Dease Lake, British Columbia to Watson Lake, Yukon – 27 June 2024

We were hoping that the Car Satellite system would work on our drive to Watson Lake but it didn’t, which was very frustrating. Hopefully we can sort out some SIM cards that will give me some access to cellular on this trip.

Along the way we stopped at a pull out to use the washroom and Derek found that the inner edge of one of the tires on the RV was worn down to the steel belt, so he needed to swap it out for the spare. We used the opportunity to get some Cold brew from the fridge and have a bit of a walk but there were tons of bugs again, so I retreated to the car with Jax while Derek changed the tire.

There is no doubt that British Columbia has some of the most amazing scenery in the world and Im wondering how Yukon and Alaska can beat this. The only negative were the amount of forests we passed through that were decimated by wild fires. So very sad just how large an area has been affected and the destruction to our beautiful province.

When we arrived in Watson Lake, there were no signs whatsoever to indicate where the RV park was. Luckily we spotted a few RVs in a large gravel pit at the back of a gas station. The sites were really close together so we ended up requesting another site as we couldn’t fit into our allocated site because the RV next to us had their awning out. After organizing the RV and taking Jax for a short walk we went to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Opposite our campground was the historical Sign Post Forest – one of the most famous landmarks along the Alaska Highway. What a sight!! Just a maze of poles with over a 100,000 signs of all types on them. It all started back in 1942 when a homesick GI who was assigned light duty while recovering from an injury, erected a signpost for his hometown: Danville, Ill. 2835 miles. Things snowballed from there. We came prepared and added our newly made “cocktails and campfires” sign that I had especially made in Victoria, to the collection .

While we were at Watson Lake we went for walks in the area and along the wooded walkway of the Wye Wye Lake. I was hoping to catch their advertised Saturday morning Farmer’s market but it didn’t seem to be running. We did go to the Northern Lights centre and watched a couple of movies about how the Northern Lights are formed, which was quite interesting.

We met a very nice couple who were also parked in the campground – Jim and Sharon Frew a retired couple from Vancouver who were also making their way to Alaska. We sat with them outside their RV one evening and swapped stories about our travels. They were well travelled – Sharon born in India and Jim in Kenya. They had lived in many States and Provinces while he was working. Hopefully we will meet up with them again.