Day 74 – June 16

Having paid for an hour rental for a canoe the night before, Diane and I were up at 6:15, packed up and on the lake by 7:00. The mist was rising off the lake as we set out and the lake was flat calm. Unlike the night before where there were several fish jumping, there were few signs of any fishy activity as Diane paddled me around the lake. Have I mentioned lately that I have a great wife?

A beautiful morning on Boya Lake

No such thing as a bad day’s fishing

We were on the road before 9:00 and following a sighting of a young black bear along the road we crossed over in to the Yukon before 10:00. The road signs read Yukon – Bigger Than Life. Not having had breakfast yet we pulled over at the Nugget City restaurant, a spot mentioned in Jane and Ike’s blog. For $5 we got wifi and while we ate a full breakfast we caught up on emails and I posted up to date. We were back on the road before noon. Still no word from Jane and Ike who are having the same wifi access issues as us and I fear they are on their way to Fort St John to meet Graeme and Alex. Sean and Carla have been posting regularly to the blog and are now in the warp drive segment of their trip, burning a path home.

The Alaska Highway pays no respect to straight line borders and at Swift River we passed back into BC only to return to the Yukon at the Morley River. We drove along the the very long and narrow Teslin Lake and as the highway was in good condition, sometimes the gravelled sections were in better shape than the paved section, we felt that without too many stops Whitehorse was an achievable destination. All along the road we kept an eye out for Jane and Ike in the LRT and in places where we stopped, parked close to the highway so as to be visible.

Based on Jane and Ike’s blog it looked like the Hi Country RV Park, just outside the Whitehorse downtown would be a good spot to set up camp. Conveniently located on the Alaska Highway just west of the downtown we found it without any problem and rolled in at about 4:30. This is a very popular spot, offering full services including wifi and cable TV and we were fortunate enough to get the last full service site. As there was a great signal at the office we sat there for a few moments to FaceTime Laurel and Ian as it was Father’s Day and the whole family would be there.

Just as we were about to connect I happened to look in my rear view mirror and what did I see driving in behind us but the LRT and Jane and Ike walking towards us. A few heads turned at our vocal greetings and hugs. The LRT had made reservations for their return trip on their way through earlier in the month. Although it had been less than three weeks since we saw them, it felt longer and we were very happy to see their faces.

They had made arrangements to go to a new local restaurant, the Wheelhouse, with friends that evening but a few quick calls saw the reservations changed and we scurried to get presentable. After a string of dry camping sites with no showers the clean hot showers of Hi Country felt luxurious.

We had a very pleasant and laugh filled dinner with their friends before returning under very bright skies to the campground at around 11:00. It would be very easy to develop sleep deprivation in this climate as you tried to jam so much of the beautiful summer weather into your schedule, especially after a long dark cold winter. As we felt the last time we visited here, we could spend a lot of time here and based on Jane and Ike’s reviews of Alaska, an even more spectacular destination awaits us.