August 29 - On the Cassiar Highway

The answer is – we field dress it out.
--But it’s still a small canoe and even field dressed it’s a honking big bunch of meat.
--Ah but she’s a big canoe, you betcha.
Yeah, you betcha she doesn’t look like a big canoe to me, but they seemed confident. I guess they’ve done this before.

The day started off with sunshine, but we ran into clouds and showers. One of the windshield wipers started flopping around so we pulled off to deal with it. The wisdom of one of the guys on a motorhome list came in handy. He maintained that you only need three things in the way of tools for the motorhome. WD40, duct tape and a hammer. If it’s supposed to move and it doesn’t, use the WD40. If it moves and it isn’t supposed to, use the duct tape. And if neither of those work, hit it with the hammer. We used the duct tape and it worked just fine.

The landscape we drove through today looks a lot like Colorado, with big trees and wide valleys framed with mountains. There were lots of small lakes, prime moose territory, but the moose are on strike. Or they know it’s hunting season and they’re in hiding. Anyway, we didn’t have any wildlife sightings and we were going slowly enough to get a good look if anything had shown itself.

We didn’t make very good time because we were dealing with more bad road construction. There’d be paved stretches with lots of bouncy parts, or gravel.
There was about a 20 mile stretch of construction where we were following a lead truck that really wanted us to move along faster, but in all the loose gravel we poked along at the speed that made us happy. We kept saying we were glad we decided to stop last night at Dease River and not try to go on to Dease Lake, another 45 miles down the road, because it took us almost 2 hours to do that 45 miles. As result, when we got to Kinaskan at 3 in the afternoon, and looked at the book which said our next camping option was another 70 miles along, we decided to stop here. It’s another of those magnificent front window views we’ve kind of become used to at the provincial parks here. Kinaskan Lake is a big blue lake with mountains and the occasional ducks, loons, and float planes passing by. We took a nice walk in the woods by the lake and Gypsy got to jump in the water to her heart’s content. The water’s icy but crystal clear and clean, so we didn’t mind her getting wet.

August 27 and 28 Playing Catch-up

August 27 – Not in Whitehorse

We got our shopping done quickly at the Real Canadian and then buttoned everything up and hit the road, with great glee, I might add. As we went down the highway we kept saying, “Oh look. I didn’t see that last time.” Of course we didn’t see whatever it was, rivers, lakes, mountains, because we were following Cleo on the flatbed truck that was doing 85 and creating white-out conditions from the dust he was throwing up behind him. This was a much nicer ride.

We stopped at the Tlinkit Heritage Center in Teslin and looked at their displays of carvings and beadwork. The totems in front of the center represent Eagle, Beaver, Wolf, Frog and Raven, the five clans of the nation. The narratives that went with the displays talked about how the people had kind of lost their way after the highway came through, but some of the young people are learning to carve and drum and dance again and there is a resurgence of the traditional skills.

After lunch there, we drove on until we got to the Rancheria at Traditional Mile 710, the scene of our big breakdown last June. It was nice to talk to Dennis and meet his wife, Linda. We are spending the night here in their RV park, and enjoyed Linda’s good cooking for dinner.

August 28 – 104 miles down the Cassiar Highway

I took a walk around the Rancheria Lodge this morning. When we were here in June I was so fixated on Cleo that I didn’t even realize that there is a lovely little lake behind the café, so I took pictures of it this morning in the sunshine. We stopped at the overlook where the terrible radiator leak happened and got pictures of a healthy Cleo and a nicely paved road. No dust. Amazing.

Once we got on the Cassiar, our speed decreased significantly. Like, 5 mph in many areas. There was a long stretch where the province had prepped for construction and then there was a landslide that took priority, so the road’s pretty much as bad as everyone said, at least for that first stretch. But once we got through that it got better. Still not great, but better, and we’re pretty much the only people on the road so we can take it as slow as we wish. We saw a mountain goat and a fox, but no moose or caribou, even though signs said to watch for them. We watched, but the critters didn’t cooperate.

We stopped at a store called Jade City. I didn’t know that 90% of the world’s jewelry grade jade comes from here, so that lovely jade pendant I bought in Hong Kong a few years back probably came from right around here. We drank their free coffee, took a picture of a giant jade boulder and looked at the jewelry but didn’t see anything that wanted to come home with us.

We’re at Dease River Crossing RV camp tonight. It’s another of those places that makes up for the lack of hook-ups by providing a spectacular view out the front window. Two tent campers next to us came paddling up in their canoe. They said they had been moose hunting but only saw two cows. I wondered but didn’t ask how one brings home a thousand pound bull moose in a canoe. I may have to go over to their camp later and ask them.

August 26 - Whitehorse One More Time

Good news! We went to the Real Canadian Superstore and they had the ginger snaps. (Pam, I got you a bag. Now if I can just keep from eating it before we get home.)

Oh, yes, and the part came in. Mike the super-mechanic popped it in and everything came to life and we have ice crystals forming in the ice tray. So tomorrow it’s another trip to RCS for the refrigerated and frozen things and then down the road! Hurray!!!

Last night we made another trip up to Takhini Hot Springs and soaked ourselves into prunes. It was cold and rainy all day and we were just chilled through, so it felt really good to get superheated.

Today, for a change, was sunny so we made another trip up to the top of Grey Mountain while we were waiting to see if the part made it. Some of the aspen higher up the hill are beginning to turn yellow, and there’s a little low shrub that is the most gorgeous shade of red.

So now I have good, clear views of Whitehorse and the Yukon valley from atop the viewing platform at the very top of the mountain.


Tomorrow we’ll try to get to the Junction of 37 and from there, we’ll be heading south along the Cassiar Highway. I have references from other travelers for good provincial parks there, so we may be out of wireless range for a few days. Be assured that we’re having a good time and seeing new scenes.

August 25 - Yes, still in Whitehorse

If we stay here much longer, I’m going to have to get a job just to keep myself entertained. The board for the refrigerator wasn’t the problem; it was another board, which hopefully is on its way by air to arrive tomorrow. If that doesn’t work, we’re buying a cooler that plugs into 12 volts and hitting the road.

Day before yesterday the clouds thinned out and there were a few rays of sun, so we drove up Grey Mountain which is on the other side of the river overlooking the Yukon Valley and Whitehorse. The clouds, however, being very friendly, decided to come down to meet us as we went up and somewhere short of the top of the mountain the visibility went down to near zero. We did get a view of the valley for a short time, though, at a lower view point.

By the time we got back down the mountain, the clouds had lifted again and as we drove by the Peace Park next to the river, I saw this little storage shed built like a log cabin. The old settlers built their cabins with sod roofs and this one had a flower roof in full bloom.

August 21 and 22

Yesterday was still cloudy but the rain let up so we took a walk along Miles Canyon. This is the narrows above Whitehorse that gave the city its name for the “white horses” of the rapids. There is a dam below it now so it is calmer, but the waters of the Yukon still rush through it. We crossed the footbridge, which was not Gypsy’s favorite part of the hike. She splayed her legs apart as wide as she could and waddled over the bridge as quickly as Gerry would let her go. Once on the other side there was a mile or more of path and she checked out every inch of it.


This is the Yukon looking upstream from Canyon City.






The path led to Canyon City that the gold rush stampeders founded above the rapids as a staging area for supplies. The hopeful gold miners could either pay a guide to get their boats through the rapids or pay for a tram to take their goods. Now the only things left of Canyon City are some of the rotting tram cars.

It was a lovely day for a walk in the woods. The only sounds we could hear were an occasionally splash of water and the tsks and twitters of juncos, warblers and chickadees. Two grey jays kept us company for a time, hoping we had something tasty to share, and the red squirrels taunted Gypsy. “Ha, ha, can’t catch me! You’re just a dog, you can’t climb a tree.”


Miles Canyon where it gets narrow and the wide river has to squeeze through. The color is amazing and the water is so clear you can see the rocks below the surface.

As we drove back to the RV park we passed the lake just above the dam and saw two loons swimming. We stopped and they obligingly swam over close to the edge of the lake so I could take their picture.

After dinner we drove up to Takhini Hot Springs west of town. The springs are not sulfur like Liard and China Hot Springs, but they are rich in calcium and iron, leaving everything dyed a light orange, including the white parts of the design on my bathing suit. We moved back and forth between the hot and hotter pools, and had some interesting discussions with some of the locals who were there for a soak. As we drove back to Cleo, the rains started again, and it was sure good sleeping last night between the relaxed muscles and patter of rain on the awning outside the bedroom window.

Today we hoped to drive up to the top of the mountain overlooking Whitehorse but it has rained steadily and the top of the mountain is in the clouds. So I took Gypsy over to a wash-your-dog place and tortured the poor baby. This is, of course, the same dog that was delighted to be wet up to her chin wading in the icy cold river yesterday, but spraying her with warm water is just a terrible thing to do a poor dog. But now she’s clean and we left a LOT of hair there.

August 20 - Whitehorse

Ah, another exciting day in Whitehorse. Yesterday I did laundry, today I cleaned. We made a run to The Real Canadian Superstore for non-perishables. I specifically wanted to get several packages of the house brand of ginger snaps. We got them in June from there and oh, were they ever good. To my dismay, there were no ginger snaps. There were other kinds of the house brand cookies, and I did find Tim-Tams. If you don’t know what Tim-Tams are, then good. That leaves more for the rest of us who do. But no ginger snaps. I’ll stop back before we leave and if they are still out, then I’ll just have to wait until Prince George. ~~sigh~~

We ate dinner at a place recommended by someone we met along the road a while back, a restaurant outside of Whitehorse called the Wolf Den. It’s owned by a couple originally from Switzerland, so there were some traditional Swiss dishes. I had the grilled lamb chops and Gerry had spare ribs. Good, good, good! I will be marking that one down in the Milepost and recommending it as a stop for anyone coming up or down the Alaska Highway.

August 19 - Whitehorse

Again. The brain of the refrigerator has gone wherever dead silicon chips go, and a new one is on order and will be here on Saturday. Which means installation on Monday if the fates are kind, and a day to make sure it actually works for more than one day, which puts us out of here on Wednesday next week. Ah, another week in Whitehorse.

We did see a fox strolling casually across the highway in front of us. My camera was in the back of the car and out of reach, of course. The fox was sleek and shiny with a coat the color of a fiery Irish colleen’s hair and a totally blase attitude about the traffic that was screaming to a halt around it. Once I could get to my camera I kept it in my lap at all times, thereby insuring we didn’t see another wild thing all day.