Day 21 - Onwards to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Travel   From: Teslin, YT   To: Whitehorse, YT   Distance: 112 mi (180 km)   Travel time w/brks: 3hr 16   Distance since start: 5,389 mi (8,665 km)

Tuesday 7/11/2006

Karl had been dreaming about bacon for days and we had not had any in the trailer. At this campground, however, they cooked breakfast to order for those who wanted. I inquired last night about this and learned that some of the meals included bacon. Since we were a bit low on food, we decided we should take advantage of this.

Everyone eats breakfast and Karl gets his beloved bacon fix!

Nice wildflowers at the campground

One of the things we saw driving out from Watson Lake was that many people had written their names with rocks along the highway. The highway there is carved through mainly moraine so there are plenty of round rocks to select from. There are stretches of the road (miles) where you can see peoples names written with neatly arranged rocks. Erik became very inspired by this and started to collect smaller rocks near our campsite and then proceeded to write. Below is one of his several designs.

One of Erik's rock designs

We drove trough interesting scenery with beautiful lakes and winding roads. In a few places we drove though areas where forest fires had swept by in years past. It would seem like it takes many decades before the forest heals itself. Isabella got her first chance to tow the trailer. I tested her ability during a quiet portion of the road towards Whitehorse. She did well and liked how it handled.

Isabella gets a chance to tow the trailer in Yukon, on our way to Whitehorse -- she managed very well

As we approached Whitehorse, we were very low on fuel. Stations are not exactly close in this part of the world so I decided to take the first one before getting into downtown Whitehorse. We also used this as an opportunity to fill up a propane tank. As we approached the next fuel station, I concluded it was a good call. We debated where we should stay. We swung by one of the campgrounds near the fuel station and looked in. Naw, not our kind. The kids really wanted to stop at Takhini Hot Springs, about 7 or so miles outside of town along the road towards Klondike. The kids had such a great experience in Liard Hot Springs, so it seemed like a safe bet. And they had sites, too. I asked about sites and the attendant told him to look around and then come back. I also learned that none of the sites had water. Bummer. We did not have much water left. So we needed to fill up before we parked. First, we drove around the campground for a while. It was very tight. Probably the tightest campground I have driven in. I was cursing. None of the sites were that great. But we finally found one.

Crossing the bridge over to Teslin

We went back to the office, registered and requested the site we had spotted. No problem. The attendant made out a slip for us. She reminded me of Ralf Wiggum, the son of the police chief in the Simpsons TV series. Meanwhile, the boys wanted to get a dip in the hot springs. But this place was quite different from Liard Hot Springs. The kids had to pay about $6/head for one day's worth and the swimming was actually in a regular concrete pool instead of a hot stream. The attendant indicated that I could fill up water behind the office and that it was possible to turn around the trailer behind the office. They had fairly sharp rocks sticking up in the road next to the faucet. It was a snug fit to get the 31ft trailer in there. The water pressure was very low so it took me about 1/2 hour to add about 1/2 tank of water. While he was still filling, Karl came back and looked very disappointed. Shortly thereafter came Erik. Same face expression. The hot springs were a dud. No fun! It was just a boring regular pool with warm water in it. And Karl mumbled something about the water being green, too. Then, turning around was not as easy as the attendant had made it out. We ended up going down a windy road we had to back out of. I cursed over and over. When we arrived at the campsite we had reserved there was a motor home parked there. I walked out and started to talk with the lady who had parked in "our" spot. She had two kids and the bicycle rack and the back of her Class C was bent. The moment I started to mention that we had reserved this spot, the lady said that if I said one more thing she was going to cry.... argh. Despite being mad about the campground and a few other things, I decided to let this one slide and started to circle the tight campground one more. The kids were unhappy as well. We eventually found one more, narrow, site, where we disconnected.

The kids spent time cleaning the trailer and truck. We had sausages for dinner. The weather was so so. We could feel that the days are getting longer with the daylight hanging around longer. We fell asleep, thinking of the similarity of the campground attendant and the son of the police officer in Simpsons.

Campground   Name: Takhini Hot Springs, YT   Our hookups: 15 amp   WiFi: No   GSM service: None   TV Channels: Unknown   Cost: ??/night   Reservation mode: Phone call (via Skype)

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.