Canada – Yukon Territory – Johnson's Crossing-Teslin YT – 2 of 10 provinces on our RV Adventure

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

My challenge for me to remember all we seen. I am typing our travel log 1 to 2 days after we travel through the area depending on our stay or when I get up in the morning, which by the way sunrise is getting closer 2:30 am. I rely on memory, maps, and photos along the way.

Our adventure takes deeper into the Northern Rockies. We begin after breakfast at Liard River Hot Springs Lodge. We are on the road by 9:00 am ready for a beautiful day through Canada. Our mission to day is to visit The Sign Forest in Watson Lake. The Sign Forest is famous for the thousands of left behind mementos and signs of previous visitors crossing the Alaska Highway. The distance is 135 miles from Liard River Hot Springs, thus it is not a good stopping point for a night’s stay.

Our stop goal is to pass into Yukon Territory, Canada. We do not have a specific location when we start off, but stop eventually stop at Johnson’s Crossing in Teslin, Yukon Territory.

Welcome to the Yukon Territory where ALCAN continues. The travel time from Liard River Hot Springs Provisional Park in Northern Rockies B, BC, CA to Johnson’s Crossing in Teslin YT CA is 6 h 42 min 518 Kilometers (322 miles) via BC-97 Alaska Highway.

We start off our journey. Within 10 minutes we spot a bear feeding on the side of the road. I stop a short distance after the bear and decide to approach the bear on foot. My 300mm zoom will keep me a good distance away. The bear keeps feeding as I take pictures unaware I am around, until a truck flies by me and our vehicle parked on the shoulder. He spots me and stares right at me. The gnats are swarmed all over the bear. That is my queue to leave. I do not take the time to check my picture quality before I retreat to the car, but I hope I got him focused in.

The morning is perfect. Clouds and blue sky throughout. We spot another bear, 15 minutes later, this time far enough ahead to literally park next to the bear. The bear begins to walk along the side of the road in the grass. We slowly keep pace of the bear, so I can get my pictures when Lora finishes hers. I get some good closeup shot of the bear with no care in the world.

When ever we see a bicycle rider, Lora tries to take a photo. We have a deep respect for these dedicated people pedaling along such a tough terrain.

Lora can take pictures when she wants, I am restricted to driving, but can occasionally slow down enough to take pictures or when I pull off to the side to a turn out. We spot at a turnout next to a beautiful river. The turnout has picnic tables and benches with a fire-pit in the middle for travels to boondock for the night. The view high above the river is wonderful. A couple tells me there are two buffalo in the river. I zoom in with the camera. I would hate to burst their bubble, but it is 2 boulders with grass growing on top. The turn out is dedicated to the surveyors of the Alaska Highway. It was dedicated on May 18, 1997.

We move onward. The clouds in the sky are amazing and unique. They seem to be painted in 3d on Gods canvas.

We stop for fuel at Coal River Lodge, Mile 533 Alaska Hwy, Coal River, BC. The Campground & Gas Station Guide shows it as Mile DC 513.

30 minutes later we spot another bear along the side. We get nice shots of him walking on the side. A second is back further away from us.

We spot a sign reading “Welcome to Yukon”. Without any warning we are in Yukon Territory, Canada, we think.

We see a mushroom cloud that looks like an explosion in the sky.

A few minutes later we see a bison on the side of the road.

We are trying to keep count on the number of animals we are seeing. To date we have the following: Black Bear: 14; Brown Bear: 1; Coyote: 2; Bison: ~15; Caribou: 2; Ram: 4; Elk: 4; Red Fox: 1; Bald Eagle: 3

We pass a sign that reads “You are now entering the Yukon portion of the Trans Canada Trail”. The ‘Trans Canada Trail’ passes through all 10 provinces that makes up Canada. When we entered Canada, we traveled on a portion of the ‘Trans Canada Trail’

Shortly afterward we pass a unique cemetery on the side of the highway. The cemetery is laden with white crosses in now specific pattern. I slow down so Lora can get a photograph.

Within 10 minutes we reach Watson Lakes. The town is small, but its historical significance is The Sign Forest. The Sign Forest was created after a former ALCAN Soldier revisited Watson Lake in 1992 to reenact the placing of the original sign depicted in pictures from 1943. The Watson Lake Lions Club, Hippie Clue and the city of Watson Lakes maintain the park. In 2004 the town had counted ~55,000 signs.

The site is massive along the side of the road. Posts and posts of signs left by passing visitors. The attraction is built onto a rolling hill. The town has original vehicles from the building of ALCAN Highway and local items. Street signs, wood placards, license plates, custom signs, town signs from around the world, you name it, its there. We walk around looking for the spot we will place our sign.

I spot a sign that says Raleigh, NC is 4446 miles for The Sign Forrest.

We place our sign not far from the back entrance. Our sign is our NC license plate from the RAM 1500 we traded in for the RAM 3500 we have today. I take pictures from the back entrance in the direction of our sign for future reference.

We call Phillip when parked to get an update on the house inspection and let him know we are in and out of communication between towns.

We see rain in the distance. It is so cool we can be in full daylight and see showers in the distance in multiple places.

As soon as the rain begins we see another brown bear. To date we have the following: Black Bear: 14; Brown Bear: 2; Coyote: 2; Bison: ~15; Caribou: 2; Ram: 4; Elk: 4; Red Fox: 1; Bald Eagle: 3.

We drive through the shower and we are facing snow patched mountains in the distance in the sun and great grass meadows.

Lora spots on the slopes rock arrangements. Peoples names, letters, symbols, etc. The markings go one as long while.

The sun comes back out and we travel along beautiful scenery. We see we bend back into British Columbia when we see a sign “Welcome to British Columbia” on the other side of the highway. We see it again for a third time not far later.

We stop once again for fuel to keep in agreement with the half tank rule. We stop at Rancheria Motel Café, Mile 710 Alaska Hwy, YT. The Campground & Gas Station Guide shows us at mile marker DC 687.

We make it to Teslin, YT by 3:30 pm. It is now time to start looking for campground. We are in cell range to search for RV sites. We stop at a rest stop on the hill overlooking the bridge and town. We see there is a Nisutlin Trading Post right after the bridge.

We pull into the campground. I learn all they have is 20 amp service and the sites are not the greatest. They do have a nice museum next door I would have liked to visit. I call Johnson’s Crossing Lodge and ask if they have any sites. They tell me to come on it and no need to make a reservation.

We are 32 miles away. We stop at Teslin Lake and take a few pictures and then move on to our destination.

We make it to Johnson’s Crossing Lodge by 4:40 pm. I walk in to the lodge and luckily, we find out there are only 2 sites remaining with 30-amp full service. The kid behind the counter said after I called he had several camper’s role in. We got a spot and setup for the night.

We get our pictures of the campground and spend the remainder of the evening relaxing after a long but satisfying drive.

Lora spots a Bald Eagle flying by the window. We can get a few pictures before it flies out of sight.

The next morning we decide to have breakfast in the Lodge. We over an 3 egg omelet, hash browns, and toast for Lora and pancakes and cinnamon bun for myself. The breakfast was very good and filling. Both of us left satisfied.

Lora wants to drive into Alaska today. It will be another marathon trip if we make. If the scenery was like yesterday it will be an easy drive. Lets see if we can make it…

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