Watson Lake, YT to Dawson Peaks Resort, Teslin YT
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2008
1
10
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Teslin,
Yukon,
Canada
Thursday, July 10, 2008
July 10th, 2008
Watson Lake, YT to Dawson Peaks Resort, Teslin, YT, Canada
Alaska Highway
Today was a day unlike many, however due to the planner in the cell phone we were not able to sleeping as we were going to. It seems that we were in the midst of crashing and sleeping well (which I will go in to more), when the day planner in the cell phone decided to screw up and alarmed as it does to remind me of meeting and appts etc. I had cleared everything from it for the next 2 weeks and it seems when ever it changes time zones it alarms funky. So we were up at 8:45 EST which was 5:45 PST. Ugh, needless to say still feeling a little tired.
The bed situation last night was quite unique and I say that positively. Mom and Dad had 2 twin beds co-joined to make a king size bed. The hotel we stayed at was a lodge and it was the old Air Force Barracks in Watson Lake. This barracks for pilots while the Alcan was being built was transformed into this lodge. The lodge was really nice and clean, had a home like atmosphere, complete with requests for shoes to be taken off at the front door. The beds mom and dad were in were custom built for the pilots to be extra long. Each of the rooms has only the 2 twin beds in it with not much else for room. My bed was a genuine army issued cot like what Hawkeye and BJ and the M*A*S*H group would have used. Mom was concerned, she thought it would be a roll away. But the really funny thing here is that I slept better than they did because apparently they kept getting tangled in the sheets and blankets.
Dawson Peaks Office
It was really a cool experience. I always wondered what one of those would be like now I know. It looked exactly like those seen on M*A*S*H and were in fact comfortable. I got to sleep no problem and slept until the phone woke me up.We left there about 8 am this morning, it was cold and rainy. Temperature was initially about 52 degrees but as we started driving back into the mountains it dropped to 42 degrees. Needless to say many people know how I am when it is cold and rainy. I was freezing to death and of course, as I had mentioned earlier, the back heat and air blowers in the van were out. Needless to say, I was freezing.
Anyway, we skipped the one and only geo-cache for the day as it involved a drainage ditch. We did however hike the trail to Rancheria Falls about a 1/2 a mile one way. The falls were pretty but have seen bigger and more beautiful falls. A little later, we say a cow moose in the marsh and we stopped and watched it for a little bit and took some pictures.
Final wildlife count to this point in the trip is as follows:
American Bison: truthfully to many to count but best I can tell is 117
Black Bears: 6
Grizzly Bears: 1
Caribou: 4
Moose: 2
Mule Deer: 2
Fox: 1
Stone Sheep: 9
We went into Teslin after having lunch at the Dawson Peaks Resort, where we have a cabin on Teslin Lake with the Dawson Peaks right behind it. In Teslin, we went to the George Johnston museum. Mr Johnston was a Tlingit Native who was an elder of the tribe. We then went to the Tlingit Heritage Museum and looked around at the totems and the masks.
Masks at the Tlinget Heritage Center
After that we stopped at a wildlife museum, which it turns out that we stopped there on our way down the Alaska Highway in 2001. After that we returned to the resort for the afternoon and evening and are planning on taking it easy and resting and watching the wildlife and scenery. Somewhat like I expect it to be like on the ferry.
In case I failed to mention it in a earlier blog, we inherited a second windshield crack. This one was obtained on the Alaska highway out side of Fort St John. So now the van has 1 chip and 2 nice large cracks in it. Mom is definitely going to have to file a claim now.
The Alaska Highway has much improved since the last time we drove it in 2001. There is substantially a lot less construction and the road is really good shape for the most part. We have stopped at many spots of the old and have seen some of the old road remnants as we have been driving.
We have often talked today and yesterday about the past 2 days of the would have been plans etc. Yesterday was the day dad got released to return to work from the cardiologist had we not been on vacation now, and today was the day we should have been dropped off at Wonder Lake in Denali. Man, If i think I am cold now could you have imagined what it would be like there if it is cold and rainy here. Would have spent the day in the tent and probably would not have seen the mountain for the cold. Oh well, this trip is turning out to be very nice and relaxing with the short travel days and it went from a backpacking trip in Denali to an Alaska Highway trip and a Gold Rush trip.
Tomorrow is the day we arrive in Skagway and we will be there for the next 3 days and then a week on the ferry before we start the drive back home across the lower 48. So tonight we are in a cabin on the lake at Dawson Peaks Resort and tomorrow night and the next 3 will be at Sargent Preston's in Skagway and then 4 nights on the ferry's MV Kennicot and MV Columbia. The stops planned for the ferries include: Sitka and Ketchikan. While in Skagway we are taking the White Pass and Yukon Rail to the pass and then a wildlife boat tour and tour of Juneau.
So unless anything happens tonight with wildlife that is it for today. I plan to hopefully grab a nap at some point because I am dead on my feet with all this waking up early for the past week and trying to adjust time zones.
In the event I don't have Internet access for the next many days, see you in the lower 48.
