Today was our last real day in Canada. I ran to downtown Whitehorse early for an oil change, since I’ve now beaten the Celica enough that I owe it one. The Jiffy Lube shared a parking lot with a Tim Horton’s, which is apparently a Canadian tradition because multiple people told me I had to go to one. It’s… it’s a fast food place — it’s a McDonald’s. But I gotta admit, it is really good, and I had a waffle breakfast sandwich, which was obviously the best choice. Once the boys finally arrived — George got stuck talking to a local in the parking lot at the apartment — we feasted, stopped by a NAPA for a couple things, and got on the road.
Our first stop was a hike I found on AllTrails on the edge of a neighborhood by a lake. It was one of the only “moderate” rated hikes in the mountains, but one of the comments read, “’Moderate’ is not the correct word to describe this hike.”
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/yukon/paint-mountain Could not Embed
Guess that could only go one of two ways, so we gave it a shot. Turned out it was a pretty inclined rock scramble, so we made it to a stunning viewpoint and called it.
Next up, we looked for a hike George found at the gorgeous Kluane Lake, but we couldn’t find the trailhead, but we did poke around a bit at the edge of the park. There was a small abandoned house, fall colors in sharp display, and a dried up marsh that has formed as the glacial river flow has changed directions in the last ten years.
In the parking lot, we noticed that right behind where we’d driven there were two ball bearings and a piece of a race, still covered in fresh grease. That was a bit frightening because… well… no one else was around… and no one else was broken down on the side of the road… Surely you’d know if you’d blown out something like that. Right? I was still a little shaken from replacing C/V axles in the Celica, but having found the race, we decided that it was possibly less likely this was a blown C/V joint because they have a different structure. (Or maybe we’re wrong about that.) So we all checked around our cars, and not finding any obvious damage, we gingerly got back on the road.
The one hike we managed was more of a stroll. In fact, the Soldier’s Summit Trail actually follows some of the original path of the first AlCan Highway route around the lake before the road was widened and a bigger bridge put in place closer to the shoreline. There was a display at the top of the hike with retellings of the opening ceremony as two remaining segments built up to meet in this point, officially completing the route. One placcard had an audio recording of the CBC broadcast.
I was hoping to find something on the waterfront for an early dinner, but both towns along the Alaska Highway on the lake were small First Nations communities that didn’t seem to have much in the way of tourism or motorist support beyond a gas station, so we headed on to Beaver Creek. I did get one entertaining photo though — truly, despite the heavy RV traffic, we really haven’t spent much time stuck behind them, but this mess did last for about ten miles:
On the last segment, we drive through a fire. They’ve had wildfires off and on this summer and there were a couple brewing off the highway as we drove in. Not close enough to be dangerous, but when the sun passed behind the smoke and turned bright red, that was profoundly creepy. I wish there’d been a better place to stop and look around. Also since I had the top down in the Celica, the car, all my stuff, and I smell very campfirey.
Beaver Creek is a town of less than 90 people. Along the highway, there are only three businesses currently open. Each is a hotel plus other services. We’re staying at the hotel/gas station/gift shop/c-store/liquor store, but their restaurant was closed, so we walked over to the motel/campground/restaurant/bar/liquor store/gift shop for dinner. And then back later because our hotel liquor store wasn’t as good as their motel liquor store. We ended up just having a drink at their motel bar instead and chatting with the owner of the place.
I can’t tell if we got to Victoria, BC just yesterday or if we’ve been here for a year already. Either way, it just doesn’t feel like time to leave just yet. Also I have a hard time squaring the bittersweetness of leaving Canada with we still have another thousand miles left and another five days. By morning, I bet I’ll be excited for Alaska, because we’re only about 20 minutes from the border and I’ve never been there, either!