to their fuel that they use in their generators. Their lodge is the only full service hotel open in this section of the Alaskan Highway. It gets as low as -40?C in the winter. They've been here for 32 years, having immigrated from Switzerland. The owner is a bush pilot, who makes most of his money on flightseeing tours and taking fishermen on backcountry fky-in fishing trips in Nahanni National Park.
They saved money for 5 years by working in the Northwestern Territories, where it's even colder. They bought this lodge/restaurant and then built the new lodge and RV operation. They have 2 sons who attended their first years of school in Toad River, but driving 40 MILES TO AND FROM SCHOOL DAILY (80 miles total) was too far. How many of us would do this for years??? Even in sunny weather, that is a long way! They sent them to high school in Vancouver. These owners are amazing people.
As we looked out at the lake, watching the tiny squirrels scampering around and the barn swallows flying, I enjoyed a schnitzelburger, and Dean opted for the standard burger. Both were good, as was the hot coffee. We never have dessert at lunch, but we both wanted to help support their enterprise. By the time we left, another threesome and a couple had come in. Our waitress was a university film student from Vancouver, and she was very attentive and shared her story with us. We lingered and relaxed. It was expensive, $55, but worth every penny. We could have done the burgers and a drink for just over $30.
We weren't back on the road long before we came across a bachelor bison, and a few miles further we saw a herd of 21 bison taking an afternoon siesta. (Picture 2) The little orange-brown blob in the center is a baby bison (all 4 of them were in the same zonked pose).
We got more views of black bears and caribou, but no chance for photos.
A truck flashed his lights at us, which at home means that there's a cop or speed trap ahead. We were legal, but we slowed anyway. Sauntering along a narrow strip of grass at the side of the highway was a buffalo, heading for construction just 1 km ahead. I wonder what happened when he got there.
Then we came upon 3 bachelor bison who were grazing within a few feet of the road, and it had a shoulder to pull off on. (Picture 3) I don't know who enjoyed it more--us or our cat, whose nose was wiggling trying to get their scent, which was even more difficult because his nose was pressed against the screen. His ears were rotating because we were so close we could hear them eating.
Roads today were bumpy, a few 10-minute waits at construction sites, well-marked frostheaves. If it says "Slow", it means it's higher, flags mean it's there but minimal. However, we are 2 blocks later than in '09, and the worst of these frostheaves are only 20% of what they were when we came across a bad one that wasn't marked and we launched our cat, who was riding on the dashboard. He almost hit the ceiling, came back down on the dash, but then we hit a second one, launching him again, and this time he landed on the floor. If looks could kill, Dean would be dead. Sherlock then went under my chair and stayed there until we were hooked up in camp.
One longer stretch had lots of dust clouds as we followed their pilot car. The others were just one-way traffic that we had to wait for. Kudos to the BC and Yukon Highway Departments. They have done a wonderful job.
Weather today was beautiful--probably low 70's with lots of sun and no rain! Days like this are why we came up here. It defies description that does it justice. We are truly in God's Country!
Total Wildlife Count: 29 bison, 5 black bear, 1 stone sheep, 1 white-tailed deer, 1 moose, 9 caribou
Staying at Baby Nugget--50 amps, water, dump, long space (enough to put the Jeep in back or front), all dirt and gravel, has a restaurant and bakery and gift shop with carvings $50
