8/19 - 9/4 - Back in Canada - Carcross, Atlin, Watson Lake, Muncho Lake, etc

8/19 - After crossing the border into Canada.

Another beautiful lake along the way

 8/19 - I got to Carcross just in time to pick up Boone's basket from the Bakery in town before they closed at 4.  I hadn't really thought about the time when I left Skagway and also had forgotten about the time change.  In hindsight, I should have not rushed and just picked it up the next day, but I had planned to stay somewhere along my way beyond Carcross, so I thought I needed to get it before I left town.  I ended up staying in town as it was later than I thought.  

I can see why Sherry was so distraught about losing Boone's basket.  It's lovely!

The bakery in an original building

Many small old buildings still around town.  Some in better shape than others.

This is the oldest active post office in Canada.

Bennett Lake

Railroad bridge

A lot of effort had been put into restoring the SS Tushi, but just before it was completed it burned.  So sad!

I was on the stairs and Zoe couldn't figure out how to get to me.  Not a great problem solver!

After wandering around town, we took a drive out to Emerald Lake and the Carcross Desert.  

Emerald Lake looks Emerald green, though it's hard to see in the photos below.  The color comes from the reflection from the white "marl" on the lake bed.  Marl is white calcium carbonate lay that forms in the water and settles on the bottom.  It forms from the limestone in the hills that are from 150-200 million years ago when this was covered by sea and filled with coral.

Emerald Lake.  Not that impressive with the evening lighting.

Carcross Desert - Not really a desert.  It's the remains of an ancient lake that was created by melting glaciers (with the sand and silt that was left behind here) and then washed away, leaving the "desert".  

Back in town.  I had looked forward to the restaurant at the Six Mile River Resort, where I had been planning to stay, but I called to get the hours and was told the restaurant wasn't open, so I grabbed a bite in Carcross at the Bistro instead and decided to stay.  I just parked in town.  I had met a couple from Vancouver Island and they ended up following me there in their Sprinter van.  They are on their way to the Arctic Circle via the Dempster Hwy.

The little engine that could.  😀

More old buildings across the way

Matthew Watson General Store - oldest operating in the Yukon

8/20 - Zoe and I took another walk around town and I stopped in at the bakery and got a treat for later, checked out an old church, chatted with folks, and then got water at the treatment plant in town.  

I decided I needed to go back to Emerald Lake and see if I could get some better views.  I definitely got a better view of the emerald color in the lake with the early sun.  

Isn't that color incredible?!

I headed out of town towards Tagish and decided to stop in at the Six Mile River Resort.  Very eclectic decorations!  I knew I was early for the restaurant, but thought maybe they'd open early.  I was pleasantly surprised because they did.  I had read rave reviews on the pizza, so got that.  I was less than impressed, but the location made up for it.  I hung out on their porch in Adirondack chairs and enjoyed the sun and the view.  I debated on staying the night, but I had hopes/expectations that I'd hang out with Mitchy and Doug (owners) and their friend Ruth.  Ruth had invited me to go kayaking with them later, but I had the sense that wasn't going to happen.  I thought it would be really cool to hang out with them as they all seemed super nice, but I knew I'd be unhappy if my expectations weren't met.  Of course, if my expectations had been met, it could have been a wonderful stay!  Ya just never know...

So after hanging out for a few hours and taking a shower ($10), I decided to go to a boondocking spot on Little Atlin Lake.  It was a boat launch area and it was beautiful.  I had gotten a notification of possible northern lights and I thought this would be a good spot to see them, but then I realized that there was a hill to my north.  It ended up being cloudy to the Northwest.

Brrr.  It was cool here due to the clouds and a breeze.  When I left the restaurant it was beautifully sunny!  Had I made a mistake?

Nope!  It cleared up and was lovely sitting by the lake reading my book.  This spot was right on the side of the road, but fortunately there was very little traffic and it was super quiet.

One of the rare sunsets since being in Canada/Alaska!  The days are definitely getting shorter!

8/21 - I had a good night's sleep.  No other campers there and after the couple of boats left, not many others stopped in.  Totally quiet once I went to bed.

Today, it's onto Atlin.  Atlin is my last planned stop before hitting the Alcan on the way back to the US.  It was recommended to my by some people on my way up through BC and isn't too far out of the way.  When I first arrived, I wondered if it was worth it, but I had had several people say it was worth visiting.  Zoe and I walked around and I started to see the charm.  I was told it was like a little Switzerland, but I'm not quite sure why.  It's a cute town, but I wouldn't say it's beautiful like I think of Switzerland.  

This town has a lot of the old buildings around.  It's very charming

Beautiful gardens

Kershaw's Cafe.  I was chilly so got a Chai Latte and though I would have loved to enjoy the ambiance of this cafe, Zoe was barking up a storm outside.  For some reason she was really bad today with me out of sight.  The staff was incredibly sweet.  They recommended going to dinner at the Discovery Saloon, so that's what I'll do.

OMG!  Zenith was such a cutie and better behaved that Miss Zoe!  

View over Atlin Lake

The sign says that this gazebo was built in 1917 for the guests staying at the original Atlin Inn.  The popular mineral water...  See photo below...

Is that the mineral water at the bottom of those steps???  Yikes.

I was going to head south of town and do a hike and stay for the night, but after walking through town, I decided to stay at the provincial park in town with the plan of walking to the one restaurant open for dinner.  I haven't replenished my food, so I don't have much to eat, so eating out seems like a good idea.  I did buy some cheese and crackers and a couple of apples at the store in town to have a few staples.  I need a decent store!  

Great cell signal here for getting all my photos uploaded to the cloud and working on my blog.

If it weren't for the other campers...  😆

Starting to clear up

It cleared up for some good evening sun over Lake Atlin

Super clear water like so many of the lakes in AK and BC/YK

8/22 - Beautiful morning.  Warm and too sunny for walking Zoe other than a short walk...  

Morning view once the other RVs left

Darn Tough - Vermont!!  This is at the little store in Atlin.

I drove out a long dirt road for a hike and to a remote campsite with only 5 spots on the lake.  No spots available, but I had driven by Lake Palmer Rec Site that had only 2 spots.  After my hike, I was afraid that the spots would be taken, but nope, they were both available!  And one spot was right by the water, so I took that one.  I saw a huge porcupine on the side of the road - alive for once! - and got out to get a photo, but it disappeared into the woods.  

Beautiful view of some glacier...

There was a chair at the end of the hike, so I pulled it out and hung out for a bit.

Shortly after I arrived, two Rvs pulled in together.  It was a family with 6 kids.  I saw the kids bikes on the front and groaned.  In the end, they were a lovely family.  Mom and Dad and the 6 kids ranging from 5 - 15 (two more at home!) and grandparents.  Granted, I didn't have the peace and quiet I had when I first arrived, but I enjoyed them.  And they let me use their SUP, so that was a bonus.  They also gave me some Pike that they caught since they caught so many.  Tasty, but way too many bones.  I think maybe they didn't know how to fillet them, but it's protein.  They actually gave me 4 dinners worth, so I've got some in the freezer.  

Family heading out to go fishing

The two youngest loving on Zoe

Views while out paddling

This was after the family left to get cell signal so the could go to church remotely.  They were even dressed for church!  It was sooooo quiet.  Only an occasional car or plane overhead.  Other than that, only nature noises.  It was fantastic!

I don't know what these plants are, but they were so cool with the lighting.

After leaving Lake Palmer, I drove to Discovery City where there was a city/town from the Gold Rush times.  It was cool because there was actually some stuff to look at unlike some other places.

Atlin was my last planned stop prior to getting on the Alcan with the intent of heading back to the US.  I stopped in at Teslin Lake Campground, but it was right by the road and no views or access to the lake, so I decided to continue onto a rest area I had seen on iOverlander.  I'm so glad I did.  So much nicer and a spot to get down by the water.

8/25

View from van in the morning in the rest area.  Way better than the campground.

What a cool ray of sun

Went to Watson Lake Campground

I decided to stay a 2nd night at Watson Lake CG.  It was so lovely and I wanted a swim in the lovely weather.  Also, I met Kate and really enjoyed her, so why not stay another day?  I did actually swim here.  The water was cold, but not brutally so.  Kate and I hung out in the water for a while until I got cold.  I was cold once out of the water in the sun too!

8/26

Not interested in getting up, Mom.

Zoe thought this already dug hole was perfect for resting

8/27 

Last view of Watson Lake before departing

Whirlpool Canyon?  A stop along the road for a quick break.

Literally EVERYONE who has been on the Alcan, recommends going to Liard Hot Springs.  This is one of the reasons I wanted to do the Alcan home, the 2nd being Muncho Lake.  It was nice, but I'm not much of a soaker.  I'm just not good at sitting still.  I get restless.  I really wish I was better at this.  They didn't have any campsites available, so I just did the day use for $5.  There is an overflow area, but it's a gravel lot and you pay the same as if you had a site.  I would have done this if I would have wanted to go to the hot springs again, but since I didn't, I figured I'd go down the road and find a free spot. 

 

View of the hot springs from the boardwalk above.  I moved around to find out how the different areas felt.  This place is nice because it's a natural flow, so the water is being replenished all the time.  There was a spot where there were some cold streams coming in, so I went over there and rinsed and cooled my head.  It was 80+ out and the water was super hot in some places, like on the way to the cold water stream.

  

This is the spot I found for the night along the Trout River.  Wow, so blue/turquoise!  It was a beautiful spot, though I was a bit uncomfortable there.  It was right off a pullout, so if someone pulled in, they'd see me.  I was kinda blocked from view as people approached, so that was good.  Also, just down the road is a memorial for two people who were murdered in their van in 2019.  I figured it wasn't likely to happen again!  😆  I hadn't had a shower in a few days, but realized that though I wasn't comfortable showering behind the van here, I could wash my hair off the back, which is always nice.

 

8/28 - From this spot, I headed 30 minutes down the road to Muncho Lake.  It was Thursday before Labor Day weekend, so I wanted to get there early.  I got there around 9:30 and site #2 was available on the water.  It wasn't the best spot, but it would do.  I met some other campers and sat by the fire with Victor and Elsie.  Beth and John let me use their starlink, but I wasn't very close to them, so I didn't get to use it much.  My neighbor, Hannah, had given me her pw for starlink, but shortly after using it, it stopped working.  It seemed the pw was changed??  Oh, well.  

I really wasn't enjoying Muncho Lake as much as I should have being how beautiful it was.  I just wasn't connecting with people around me too much and I had a family near me who's kids were somewhat disgruntled.  There wasn't yelling, but there was tension making me feel uncomfortable.  I also have to admit that the lack of Internet was really wearing on me.  I hadn't had anything since Watson Lake.

It was in the 80s and full sun, so it was HOT!  I went into the lake several times to cool off and rinse off (no showers), but it was super cold!  Major ice cream headache.  I was OK wading in to my belly button and then I dove in.  Brrr!

Muncho Lake lookout

View from the van.  The color!!!

This was Beth and John's Bengal cat stalking Zoe.  Such a beautiful animal!

This was taken by Ellsie and Victor from out on the water.  They sent it to me because you can see my van if you really blow it up.  But, either way, it's an amazing photo!

This smoke was probably from a campfire, but it was just sitting on the water and was sooo cool to watch.

8/30 - I had left my stuff at the campsite, but hadn't paid for my spot yet.  I wanted to head out for a hike and go get some wifi at the Double G, so I drove south and decided to check out the Strawberry Flats campground at the southern end of Muncho Lake.  Site 5 was available and was clearly one of the best sites here.  Road noise, but there was also road noise at MacDonald.  The park rangers were there, so I decided to pay for Site 5 and go back to the other campground and grab my stuff.  My neighbors ended up saving it for friends of theirs.  Being Saturday of Labor Day weekend, sites are scarce!  I certainly didn't expect to get such a great site or one at all at Strawberry Flats.  

After all that, I went to Double G and ordered breakfast and asked about wifi.  The guy was an ass and told me very testily that he just had enough for himself and I could not use it!  I really just wanted to talk to Sue as I knew she was having knee trouble and trying to decide if she would go on her trip to Europe.  After he was so nasty, I decided to cancel my breakfast order (he hadn't started cooking) and no, I was not going to get gas here!

After going back to my site, Zoe and I walked through the campground and ended up spending quite a bit of time with a young group of people (it reminds me how old I am!) chatting with them.  Zoe was completely smitten with their dog, Tucker, and would not leave him alone.  He was about 3 yo and they played a bit, but he was not as smitten as she was...

Finally some Caribou!

Tucker and Zoe.  Such a handsome boy!

Otis and Maple, Stephen and Jackie's dogs

I had been told about the old Alcan road trail and was going to go the day before, but some people told me that it was unsafe to go alone due to bears.  They were from Fort Nelson (not far away) and knew many people who had been attacked by bears.  So when Stephen and Jackie said they were going I tagged along and thus had to stay another night.  I left Zoe behind, which was a VERY good decision.  The very young park ranger seemed to think that Zoe could do it, but no way!

Saw this cute little porcupine

Jackie and Stephen

Tucker

9/1 - Labor Day.  Time to leave.  Jackie and Stephen took my site, though the campground was pretty much emptying out, so they could have had any site.

I woke up in the morning to all this smoke.  You could even smell it.  Not sure where it's from, but bummer!  I don't know what I couldn't see due to the smoke, but I do really enjoy the haze in the mountains giving that multi-layer effect.  

Stone Mountain

From Summit lake campground.  I had thought about leaving Muncho Lake to come here, but glad I didn't.  Muncho Lake is way nicer!

Caribou mom and kid

Finally some bison!

Stayed at the Double G RV park in Fort Nelson.  So dusty!  But I needed to shower (finally a real shower after 12 days!  Yikes!) and laundry and to fill my water (doesn't taste very good 😒).  I had realized the day before that my hot water heater wasn't working.  The display read 21 instead of the normal 63.  Not sure what's going on.  Then while I was here my Victron display stopped working.  The screen is completely black, but thankfully the app still works.  I was very stressed about these items (it's almost exactly 2 years since I picked up the van), but then I realized that neither are critical.  

It was $1 for 5 minutes in the shower, which normally would be plenty, but since it had been so long, I made sure I had a second Loonie for another 5 minutes.  I was just about to rinse out my conditioner when the first 5 minutes ran out, so I put the 2nd loonie and it would not take.  I tried over and over again.  I managed to will someone to come into the bathroom and asked her to exchange the coin for me, which she did, but it didn't work.  So, I ended up moving to the next stall and after a couple of tries it worked.  Phew!  I didn't really need more stress at this point.  

I had a great dinner at the restaurant at the RV park.  The glass of wine was only $6.75 CAD and was a HUGE pour.  I needed that.  😂

9/2 - I decided to check my tires and found the rear ones were fairly low.  I rarely check them and I know I should!  I decided to use my pump and had had Steve install a cigarette lighter outlet in the rear just for this purpose.  I was super glad I did, until I went to do the 2nd rear tire and it kept blowing the fuse.  So, I ended up having to go to OK Tire and they were super nice and immediately filled my tires.  Then I went to Napa and finally got some windshield wiper fluid (I've been low for weeks!) and some fuses.  I found every person I interacted with in Fort Nelson to be incredibly nice.  If I wasn't so stressed I might have liked to hang around for a bit.  

I found a great free campground on Inga Lake.  What a great spot!  Mike showed up later and shared his Starlink after I whined about my frustration without internet.  Super nice guy and shared with Nancy and her husband too.  I was surprised to see how big the campground was and well kept and FREE!

9/3 - clearer this morning.  Trying to decide if I should head to Dawson City or bypass it, but decided to go there.  I first stopped in Fort St John and did a bit of food shopping.  Prices are so cheap here compared to the US.  Eggs are 7 - 8 CAD and many items are the same price as US, but 75% cheaper due to the exchange rate.  I also bought a watch because my $10 Walmart watch died and it wasn't very reliable anyway.  I bought a watch at a drug store for $12 CAD.  It will be garbage once it dies too, but it seems to be keeping good time, so I appreciate that!  Many people ask why I need a watch, which in this life, I mostly don't, but when I do need to know what time it is, it's nice to not to always have to pull out my phone.  

Dawson City - visitor center was closed - Fall hours!  Not much to Dawson City, but did get the photo that I should have gotten at the start of the trip, had it not been for fires sending me up the Cassiar instead of the Alcan.  I did end up walking around town for a bit without Zoe (too warm) and checked out the many murals they had around town.  

Other than Muncho Lake, which I ended up enjoying the 2nd half, I really wish I had taken the Cassiar again.  I think it's probably much prettier, though the Alcan road is better and easier driving.  Of course, having the smoke along the Alcan didn't help.  

I went onto Chetwynd which is known for the many chainsaw carvings around town.  There are over 100 of them and apparently, there is a warehouse full of them, and they get swapped out.  Very cool to see.  I got sushi from the "Best Sushi restaurant in Chetwynd" - ONLY, but it was really good.  

9/4 - I had considered staying in Chetwynd at the visitor center for the night, but decided that didn't thrill me, so I had gone to Caron Creek RV Park.  It was fine and I got a shower.  Zoe and I took a walk down to the river, so that was nice.  She's having a harder time going up any sort of hill, especially with the heat.

Then we headed south in more smoke.  I think I'm missing a lot!

I bet this hill is beautiful in full fall colors.  This was behind the RV park.  

A quick stop for a break and some sniffing (Zoe only)

She looks broken.

Crooked River Provincial Park for the night.  And I even have enough cell signal to upload the many photos that I couldn't upload since before Muncho Lake and to update my blog.  I moved sites to one with better signal...  No water sites available, but I walked around the path along the water.  I ended up hanging out by the fire with Laura and Stephen.  Nice folks from Prince George.  

I'm in the mode again where I'm kinda done with the whole sightseeing thing.  I feel like I need to find somewhere to settle for a bit.  Maybe in a town somewhere?  I think I'm just tired.  I've had so much fun and seen so much beauty and maybe just need to pause for a bit.  Not sure where that would be.  I'm on my way to Vancouver Island.  From there I plan  to go through North Cascades in Washington, to Bend, OR, maybe Crater Lake, maybe visit Cheryl in Mount Shasta, visit Bob and Sherry in Reno/Lake Tahoe, maybe Yosemite, maybe Sequoia, maybe Death Valley...  We shall see!