The gas station guy told us the best breakfast in Haines can be found at the Chilcat Restaurant and Bakery so we headed there. We chatted through breakfast with Brian from South Carolina who was riding his BMW 1600 with a side car. He'd been on the road 2 months and had already covered Alaska and most of the Yukon. We got the scoop from him on some of the gravel roads we are contemplating - we keep hearing conflicting stories about the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City to Tok and the Denali Highway. Some people describe it as if you're descending into the pits of Hell and other people say, "Pfft... piece of cake!" Brian's assessment was somewhere in the middle which is what we intuitively had figured. Breakfast was excellent (as promised) and off we went.
At Mile 33, there is a really cute little gas station with one pump and and old log cafe. Apparently, the grub is really good there too. We topped up and shortly after that, we started to see some glaciers to the West. The mountains are HUGE with several glaciers glittered in hues of arctic blue in the sun. Very breath-taking. We hit the Canadian Border and waited there for yonks while some transport truck was being processed but eventually, we made it through without issue. From there, the road climbs and climbs, twisting and winding it's way up into the mountain range and it's one spectacular view after the next. The world starts to become quite desolate as you climb above the tree line and eventually get up into nothing but barren rock and scrubby bushes with enormous snow covered peaks towering over you. Even that runs out and all that's left are fields of glacier crushed gravel. We were in awe and pulled over to take photos, all the while mindful of the cutting wind and the 3 degree temperatures that were eating through our gear.
We didn't stay long and then plugged our electric gear in and headed for lower country. At top count, I had my thermal underwear, electric vest, fleece jacket liner, leather jacket and rain jacket on and I was *just* warm enough. Even with all our technology, it was a cold and inhospitable place. I kept thinking about the First Nations people and the early white settlers here who regularly crossed this range to trade, visit, arrange marriages and hunt and fish. It's hard to imagine the hardships they endured.
Leaving the summit behind, the jaw-dropping jagged peaks were replaced with rolling mountains and we descended fairly quickly back into treed terrain. We dodged big thunderous looking rain clouds most of the morning but did get wet a couple of times. Once in the Yukon, we came into Kluane National Park which is quite desolate but there are camp sites and designated hiking trails. By the time we hit Haines Junction, we were very ready for a hot meal.
We fueled up and followed some signs to the Village Bakery and I can honestly say, the trip to Haines Junction is worth it just to go there. Village Bakery is off the main road a couple of blocks and it's a collection of little wooden buildings all joined by a deck. You can rent cabins there as well. The bakery itself has beautiful baked goods ranging from sweets to savories along with icecream, great coffee and various lunch and dinner offerings. They have live music there some evenings as well. We both had an enormous vat of homemade tomato vegetable soup that greatly helped us thaw out. We would highly recomend this little gem in the wilds of the Yukon. After lunch, Lynn announced he "might live now" and we set out for the last 150kms to Whitehorse.
This leg of the trip is just more trees. Lots and lots of trees. There are a couple of LONG stretches of gravel road that they're working on and when the trucks put water down on them, it's like grease. Nasty stuff that sticks to everything and I was slipping and sloshing along, trying to pick out the relatively dry spots. Not much fun, especially when RVs fly by at top speed!
We arrived in Whitehorse and pulled into the Robert Service Campsite, where we stayed in 2009 on a diffrerent trip up here. It's an awesome little place - a little hippyville. People come from all over and some folks stay the whole summer and set up shared outdoor kitchens etc. The campsites are walk in and none of them are serviced. We were able to handbomb our little trailer into a site. If you have an RV, you can stay in the back parking lot. It's a bit of a ramshackle place but it's quaint and the people are really nice. They have a covered outdoor living room with an exposed wood stove beside the Office that people are encouraged to use for visiting to keep the rest of the camp quiet at night which is nice. We really like this little funny spot. No power for my little heater though - tonight I'll hit the sack with my long underwear, thick socks and fleece hoodie!
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