July 10 - White River to Whitehorse

We woke up this morning to heavy skies but no rain so it was an easy pack up. We didn't get eaten by the bear last night so that was a relief! We wandered around the RV park for a bit, looking at the array of interesting things they have there - turns out it was an old 250-man army camp back in the day which was later converted to the RV park but there is still a 3000 ft. grassy airstrip there and a collection of old army vehicles gently rotting amongst the shrubbery. This RV park is one of the nicest we've been to - the grounds are so well kept and there are lovely trees and a pond with a bridge and small fountain. 

We had coffee in the office and visited with the Amanda for awhile. She was telling us that pretty much all those derelict looking places along the Alaska Highway ARE, in fact, abandoned. She said it's a real problem up in the Yukon and Alaska. There was a boom in the 70s and 80s and a lot of people "got back to the land" up there - built houses, shacks, cabins, roadside gas stations, cabins, resorts and shops but now, the economy has faultered (as with everywhere) and many of those homesteading youngsters of yesterday are all now aging and wanting to sell and retire somewhere where the winters aren't so fierce and there is better access to resources like medical care etc. Very little sells and many places have become unstable, having been rigged up haphazardly on permafrost that eventually melts and becomes bog from the warmth of the buildings. Everything eventually shifts and tips into the muck. We've see quite a bit of that. It's sad to see these places; doors open, windows smashed, rooms empty and weathered old signs hanging cock-eyed by a rotten nail or two... the detritus of long past dreams people came, had and then abandoned...

Finally, at 10am, we steeled our nerves and headed out to face the worst stretch of road we'd been repeatedly warned about my everyone who has travelled it - the stretch from White River to Destruction Bay. "How bad could it be?" we thought... "we've done some dodgy roads in our travels."

It was bad. 

In fact, hands down it's the worst stretch of road we've been on in the past 100,000 kms of riding over the last 4 years. About 60 kms of thick, loose, marbley gravel that was only matched in treachery by the 10 mile stretch of unpacked dirt recently heavily rained on creating a greasy slime. Fun times. On top of THAT, there was an abundance of complete morons driving trailer-hauling pick up trucks coming in the opposite direction travelling twice the speed they should have been, sending waves of marbley gravel up in our faces. By the time we got through it all and pulled over for a break, I was so mad I ranted for about 15 minutes, threatening nasty letters to every official I could think of and wishing punctured tires and a bucket of pox on the heads of all the gravel-spraying drivers... sigh... and then I got over it. We had something to eat, fed a bunch of Whiskeyjacks from our hands, chatted with a nice lady from New Zealand and we headed out again.

We skimmed along the edge of the Kluane Wildlife Sanctuary that borders the Kluane National Park and Reserve. The mountains were hemming in by low-lying cloud for the most part but it was still a nice view. The pavement to Burwash Landing was only marginally better in a lot of places than the crappy gravel - great rolling frost heaves spread out for miles through the tundra like a roller coaster track and filled with pot holes and deteriorating patch jobs. It was hard to make any speed because we had to keep slowing down to 50 or 60 kms/hour to make it through the rough parts, sharp dips  and roller coaster rides. 

From here, Kluane Lake spreads out along the north side of the highway - a gorgeous turquoise green lake that runs for miles. On the right are the St. Elias Mountains, home to 15 of the highest peaks in Canada including Mt. Logan, the very highest peak in the Nation, towering over the land at 19,520 ft. The road winds it's way along the shore and today it was stunning - not a ripple on it. 

We stopped at the historic Canyon Creek and walked across the old bridge. The original one was built in 1904 by, among others, the famous Sam McGee (immortalized by "The Cremation of..." some years later) and then rebuilt to original again in the 1940s. As we returned to our bikes, a purple black storm was creeping up in front of us and we could see great streaks and sheets of rain hammering down in the distance. On with the rain gear and off we went into the eye of the storm. We were royally swamped for several miles and then, as quick as it came, we were through it and out the other side. 

We rolled through Haines Junction and continued on through a million MORE miles of endless tundra but, as we neared Whitehorse, we started to see meadows, fence, horses and signs of some agriculture. Dotted along the highway, abandoned places still sulked but the tundra started to thin out as the edges of the permafrost gave way to warm, fertile ground...

We arrived in Whitehorse around 6pm. We considered continuing on to Teslin but we were tired. It had been a long day of slow, stressful riding, pouring rain and bad roads and, although there were some enjoyable and beautiful stretches as well, we were played out. We had hopes to be home by the 12th but now, it looks like we may be delayed a day. 

We decided a hotel room was in order. We grabbed one at the Airport Chalet (NOT a recommend although their pub restaurant is excellent - stop for food only...), had a fantastic steak dinner in the hotel pub, a long piping-hot shower and that, as they say, is "all she wrote!"