Canada – Yukon Territory – Kluane Lake DC1024 1624km Gravel Turnout– 2 of 10 provinces

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.

Our goal is to reach the Alaska boarder. The drive is close to 300 miles, so we are expecting a long day. We fuel up before we leave Johnson’s Crossing Lodge. We leave around 9:23 am. Thirteen minutes into the journey Lora spots a brown bear walking on the side of the road.

To date we have the following: Black Bear: 14; Brown Bear: 3; Coyote: 2; Bison: ~15; Caribou: 2; Ram: 4; Elk: 4; Red Fox: 1; Bald Eagle: 3

We eventually stop earlier than expected at a gravel turnout at mile marker DC1024 or 1624.1 kilometers. The travel time from Johnson’s Crossing in Teslin YT CA to Kluane Lake DC1024 1624 km Gravel Turnout is 4 h 6 min 386 Kilometers (240 miles) via BC-97 Alaska Highway.

Around 10:00 am we drive up to our first construction flagman. We wait for less than 10 minutes before we can proceed. We are number 2 in line with a motorcycle ahead of us.

The construction is normally laying gravel over the road covering pots holes, ripples, or washouts done over the winter. Our previous neighborhood in Waynesboro, VA used the same process to construct our roads within the neighborhood. The process of gravel, oil and tar rolled over more gravel forms a hard surface over time. After the surface hardens the construction crews will sweep the loose gravel before paint marking the lines on the road.

We follow the motorcycle past the pilot car for another 15 minutes. He is maintaining a speed 10 km below the limit. There is a line of cars behind us, some itching to fly by. Two make a multiple car pass to get past me and the motorcycle.

We stop just before a bridge at a turnout. The turnout has a walking path to view Marsh Lake Dam and Marsh Lake. Another camper pulls in behind us. We talk with the couple. He had said it was a while before he seen the biker in front of us. He was concerned anyone trying to pass would not know the biker was the lower down and not me. We chatted for a good 45 minutes.

We finally made it to Whitehorse. Whitehorse is the gateway to Dawson City to the north and cities to the south. Whitehouse is one of the largest cities we have seen since leaving Dawson Creek. They have museums, an airport, and railroad.

We drive through beautiful scenery. The roads are rougher in the Yukon Territory. They seem to have many gravel patches, sometime kilometers long, throwing dust and gravel in the air. We really need to be careful of passing vehicles throwing rocks.

We drive into Takhini River Valley. Ahead of us is mountains covered with patches of snow.

Lora catches a coyote walking on the side of the road. We follow the coyote as he walked along the road with us until we got all the pictures we wanted.

Updating the tally, we have the following: Black Bear: 14; Brown Bear: 3; Coyote: 3; Bison: ~15; Caribou: 2; Ram: 4; Elk: 4; Red Fox: 1; Bald Eagle: 3

We come up to another construction site and follow another pilot car for a lengthy time.

We get closer to the mountains. The road no longer becomes an issue when the scenery is so wonderful, and unexpected wildlife along the sides of the road.

Haines Junction is our next decent size town in our sites. The town sites below a glacier field high in the mountains. There are helicopter and plane tours to view the glaciers in the region. We stop at Fas Gas RV for fuel.

We are mesmerized the thickness of the glacier on the side of the mountains. Some look like frozen waterfalls from thousands of years. Other mountains look like blown out volcanos with snow scattered across the remaining walls.

We drive along the mountain range for what seems like miles. We see a raging river flowing down the mountain most likely from melting snow.

On both sides we occasionally come across ponds and lakes.

We drive on through scenes of mountains and trees.

In front of us we see a large body of water. Driving closer we see a sign for Kluane Lake. We are still a few kilometers before getting to the lake, but the size become so evident as we get closer.

When we reach the lake we stop at a turnout. The entrance is a steep grade, but I still go in without incident. Later on, we see big rigs and campers drive to the other entrance to avoid the steep grade. The turnout is massive. The view is a dream come true. Beautiful beach, mountains with patches of snow, glass water, and green mountains ahead.

I suggest to Lora this would be a perfect place to stay the night. Surprisingly Lora agrees. We hang around contemplating staying when motor coach drives up and parks just off the highway to avoid the steep grade. After a bit, I walk up to the couple and ask if they may know if we can camp here. In Canada if the turnouts are not marked no camping they are open for overnight campers. If we stay they are willing to stay because it is always better in numbers. We all agree, and Lora and I move the camper to one corner of the turnout. The other camper comes in by the other entrance and move in front of us.

This is so cool. The best campsite view to date with no fee. I set up the generators in the cargo basket and arrange them to be run right out of the basket. I plan to keep them ready for running in the future for more boondocking.

The couple turns out live in North Carolina outside Asheville. They sold their home and bought the motor coach to travel the country. They have been boondocking along their way from NC traveling long distances per day. He had mentioned he was detained for 3 hours at the boarder because he had previously owned several guns and the customs officers wanted to know about how he disposed of each gun. He also had a registered pump action shotgun he claimed at the border. They searched his RV before they let him go forward. He did not realize how much the agent knew about him. We mentioned to him they have a long history on each of you up on their screen when they ask questions. If you slip to do not give a good answer they can detain you for an inspection.

The bugs at first were crazy. I walked Bella Bee off leash along the lake seeing how much she was loving the freedom. She did so well taking my commands to stay near me or stop if she ran ahead to far.

The wind began to build up and the bugs were gone, so nice. Lora and I walked Bella again on the beach.

More campers were beginning to setup along the length of the turnout. We were very pleased of our decision. I ran the generator to run the AC until the breeze was strong enough to cool down the camper.

Sunset was expected at 11:45 pm tonight. My goal is to stay up to capture the sunset. Eventually I figure I can use time lapse photo from the GoPro or my Camera. I first setup the camera but forget how to see the time lapse function. I had only done it one time before and I am getting no data to search Google. I setup the GoPro for 1 shot each minute. I attach the GoPro to the inside of the camper window.

The sun begins to make its evening transition at around 10:30 am.

We have an Indian couple arrive in a van. Unfortunately, they are in my sunset shots. The couple sets up a candle light dinner on the beach. Sometime after the table is setup the woman sits by herself down the beach viewing the lake as the man prepares dinner. Lora was praising him for his romantic touch. The strange thing is there is only one seat at the table. The man makes himself a plate and sits down to eat. The woman goes back the van and sits in the van. The SOB man eats his food and drinks his liqueur. He does this for a long time. By 10:30 pm I set up the GoPro for time-laps. I go outside and capture a few pictures with my camera. Another couple had shown up earlier and setup on the beach as well. This couple is working together to build a fire and eat dinner on the beach.

The next morning I got up about 5:30 am. The two couple’s vehicles were still parked in the turnout. They were mostly like sleeping in their vehicles. We have 7 campers and the 3 vehicles parked in the turnout.

I eventually start the generator to make coffee. Lora gets up at 7:30 am and shortly afterward we run out of fresh water in our tanks. Not expecting to boondock, we did not refill the tank after we dry camped in Lair River Hot Springs Provincial Park. We have 3-36 packs of bottled water we can use for the bathroom and coffee for Lora.

We packed up after Lora finished her coffee and packed up without any of us washing up. Lora at least washes her hair each day.

We wish we can find another site like this again. We would not hesitate to do it again. Lesson learned is to keep the freshwater tanks full and enough gas for the generator to 2 days maximum.

Today we are reaching the Alaska border. We hope the drive has been as good as Canada.

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