Haines Junction to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Leslie Friday, September 5, 2008

We left Destruction Bay around 10:00 this morning. As we passed Cottonwood we saw that they had already closed for the season. We continued along the Alaska Hwy to ward Haines Junction. Along the way we had to wait for a pilot car to transit construction sites. The day was not as long as yesterday and at Haines Junction there was a RV park that appeared nicer than the limited options we had seen to date.

I again tried to get a picture of the monument to the local animals that sits at the intersection.



There are signs along the side of the road that say, “no stopping” so I took this picture from the truck window.

We stopped at a small rest area for lunch and saw this old bridge.





The bridge was originally built in 1920 and reconstructed in 1942 by the US Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Alaska Highway construction. The sign nearby says that the bridge does not meet current highway standards!

We drove in to Whitehorse to the downtown visitor’s center. We don’t have any cell phone service and have been told that we won’t get it back until somewhere in British Columbia. Since so many campgrounds are closed, I wanted to go to the visitor’s center to use a phone before we tried to find a campground. The visitor’s center has free, reserved parking for RVs. What a nice touch! I had selected a place about 10 miles south of Whitehorse, Caribou RV Park, and when I called they confirmed that they are still open. From the visitor’s center we walked to the city tourist office to pick up a free 3 day parking pass. Whitehorse does like visitors.

Caribou RV Park is a nicely wooded park just off the Alaska Highway. They have a log cabin with a wood stove that is available for games and such. There is a large tenting area so I’m sure the tenters appreciate the log cabin when it rains for days. They also have a dishwashing facility for the tenters, complete with a double sink and dishwashing supplies. For us, the special treat is the restaurant next door. The Wolf Den Restaurant specializes in German and Swiss cuisine. We decided to visit the Wolf Den for dinner on Friday night. We both ordered goulash soup and the jagersnitzel with spatzel. The dinner prices were a welcome relief from Alaska. Many years ago when we skied in Europe every day we would stop for lunch at a mountain-side hut and order goulash soupa. Every since we order it every time we find it on a menu. It is the perfect cold weather dish. I’ve tried making it myself but it never comes out the same.

Around 1:00 am Robert went outside to look for the northern lights. He reported that we could see them to the north. I grabbed my hat and light down jacket. We walked away from the lights in the center of the campground to a dark area near the entrance. While we stood there (very chilly) we were able to see the blue-green lights behind the clouds. Occasionally we saw streaks of blue-green shooting above the clouds. While the sight wasn’t as good as we had seen in Fairbanks a few days ago, it was nice to get a repeat performance. I must tell you that standing there for an hour is quite cold – I cannot imagine how people do it when the temperature is 50 degrees below zero.

Here's Whitehorse map.

http://www.mapquest.com/mq/9-LSsU0s7q

Made It to Whitehorse

Robert, Friday, September 5

We continued on to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories today. The road was much better than yesterday. We passed the campground where we wanted to stay and it was indeed closed. On the way we went through Haines Junction. This is where we joined the Alaska Highway after we left the ferry in Haines. So at Haines Junction we had completed a loop. From there on we were on road we had not driven before. The road onto Whitehorse was pretty good, at least when comparing it to the road from the border to Haines Junction. We stopped at a campground about 10 miles past Whitehorse. Reading campground reviews, this seemed like the pick of litter. It is actually a nice place. It would not be as nice if it were filled but it is almost empty so we don’t have someone immediately on either side. One of the features of this campground is that there is a restaurant with Swiss and German dishes. We ate there and it was pretty good. We both had pork Jaegerschnitzle, spaetzl and goulash soup. If you don’t know what these are do a search on the web. It was great. After we got back to the trailer, we sat for a while. I went out to look for the northern lights. To the north there were clouds and the lights were behind the clouds so it wasn’t a great display but they were there. I came back in, got Leslie, and we both shivered in the cold watching them. Occasionally there would be a streak of them well above the clouds. And as we watched the clouds were gradually going away. I finally was too cold so we called it a night. The temperatures at night have been getting down below 40 degrees so it is pretty cold just standing outside in that. Fortunately, the wind is still or it would be really cold.