Destination Circle: Day 26

June 8, 2016

I woke early, before 5 a.m. Of course the sun was up but I was in the shade from Germany next to me. It was 36 degrees, I was still warm in my sleeping bag. Before anything, I always get my phone and warm it up when the mornings are this cold, and then I walked to the bathroom...a welcome 70+ degree bathroom, painted bright blue, clean, with very loud 50s music: Elvis, Fats Domino, Nina Simone, B. B. King, Dinah Washington... Here in northern Yukon, 5:15 on a June morning, in a campground bathroom...a concert from my teenage years.

Mist was rising from the lake in bright sunlight; a man was walking two beautiful dogs; another guy in a short-sleeved shirt meandered about with a coffee cup in hand. I love the stillness and peace of this northern country.

By 5:45, I was at Tags, getting gas and waiting for the "restaurant" to open. A gentleman was working who may or may not have slept after the bars closed last night. He definitely had not had a life of ease, and when I asked if he was open, he gruffly said, "Can't hear ya.." But his demeanor slowly mellowed as I let him know his eggs and bacon were delicious and didn't try to engage in chit chat. Truck drivers who had slept in their rigs overnight wandered in.

There is a dessert bar called Nanaimo Bars - a "classic Canadian dessert" and which I used to make. (I think the recipe is in the Dutch cookbook.) The store had these for sale - a package of four - which I couldn't resist. Does anyone else remember them?

en.wikipedia.org:

"It's a bar dessert which requires no baking and is named after the west coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It consists of a wafer crumb-based layer topped by a layer of custard flavoured butter icing which is covered with melted chocolate made from chocolate squares." 

Fox just east of Watson Lake, BC

I left Watson Lake at 7 and the sun was high enough to not be bothersome. For the first hour, almost no one was on the road, except three foxes, one carrying something large and rounded in its mouth, but I couldn't get the right angle to see what it was. My imagination suggested a human skull which I am certain it wasn't, but it was a weird shape. Within the next few hours, I saw four bison, six black bears, one moose and eight sheep along the highway. And somewhere in this stretch, I passed a Golden Eagle standing on top of a dead moose, its posture suggesting pride of ownership. 

Wood (or Mountain) Bison - northern British Columbia

At the overlook near stunning Muncho Lake, I talked briefly with a guy who hauls between Edmonton and Whitehorse and who told me about the fish in these waters and how one of these trips he wants to "take the wife" along. Fish in the range of 40-pound trout... I cannot imagine doing this route (945 miles) over and over, especially with a loaded 18-wheeler. He says he leaves "Saturday night about 6...I'm supposed to get into Whitehorse by Monday night, but I'm always there by noon....then I unload and take my time coming back empty." The highway is not always a piece of cake as it goes through the mountains, with many areas of loose gravel / construction, rough roads, narrow roads, winding roads. It's totally doable and relatively easy but I wouldn't want to have time constraints, especially once the temperature drops and the snow begins. 

Black Bears in northern BC

Non-paved but public roads: There is the all-season, 450-mile gravel Dempster Highway in Canada going north from Dawson City to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories or the Dalton Highway (adjacent to the oil pipeline and also 400+ miles) running north of Fairbanks to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay... I would LOVE to travel these...

I stopped mid afternoon in Fort Nelson and spent time in the Visitor Center, browsing but not buying, getting free information and chatting with a lady as we tried to identify a very common purple roadside flower I have been seeing for days.

Stone sheep near Muncho Lake - northern BC

A distressed gentleman and his wife from Michigan were venting about their device challenges and how they "haven't called home in days" as they couldn't connect, and how frustrating it has been trying to use a Discover credit card. I found this out also. The deal is that apparently Discover charges businesses too much AND doesn't "pay for 10 days" while with VISA "I get my money immediately." The VC folks nodded and told of a recent woman traveler who was "in tears" as she encountered these problems, adding also that they wouldn''t take her American money. So it goes...

I stayed in motel with windows overlooking a small collection of trailers. Late afternoon, a little girl anther younger brother rode a kids' four-wheeler bike round and round the gravel lot for an hour. They so reminded me of Tesla and Joey (Ginny's kids). 

Fort Nelson I read somewhere is an "oil and gas town" and it did seem like a much smaller version of Williston, ND. I think most of the motel's clientele were gas field workers, although in the summer, tourists also contribute in a significant way to the area's economy.

I also read that the town's current location is the fifth site due to "fire, floods and  feuds." Every place has its history. 

Muncho Lake - northern British Columbia