Day 35: Alaska Highway - Mile 662 to Mile 887

May 19, 2014

It rained a little during the night but otherwise we had a quiet night at our little pull off on the Alaska Highway, north of Watson Lake. We left heading toward Teslin, Yukon Territory about 6:45 am.  A lady at the Watson Lake visitor center told us that fuel was less expensive in Teslin than Watson Lake and we had a coupon so we were waiting until we got there to fuel up Fred. The roads on this section of the Alaska Highway were better than those we were on yesterday.

You can still see vestiges of the original ALCan in places. They have taken out a lot of the curves as they have improved the highway over the years.

Our first stop of the day was at Rancheria Falls. There is a trail and boardwalk through boreal forest to really nice, fast flowing, water falls.

A portion of the trail was still covered in snow/ice and pretty slick.

In addition to enjoying the falls, we learned the difference between black and white spruce. White spruce shed their cones and black spruce do not. Who knew? Love the fragrance filled forest! It was a nice brisk way to start the day.

Shortly after that we stopped again to read the interpretive signs at the Continental Divide. The Continental Divide divides 2 of the largest drainage systems in North America – the Yukon River and Mackenzie River watersheds. Water draining west from this point drains into the Yukon and eventually the Pacific Ocean. Water draining to the east forms the Rancheria River, then the Makenzie River and empties into the Arctic Ocean. We probably knew that for some test in school but hadn't thought of it in a long, long time.

We then arrived in Teslin – just a few minutes after it started raining again.

Nisutlin Bay Bridge entering Teslin - the longest water span on the Alaska Highway at 1,917 feet

 We got fuel and saved four cents per liter – or about 15 cents per gallon. Love those coupons!! Even better – the Trading Post where we purchased our fuel had wonderful soft serve ice cream. It was almost like Dairy Queen soft serve – easily the best we have had since leaving the southern states.

Due to the rain we didn't do anything else in Teslin. We drove on to Whitehorse where we are tonight. It rained most of the way but stopped about the time we arrived. We were able to do a few tourist things before dinner. The DC-3 weather vane at the Transportation Museum is fascinating. It turns in the wind so smoothly that it does not make a sound.

 

We also went to see the 3 story log cabin that we saw when we were here in 2006. It appears people are living in it now.

Weather permitting there will be more from Whitehorse tomorrow.