I left the hotel at about 7:20 am and went to gas up before setting out as there was only one gas station in Dease Lake and the next one was in Nugget City in the Yukon, 147 miles away (see 1:55 in video #1 for a later road sign warning of this). Quite, quite different from gas availability in the great Houston area in Texas, where we used to live. Gas was available at most major road intersections, and it wasn’t unusual to have your choice of no less than four gas stations – one on each corner. Perhaps the fact that 30% of all gasoline produced in the US is refined in the Houston/Baytown area?
I must have still been half asleep because as you can see in the start of video #1, despite the gas station being right next door to the hotel I managed to drive right past it!
There were many warning signs along BC 37 that chains/snow tires were mandatory between April and October. With heavy fines or even impounding of vehicle for those who claim lordship over the winter elements. My dear Subie not only has M & S tires, but a super traction control system which I put to the test on the hills and mountains behind home during the heavy snow and low temperatures last winter. Having spent many years living in and around the Alps/Jura I have a healthy respect for careful driving in such conditions.
The trees were the same for much of the morning… a mix of conifers and non-evergreens which were much smaller than the trees on much of Vancouver Island (anyone been to Cathedral Grove on BC 4? Well worth a visit).
In video #1 (3:04) I mention a “huge lake” but what I didn’t realise was that it was still Dease Lake. The “town” of Dease Lake is actually South of the lake, which is 24 miles long from South to North.
By now I was beginning to understand what “remote” really meant. Road junctions were few and far between (I omit logging tracks), traffic lights rarer than hen’s teeth and another vehicle or two every 100 miles. No wonder there wasn’t a gas station on every corner – not enough corners and not enough people needing gas! Yet the roads were wide and relatively well kept (remember I said this when we get to the Dempster Highway!!!).
The forest changed again, this time into straight medium height trees with a light green foliage lined up like a guard of honor – you can see this against the backdrop of the next mountain range at 5:26 in vide #1. At this point the combination of climbing and being much further North meant that although the road was clear, there was much more snow in the surrounding area and you can see the banks of snow from when the road was ploughed.
At the start of video #2 you can see that I saw a man apparently tinkering with his engine, so I turned around and went back to see if he needed any help. In my first year in Geneva in 1989 I had spun off the road into a ditch just half a mile from the garage I was on my way to in order to get fitted with “pneus contact” or snow tires in English. I believe that this French expression came from the Continental Contact brand of winter tires – the name then becoming part of the language. Since then I have often stopped to see if a motorist needed help.
Well, it turned out that the reason this guy was bending down in front of his vehicle was to finish cooking his fried breakfast that he was rustling up for himself and his dog! He gave me the standard thumbs up so I waved and drove on. Perhaps this action on my part had something to do with later events on this journey…….
Early in video #2 I drive past Good Hope Lake…. I thought it was pleasant enough and reasonable large at 2.4 miles end to end. Little did I realise that in the great scheme of things for lakes in this area, Good Hope almost didn’t register. Teslin Lake, which I would drive past just before getting into Whitehorse, is 69 miles end to end in a straight line.
22 years of living in Texas taught me everything is bigger in Texas…. Well maybe, just maybe… somethings are actually bigger around here 😊
At 1:37 in video #2 I noticed that the mountains had gone, and I appeared to be on some sort of plateau. I was descending on to a long plateau out of the Cassiar mountain range, which would last all the way to Junction 37 where BC 37 ends at the Alaska Highway, which I would be taking to Whitehorse. This highway would actually take me back into the Cassiar range, on to another plateau and along Lake Teslin before getting to Whitehorse.
When folks ask me what Vancouver Island looks like I usually tell them that there are lakes, forests, mountains, lakes, forests, mountains, lakes, forest, mountains……. and of course, the Pacific Ocean. What I learned already on this journey so far is that in Central BC and the Yukon there are lakes, forests, mountains, lakes, forest, mountains……. minus the ocean. I should point out that when you get further North into the McKenzie Delta the forest disappears and is replaced by tundra. What I had not appreciated at all was yes… there are lakes, forest and mountains but how much variation I would see within that environment. And the wildlife was still to come!
On this leg I saw a huge red fox – by far the largest fox I have ever seen. All of the “red” foxes I have seen in my life have been more brown than red but this one was a bright deep red, the same red you will see in the standard color set in Windows. I have no idea why foxes in this area are such a bright red – it can’t be for camouflage outside of autumn?
At this point the vegetation was really puzzling… a mix of conifers and silver trees not more than 6 – 8 feet high, and they went on for miles and miles. I was staring at it for many miles before I noticed some darker patches of ground, at which point I concluded that this large area of mixed smaller trees was the result of a wildfire in the past. This was no small fire patch, it went on for almost 100 miles to the BC/Yukon border.
I crossed into the Yukon and then at Junction 37, where BC 37 ends at the Alaska Highway, I passed a sign informing me that I was now in Watson Lake (video #2 5:52). Good, I thought, I can gas up and get some lunch. I turned left to head West to the services indicated on a sign the Nugget City Services.
Well, there was a restaurant called the Wolf it Down at this service station, a very nice looking one from the outside, but I can’t tell you if it was nice on the inside because I never got inside and nor did I get to “wolf it down” either – it was closed for the season! It seemed that the Remote Country Gods had decreed that I should not eat lunches on my journey.
The gas pump had a credit card machine, but the instructions were almost invisible. I was getting a little frustrated when this guy appears from nowhere and offer to help me get some gas – which he promptly did. This may be surprising to some but remember, we were in Canada and he was Canadian – IMHO some of the most helpful folks on the planet (by way of full disclosure I am also Canadian 😊).
You can see this service station, the Wolf it Down and the kind guy’s RV at the start of video #3.
While the gas was pumping, I casually mentioned that I had had no breakfast that day – not even a cup of coffee. “I have coffee if you would like some, do you have a cup?”. I fetched a cup form the Subie and followed him round the side of the restaurant and there was an RV that he lived in. He asked what I wanted in my coffee, filled my cup and after I thanked him sincerely, I was back in the Subie and on my way. Thank you sir!
Cars were still rarer than hen’s teeth and I also noticed that the road seemed to be getting more bumpy, not what you’d expect on the Alaska Highway and a sign of what was to come. The mountains you can see at 2:01 in video #3 is the Cassiar range that I exited much further South. Now we had to go through them again to get to Teslin Lake. There’s a stunning view of this range at 3:15 when the road goes back into BC for about 45 miles before re-entering the Yukon.
At 5:22 on video #3 you can see the very wide Nisutlin River coming down to join Teslin Lake and at 5:48 I come to the bridge that spans this river 800m from the lake. Although there are signs of surface thaw, both the lake and the river are still frozen over. The bridge itself is just shy of 600m long. Soon I was looking at “dome” mountains, not the more jagged peaks that I had seen so far. I’m certainly no mountain expert but I believe that these still formed by pressure deep in the earth, but that pressure is not enough to break the earth’s surface, but only sufficient to cause a bulge. You can see examples of these at 7:39 in video #3.
I made it to Whitehorse by about 4 pm and checked in at the Skky Hotel opposite Whitehorse Airport. By now the wind had got up so much that I struggled to open the front door of the hotel, and I am not exactly a weakling. The room was pleasant enough – unlike the prominent notice on the wall. I was underwhelmed by the hotel and blown away by the superb Indian restaurant housed within its walls. I grew up in London in the United Kingdom which means I grew up on curries, and being a redhead, that means I like my curries hot. That term “hot” needs some explanation….
In Asia in general, and India in particular, I’ve never had a problem getting a curry that was hot enough. In the UK I mostly can get a good one. But North American palates don’t seem to tolerate really hot food well (no, please… Texmex is not hot). But here I was sitting in an Indian restaurant staffed by folks who obviously came from India so when I ordered a lamb vindaloo, I explained what I really wanted. The waitress smiled and said she would talk to the chef as it would be an honor to serve a real Indian curry to someone who would enjoy it and enjoy it I did. As my old friends in London would have said, it really warmed the cockles of my heart, and everything else. What a great way to end the day.
Early to bed, early to rise….
Photos & video from today can be seen here
