Wildlife, wildfires and the Yukon

We've reached Watson Lake in the Yukon, north of latitude 60. We were told this morning that the best time to see wildlife was early morning, so we left about 6:15. The first thing we saw was a sign saying "Extremely dusty conditions." And they were. The road was being patched for about the first 100 miles and was really very dusty, but there was very little traffic, so except for one stretch where we had to follow a pilot car, we were not forced to endure anyone's dust.

We headed northwest and were soon in the Rockies, and no wildlife. But near the summit we saw signs warning of sheep in the road. They come down to lick minerals from the road, apparently. Near the summit we saw a single small caribou, a cow with little short antlers. Further down the road we saw some ewes and a lamb, stone sheep not bighorns. They are beautiful sheep with much darker coats than the bighorns. Didn't get a picture, though. Cars had stopped in both directions, blocking the road, and then a big truck came up behind us and gave us an impatient blare with his air horn. Can't say I blamed him. We also saw a band of sheep scrambling up the shear wall of the highway cut a little further on, and another cow caribou.


The road was pretty rough through the mountains, narrow, winding, with either patches being repaired or patches needing repair. This was more what I had thought the Alaska Hwy would be like.

About noon we reached Liard Hot Springs, which are quite popular in these parts.



The Canadian government has provided bathhouses and walkways. Linda took a dip in the lower pool, which runs 40-49 deg. C (104-120 deg. F), and she declared it quite comfortable. She did not try the upper pool, which is around 54 deg C (about 130 F, which would probably boil corn). We had lunch here and had our first encounter with mosquitos. As we left the park we saw a black bear grazing on the roadside grass and weeds.


After the mountains the roads improved, but we started through an area where a massive wildfire had recently burned, and was still smouldering in places. It must not have been too hot, because there was not total kill of the trees in most places. The terrain was rolling and forested with birch and spruce, and there were a lot of rivers. This is the Liard River.

Along the route between Liard Springs and Watson Lake we saw a number of signs warning of bison in the road. We finally found a herd of about 20 or so bedded down in a dusty spot right beside the highway, and later one massive lone bull grazing the grassy shoulder of the road. Neither paid us any mind.

We got to Watson Lake about 2:30 and checked in at the Airforce Lodge. It's like a college dorm, twin beds in the room and the "facilities" down the hall. But it is clean and the hosts, a German couple, are very friendly. Watson Lake is a really small town, maybe 1500 people, so the accomodations are pretty basic. But lottery money had built them a first class "Northern Lights Centre" with a planetarium-type theatre and a beautiful show of northern lights. And very friendly and informative staff. The other point of interest in town was the Sign Forest, where people from all over the world have left signs, some they made especially to post here. This last picture is of just one small part of the "forest."

Dinner was at Bee Jay's, a truck stop that was a little rough on the outside but served good food. But it was not very effectively airconditioned. In fact, this is the first time in five years they've even needed airconditioning the lady at Bee Jay's told us. The Lodge isn't airconditioned, either. They tell me it should cool off this evening, though. I certainly hope so.

Tomorrow we will reach Whitehorse.