Frenchman Lake

It's hard to leave Paradise, but if you don't you'll never find the next wonderful place.

Burlap put in between logs for chinking.

My goal on this excursion was the little town of Faro, where there was supposed to be excellent wildlife viewing. And besides, I hadn't explored that part of the Yukon. If I never left, I'd never get there. Besides, rain was in the forecast, so it was a good time to hit the road and drive.

After the Klondike Goldrush, the main route to Dawson from Whitehorse was along the Yukon River by boat. However, this froze up during the winter, so a land route — what we'd now call an "ice road" — was developed. Roadhouses were set up to help people endure the 330-mile trip, then took about six days by horse-drawn "coach." The Montague Roadhouse, now a historic monument, is one of the few that is left.

It's hard to imagine in the warm weather of the summer that people would be traveling in the cold and dark of snowy winter. They braved temperatures down to -40°F; if it were colder than that, they did not travel, but of course there was no guarantee that if they left when it was -38°F that the temperature wouldn't drop while they were enroute!

What's left of the Montague Roadhouse.

Memories of the roadhouses were pleasant ones. Apparently there was always a fine spread of local foods: caribou, sheep, fish, bear, plus homemade berry pies. I'm sure the warmth and camaraderie of the roadhouse — and ample liquor — also may have had something to do with the happy memories.
— Check out "The Overland Trail" for some more info and pictures

HUGE canoe!

It began to drizzle as I neared Carmacks where I picked up some ice at the local convenience/ gas station. An aside: the price of ice varies widely and somewhat inexplicably. At the local Independent store in Whitehorse, it's $2.67CA for a 10-lb block or sack of cubes (same price). At Carmacks, I got a 5-lb bag for $3.50CA, and I've paid as much $4.50 for ice in the US. Having good refrigeration would be the one thing that would drive me to a bigger rig with more power.

While waiting for a break in the rain, I checked for email and phone messages. One needs to take advantage of every location with cell service, especially when one is going off into the bush.

Northern goldenrod (Solidago multiradiata)

While there, a HUGE canoe came up to the gas station. I didn't get the story on it, but it could easily have held 10 people. This is not a sight one sees in California! Here, kayaks and canoes are on probably 10% of the vehicles!
Between the wet weather and the comedown from the high of the earlier days, I did not seek out the cultural center here (for a passport stamp), or do the walking tour of the town, or look into doing any of the hikes and excursions up to the coal mine. I will be back here, and I always like to leave something to do.

Just after Carmacks, my route crossed the Yukon River and turned off of the Klondike Hwy 1, and onto the Robert Campbell Hwy (Hwy 4).

This route was beautiful, and I'm now wishing I'd taken more photos, but there were few places to pull over to take pictures.

Eagle Rock: site of the 1906 SS Columbian disaster.

The sides of the mountains coming down to the river were covered with green and yellow furze, with the undulating folds so regular that they seemed like they made my machine, not nature. You can see a little of this at the lower left in the photo above, which actually has an interesting story about it. It was the site worst disaster in Yukon steamer history. It involved a shipload of blasting powder and cattle, a flock of ducks, and a gun. It did not end well, but could have been worse.
— You can read all about it here, courtesy of the McBride Museum

The landscape is gorgeous here. It's not "in your face" beautiful, but it's the utter expanse of untrammeled beauty that I love. It feels like it goes on forever, and the effect of mankind on the land is very small. With most land travel being restricted to just a few roads (travel by boat, air and ice doesn't leave much trace), and the land being covered by ice and snow for half the year, I hope that it can be kept fairly pristine.

On the negative side, ATVs are having an impact. Often by the side of an established road there will be an ATV track. I can understand it, but it doesn't make me happy. And I realize by driving here that I am part of the problem. I'm ignoring that for now.

I turned off on a dirt road to explore a chain of lakes, where there is a series of campgrounds. The first one was full (it was Friday night), so I went a bit further to Frenchman Lake, where I grabbed the last campsite.

It was not as idyllic as the previous ones had been: the campground felt more crowded (it was), and the two best sites by the water had been taken. The remaining sites, including the one that I took, were pushed back into the forest, and I never like the feeling of being closed in or surrounded by trees. However, I was glad to get it.

Cooked a quick meal and hit the hay; the sunset lit up the sky for a few minutes later in the evening!

11pm sunset over Frenchman Lake

TRIP MAP: Map link: https://goo.gl/maps/zrhWauCLGAM2