Alaska Highway, Part 3: Watson Lake and Whitehorse

The next morning, our bodies refreshed and our faith in humanity restored, we left Fireside and headed towards Watson Lake, which would be our first stop in the Yukon.  I was eager to see the "Sign Post Forest" that I had been reading about in the guidebooks.  Apparently back when the Alaska Highway was first being built, a guy put up a sign with the distance to his hometown.  Just because he was homesick, I guess.  Anyway, other people started doing the same thing and on and on, and today there are over 75,000 signs all posted in one place in Watson Lake!  And travelers are encouraged to add their own signs as they pass through.  I love the idea of a tourist attraction you can become a part of yourself. 

We got in to town in time for an early lunch and stopped at Kathy's Kitchen.  Rich liked my sandwich a lot better than the one he got so I was nice and gave him the other half.  Can't hurt to put a few extra bonus points in the bank, right?  After lunch we looked for the Sign Post Forest on our way out of town.  We didn't have to look very hard... it is HUGE!  Rows and rows of signs almost as far as you can see.  You could probably get lost in there. 

I walked around looking for signs from places I knew.  If there was a Penfield one I didn't see it, but we found a bunch of familiar places, including NOLA!  Rich spotted that one first.  I don't think I would have even caught it.

As I was walking around thinking about how cool this thing was, I was trying not to be too disappointed to not be able to put our own sign up there.  Did people plan ahead for this?  I knew we had a scrap of a 2x4 and I asked Rich if he thought we could make that into a sign.  "Oh, you want a sign?  I think I have some in my suitcase", he says.  Because of course, who DOESN'T carry random signs around in their suitcases.  Sure enough, not only did he have one but several signs to choose from.  He's been known to come up with some pretty obscure items in a pinch but this one was pretty impressive.  I picked the BEWARE OF DOG sign, scratched our names into it with a drywall screw (which of course he just happened to have in his pocket) and started looking for a spot to put it.  We found a great spot right on the back of the entrance sign.  He lifted me up onto his shoulders and I tacked it on.  Now c'mon, how cool is that???  Another little bit of Alcan magic.

Our destination for the day was one of the few places we had arranged ahead of time.  We'd be staying in the Hidden Valley Bed & Breakfast in Whitehorse.  It's the type of place that's sometimes called a B&B&B (for Bed, Breakfast & Barn) or Bed & Bale because it has accommodations for your horses as well.  I knew we were going to like this place when the owner didn't skip a beat when I said we'd  have four dogs in our room with us.  Usually "dog friendly" doesn't extend quite that far.  Not only was she cool with it, but there was no extra charge!  Pretty amazing.  And sure enough, the place was great.  Eva & Emile were excellent hosts and their house is beautiful.  The guest paddock for the horses was great too- enough space to stretch their legs and a nice roomy shelter.

We liked it so much there, we decided to stay another day!  Rich was pretty run down from the last few days of tough driving, the horses were getting a little fed up with being in the trailer all day, and all of us could use a little break.  Especially at such a nice place.  Our 2nd day there was quite luxurious.  We ate at a great spot in Whitehorse called Burnt Toast Cafe.  Unfortunately most things we wanted to see in town were closed because it was Sunday, but it was just as well since we really just needed to relax and sit in one place for more than a few minutes.  So we went back to the house and rested up.  In the morning, back on the road.

Kind of nice to be going zero miles per hour for a change.

Alaska Highway, Part 2: Fort Nelson, Liard River Hot Springs & Fireside

The next day was spent driving to Fort Nelson. The roads were okay- not great, but okay- and the scenery was starting to look like we were in the mountains.

I'm not sure how much other traffic I was expecting to see on the road with us, but there has been enough that I've never felt REALLY remote or out in the middle of nowhere (even though we pretty much are). Lots of oilfield service vehicles.

We rolled into Ft Nelson around dusk and finally had enough cell service that we could call Lindsey, our contact for the night's accommodations. It wasn't a business, she'd be letting us & our animals stay at her house, so I was worried that we were going to be too much trouble or she had changed her mind or we had gotten in too late or something. But, the awesomeness of people along the Alcan continued and she (and her family) were EXTREMELY nice and accommodating. Stormy & Gaefa got to stay outside in a round pen, where Gaefa promptly rolled in the snow, and the rest of us stayed in the trailer in the driveway. They let us plug in our heater which was awesome because then we didn't need to run the generator. Getting up to their house was an adventure in itself- we should have suspected as much when Lindsey asked us if we had 4WD and said we'd need to use it. Not only was their road reeeally steep, it was also dirt/gravel and really muddy. I almost thought we wouldn't make it but of course the Chevy didn't let us down. We inched up there & finally made it.

In the morning they invited us in for coffee. We wanted to hit the road early as we had a long day of driving to get to Watson Lake, but I wasn't going to turn down their generous offer so we sat and chatted for a few. Then it was back on the road.

Their place was just north of Ft Nelson so it was a nice little jumpstart to the day's drive. Unfortunately though, the driving was really slow going because of a lot of very steep ups and downs. We'd creep up 8-10% grades at about 20 mph or less. We soon realized that Watson Lake wasn't going to be feasible. We figured we'd play it by ear and find a place to stop when we got as far as we could.

It was a rough driving day for Rich. Lots of stress about keeping the horses safe & comfy with the rollercoaster ups and downs. And with the wind added in there, it was requiring all of his concentration just to keep us on the road.

Liard River Hot Springs was along the day's route that day. It's supposed to be one of the highlights of the whole Alaska Highway so of course we wanted to see it. As the day wore on though, the stress and effort of the driving built up until I was ready to skip it just to avoid the hassle and time of another stop. But I was surprised when Rich still wanted to see it, I figured he wouldn't, so we ended up stopping anyway. And we're both so glad we did! The hot springs were amazing. And REALLY hot. I could barely walk over to the end of the pool where the water was coming out of the ground to take pictures, and even then I couldn't get too close. My legs looked sunburned when I got out of there! It was a really nice refreshing stop for the both of us and just what we needed to melt away some of the stress and fatigue of the day.

On the downstream side of the little waterfall, where it was a little cooler.

It was REALLY HOT over here, I almost couldn't get close enough to get this photo.

Gotta do the feet pic!

A welcome oasis on the Alcan

Can't you just feel the "AAAhhhhh...."

Hot spring selfie!

Another view of the spot where the HOT HOT water was coming out.  You could get pretty close if you approached from the right angle, but one step off track was OUCH!

Still really hot over here, but oh so pretty.

Yes, it really was that inviting, and it felt every bit as awesome as it looks.

After that, Rich figured he'd be good for another hour of driving which turned out to be a pretty close estimate. Only problem was that there wasn't much of anything between the hot springs and Watson Lake, and Watson Lake was still a few hours away. We needed a place to eat and a place to stop and let the horses out for the night, and it looked like we weren't going to find either.

Rich saw a sign that said “Buffalo Burgers, 40 km” and decided that if there was food, he could make it that far. I wasn't so sure because the only thing I saw in the Milepost guide at that spot said “Fireside, no services”. I was afraid it was an old sign and that he'd be disappointed. But, if we were going to stop on the side of the road for the night anyway, I supposed that we may as well do it 40 km further along. So imagine my surprise when we drove up on the Fireside Truck Stop with big signs saying, “OPEN for business!” and “New Owners!”. Wait, so... there really is food here?? And other humans?? And possibly even a hotel room??? It was an absolute oasis in the middle of backcountry Canada.

The Fireside was definitely one of our best stops on the whole trip. Now the place doesn't look like much, in fact it looks more dive-y than any dive I've ever seen (and I've been to the Florabama), but the hospitality was top notch. The owners, who I don't think have even had the place for a year yet, went out of their way time and again to make sure we and the animals had everything we needed. There was no place to put horses, so I thought we'd have to leave them on the trailer, but our hosts Norma and Daryl didn't give up until we had cobbled together a small pen made out of any and all building materials we could round up, plus a couple of trucks and a tractor, Not the prettiest accommodation, but the horses were safe and happy to be off the trailer. As for us, after a nice hot meal we and the dogs were put in the “suite” right up the stairs from the horses so we could keep an eye on them.

Our room.  Not much to look at but the hospitality made it just perfect.

The next morning Norma got some pictures of the horses and made sure we signed the wall before we left. She said it was only the 2^nd time they'd had horses there and seemed really excited about it. I highly recommend their stop to anyone who travels the Alcan... they've got a lot of work to do to make the place look presentable but you won't find nicer or more accommodating hosts. They came along just at the perfect time too, when I was starting to freak out over where/how we were going to spend the night. Yet another small miracle in a series of them that happened throughout the trip.

Side of the "restaurant" which was made of two adjoining travel trailers.

We left our mark!