Reaching the Yukon

The morning was chilly and dark in Smithers, British Columbia, Canada when we pulled out of the Sandman Inn's parking lot heading west.  The sun doesn't rise until between 8:30 and 9:00.  As  the dark faded, we could see snow capped mountains on our right as we followed the river west toward the Pacific.  An hour later, we reached the turnoff for Canada Route 37 north to the Yukon Territory.  After a quick stop to top off the gas tank.  I turned the car north and headed into the wilderness.

As we quickly learned, the road was remote.  For the next nine hours we drove without any cell service, GPS signal or even a radio station through the Canadian wilderness.  I had read that this area is the most remote area of British Columbia.  The highway started out a nice wide road with wide shoulders and was really a pleasure to drive.  Signs next to the gas station  gave the distances to the next gas stations. This was new for me.   There were only a total of four on the whole 600 mile drive and most of them were only small shacks with a pump out front.  Native's usually ran the stores in this remote region.  The Canadian gas, thats sold by the liter, gets terrible mileage in the car.  It's only averaging 21 miles per gallon instead of the usual 31. The trip today was quite costly as I spent $120.00 to drive those 600 miles.

The road was wide and wound in and out of fog as it scrolled through the valley with high snow capped mountains above.  The miles rolled by except for one quick rest stop after a couple of hours where we found a sign  talking about avalanche activities in the area.  A little of surprise that was laughed off until we reached an area farther up the road that had been wiped out due to a landslide.  The tall pines became shorter as we headed north and the mountain views were stunning.  Small and large lakes dotted the landscape.

Within an hour of turning onto Route 37, we passed a female coyote standing along the side of the road on the south bound lane.  It had no fear and didn't move as we sped past.  A half hour later we passed another one.  Again, this one did not move either.  The animals apparently had no fear of man probably due to lack of human interaction in the extreme remote area.  Later in the trip a snowshoe rabbit with his winter fur on ran across the road in front of the car.  His large feet propelling him quickly across the highway.  At one point,  a glance at a passing small lake revealed a wolf drinking from the lake.  It's amazing the animals we are seeing on this trip.  Earlier in the morning we had passed a dead caribou along the side of the road.  Moose and caribou crossing signs dot the roadside along with signs stating "Litter Barrel Ahead".  (Lisa and Steve Miller... I'm sure will appreciate this reference.)

The road often narrowed to a single lane to cross long, narrow, wood decked bridges.  The road undulated over hills and mountain passes.  Then it ran long and straight through wide valleys.  After the half way mark, the road began to narrow considerably.  The shoulders disappeared as did the center line.  The few tractor trailers we passed all moved from the center of the road so we both fit on the narrow road.  Every truck we passed had large grill guards on the front of the truck to protect the front end.  My little Tucson doesn't have one.  I guess I'm on my own if I hit a moose or a caribou.



At one point the road turned to dirt for several miles and we met a road crew working on the road. A large section of road had been obliterated during a landslide and they were working to rebuild it.  This section was on a steep downhill slope with the mountain rising high on the one side.  The road twisted steeply down until it crossed an old long steel bridge that crossed a wide river far below.  About three quarters up the highway we passed through the town of Jade.  We couldn't figure out before this why the rocks on the side of the road were green.  After passing through Jade and seeing the large mine operation up against the mountain it made sense.

The road became narrower and the lack of a center line kept me in the middle of the road as it

Burned pine trees for 70 miles

became rougher.  The farther we went north the more snow that began to appear on the roadside and sometimes in the road.  For over an hour, the forest on both sides of the road was filled with burned trees.  The area had been the subject of a huge forest fire at some point earlier in the year.  Suddenly after hours on the road the GPS started to work again and told us we were near the junction with Route 1, the Alaskan Highway.  Soon a the sign appeared telling us we had reached the Yukon Territory. This was a huge milestone along the trip.

After hitting Route 1, we turned east and headed fifteen miles up the road to Watson Lake where we had researched there was motels and gas.  We came into the small town and chose one the 3 available locally owned motels.  Dinner at the cafe in town provided great food and good conversation with our server Clayton.  Clayton is a native of Newfoundland and has worked all over Canada including above the Arctic Circle.  He prefers the Yukon over Vancouver as he says it's much quieter here.  I can't argue with that logic.  A talk with another local revealed that the road to Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, was clear today and about 5 hours away.  The decision has been made to drive only to Whitehorse then on to Tok, Alaska the next day.  Up until these past few days on the trip, we have just driven until it was late then found a motel for the night.  I've never had a trip before where the itinerary had to be planned and mapped with such detail due to the lack of fuel and lodging.  Distances, weather and times have to be calculated to ensure lodging for the night and the ability to get to the next gas station.  This section has certainly been an adventure.  One I won't ever forget and will not regret.