Back into Canada

When we reached Tok, we checked e-mail, and then went on the internet to start writing our next travel episode. The browser locked up shortly after we began, and then we couldn’t reestablish a contact with the internet. We tried our Verizon air card, the RV Park’s wi-fi and also their DSL service. Nothing worked to get us back on the internet. “Damn”, I said, believing that something had to be wrong with the computer. Debbie kept a positive attitude and said there was something wrong with all of the connections we had tried.


We left Tok on Tuesday, heading back into Canada. We stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, a 730,000 acre refuge. The many lakes, ponds, marshes and rivers make it a migration stop for about 47 species of birds and a nesting habitat for 143 other species. It is also home to many species of mammals, including bear, moose, caribou, beaver and others. We stopped early at Lake Creek Government Campground. It’s right along Lake Creek, and has large campsites, as well as free firewood. We, of course, soon built a roaring fire that kept us warm & comfy until bedtime.

The next day we traveled about 80 miles to Kluane Lake, the largest in the Yukon. We camped for the night at another government campground, Congdon Creek, which is on the shore of Kluane Lake. More free wood! Another great campground at a very reasonable price - $12 per night. For dinner, we deep-fried some of the halibut we’ve been carrying since Homer. Yummm! It started to rain that afternoon, so we put an umbrella on the picnic table and cooked and ate in relative comfort. It rained all night, and it was cold! It was 46 degrees inside the coach when we got up, but the trusty furnace made it comfortable in short order. We mistakenly left our paper towel holder on the picnic bench all night, and in the morning we found that a red squirrel had taken part of the roll for bedding.


On Thursday we headed into Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We’d been here for a couple of nights on the way into Alaska, and we wanted to stay here again. We stopped at a Canadian National Park Visitor Center at Sheep Mountain. They have a lot of interesting exhibits, and a viewing platform for observing Dall Sheep on the surrounding mountains. We thought we’d spotted one, but on closer examination, it was a patch of snow. Our next stop was Haines Junction, where a side road leads 150 miles to Haines. We’ll see Haines when we travel by ferry from Skagway in about a week.

In Haines Junction we stopped at the Village Bakery for some sweet & savory breads. Across the street is the Kluane National Park Visitor Center (or “Centre” in Canadian) to see their displays. Kluane is part of a World Heritage Park, along with three adjoining parks in Alaska and another in British Columbia.

Continuing down the road toward Whitehorse, we came upon an old log bridge over Canyon Creek. The original bridge was built in 1920, then reconstructed by the US Army in 1942 as part of the Al-Can highway project. It’s in need of some reconstruction, so no one is allowed to walk on it.

We reached Whitehorse in the early afternoon, and settled into campsites in the same RV Park we stayed in earlier. For dinner, we returned to the Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ which we had enjoyed earlier. The food was just as good, and we stuffed ourselves.

More on our Whitehorse adventure later.