12 Yukon Revisited
Trip Start
May 09, 2011
1
12
13
Trip End
Oct 15, 2011
Tombstone Mountain Campground, Yukon, Canada
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Turned onto the Taylor Highway at the Tetlin Junction and headed for Chicken. This highway provides really nice views and the town is a hoot. After a short construction delay, we started on the Top of the World highway which took us across the border into Canada and to the Yukon River ferry and Dawson. Ate at the Midnight Sun Hotel (Chinese cuisine) before settling down at the Yukon River campground back across the river.
Woke up to another flat tire (I'm getting good at changing tires now – see tidbit question below) and had to ditch another tire since the puncture was at the belt edge. Down to one spare now until I can find another tire that matches the weird size on my truck. After visiting the last of the year Farmer's Market in Dawson, Storm headed for the Demster Highway and the Tombstone Mountain campground. The weather is a bit dreary with some snow adding covering to the peaks and making the views very limited at the moment. Hiked with Bogie along the North Klondike River and later visited the new park interpretive centre which is really well presented.
Up at dawn, the water was frozen but the air was really clear; Tombstone Mountain looked great as we left the best part of the Demster Highway in search of the rest of the Yukon. Decided to take the Campbell Highway from Carmacks to Watson Lake; although gravel, the scenery is spectacular following beside the Yukon River. Stayed the night at Frenchman Lake enjoying the last of the warm Fall weather alongside the lake. On the move again, visited the town of Faro which has lots of services (hospital, fire, RCMP, municipal and tourist centre) BUT hardly any people. Continued down the road and had to use the real spare after another rear tire got punctured. Hopefully we can finish the last three hundred kilometres without any spare (or I can do a temporary patch).
Stayed the night at Frances Lake which is about one-hundred-and-seventy kilometres from Watson Lake where we can hopefully find a used tire to strengthen our arsenal. The evening
fire was lovely along with a nice red wine. On the trip here, viewed an immature Golden Eagle by the road – awesome. Drove slowly to Watson Lake to get tire fixed and replaced on proper wheels; no tires my size available, so will be on one week spare until the big city somewhere... Next report likely from somewhere in the mid-west as we wend our way back down through BC and into the USA... More later...
Tidbits:
- My current tires are P235/75R17; would LT245/70R17 be a better replacement on my 2007 F150 4x4??? INPUT if you know please...
- Yukon campgrounds are inexpensive ($12) and provide free firewood.
- Dawson City now the new most expensive gas location at $1.59/L.
- Watson Lake rec centre has the best showers on the whole trip; for $3 you get a towel, sauna and great shower.
Google Map Links (locations courtesy of SPOT; see www.findmespot.com):
September 8 Moon Lake State Recreation Area (campsite 70)
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=63.369678,143.526764&spn=0.090024,0.308647&t=m&z=12&vpsrc=6
September 9 Yukon River Campground (campsite 71)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=64.07535,-139.438&ll=64.07535,-139.438&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
September 10&11 Tombstone Mountain Campground (campsite 72)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=64.50594,-138.2249&ll=64.50594,-138.2249&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
September 12 Frenchman Lake Campground (campsite 73)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=62.11667,-135.71152&ll=62.11667,-135.71152&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
September 13 Frances Lake Campground (campsite 74)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=61.41158,-129.63422&ll=61.41158,-129.63422&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Comments
So I asked Chuck Arthur if he ever heard from you and if so what were you up to?....seems like there is no grass moss growing under your feet....and I detect a pretty lady in some photos which tells me all is well....
I am not much of a techie so social media is not my thing.
Just wanted to say hi.
Best Regards
Tom Kinnear