Watson Lake

Dennis and Carol and I headed out of Liard together. We’re ultimately heading for Skagway and Dyea, and this is the first leg of the trip.

There’s a herd of buffalo in the area around Liard. Sometimes you see a whole bunch of them, and sometimes only a few here and there. This is one of the “few” times. They are impressive beasts up close!

        

The crossing from BC to the Yukon is always exciting, because the Yukon is much more wilderness-y and just feels untouched and wild. Some of the best scenery on the trip can be found there, and lots of animals. Crossing the border requires a bit of ceremony at the sign:

  

Right across the border is the town of Watson Lake, home of the famous sign post forest. It’s a hub of commerce for the Yukon (which means it has more than one gas station). The sign post thing started when a homesick serviceman put up a sign with the mileage to his home back in the lower 48, and the idea caught on. Today there are north of 80,000 signs, and travelers put up thousands more every year. Some signs are works of art, some are magic marker on a toilet seat, many are immensely entertaining! The forest is huge, so here are just a few shots to give you an idea….

     

Our sign from 2014 is looking good! As is my personal sign, updated with a sharpie.

  

Don’t have a sign ready? Use whatever comes to hand! I love the toilet tank lid… I wonder if there’s a toilet in a restaurant or gas station somewhere along the road that’s missing one….

  

The visitor’s center has a great display that shows some of the realities of building the road through untracked wilderness. Cruising along on the asphalt surface of today, it’s easy to forget just what a bitch it was to cut this road!

     

Another great attraction in Watson Lake is the Northern Lights center, which features an amazing film of the northern lights, but we all did that last time, so we pass on a re-run and head North.

After Watson Lake, it’s open road, and lots of it. The road gets rougher, and more narrow, but the experience improves, because of the amazing vistas.

     

There’s always road construction going on, and many sections have gravel spread on them, leading to dusty conditions…. Cough! I’m following Dennis. Remind me to go first next time!

  

We stop at another old roadhouse for the night. Rancheria Lodge is one of the oldest on the road, it opened in the late 40s, when tourists first started braving the then dirt road. Some of the buildings date back 60 or more years. There’s a nice little campground and a really good restaurant.

  

It’s on to Carcross tomorrow, and then down to Skagway and Dyea. See you there!