Day 66 - Sunday July 23/17
(Posted on Thursday August 03/17, from the TrailerCraft Service Centre in Fairbanks, Alaska - proactively getting the trailer wheel bearings serviced!)

We left Cacross about 10 am this morning. After a short trip into Whitehorse to get cheaper gas (109.4/l) we headed west on the Alaska Highway in an easy and picturesque drive, heading up Hwy. 1 to Haines Junction, and then northwest on Hwy. 3 toward the Alaska border.(map)

We are using a travel guide called “The Milepost” which is a 704 page resource for all road travel to, from, and in Alaska. It gives details for highways connecting to or within the state of Alaska by the distance marker at the edge of the road (called 'mileposts; but they are in kilometres in the Canadian sections!). For example today we passed km 1588 and read this notation:

“Beautiful views to southwest of the snow-covered Kluane Ranges as the Alaska Highway parallels the Kluane Ranges from Haines Junction to Koiderm, presenting a nearly unbroken chain of mountains to 8,000 feet/2,438 meters, interrupted by only a few large valleys cut by glacier-fed rivers and streams. West of the Kluane Ranges is the Duke Depression, a narrow trough separating the Kluane Ranges from the St Elias Mountains.  Major peaks in the St. Elias (not visible from the highway) are: Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak, at 19,545 feet/5,959 m; Mount St. Elias,18,008 feet/5,489m;…. and Mounts Wood, Vancouver, Hubbard and Steele, all over 15,000 feet/4,572 m. Mount Steele (16,664 feet/5,079 m) was named for Superintendent Sam Steele of the North West Mounted Police. As commanding officer of the NWMP in the Yukon in 1898, Steele established permanent detachments at the summits of the White and Chilkoot passes to ensure not only that gold stampeders obeyed Canadian laws, but also had sufficient supplies to carry them through the good fields.” (Pg 205)

Quite the source of information – this book! It is becoming difficult to be the navigator these days as there is so much detail to be reading aloud to the driver that the navigator sometimes doesn’t actually get to enjoy the views!

On reading a description in The Milepost, we decided to stay at the Congdon Creek Yukon Government Campground on Kluane Lake. We found another scenic waterfront location that more than made up for the lack of on-site electricity and water. The fee of $12.00 also added to the appeal!

As we explored the campground we found that it is the scene of a study on how to lessen confrontations between bears and humans.  Interestingly, CBC did a story on this project a few days after we were there. Here’s the CBC report:

CBC news July 26, 2017 “Tent campers can once again stay at Yukon's Congdon Creek Campground, thanks to the installation of an electric fence to deter bears. 

The territorial campground has been mostly closed to soft-sided camping for several years, while still open to those travelling in RVs or hard-sided trailers. 

The site, located on the west side of Kluane Lake, has a "long history" of conflicts between bears and campers, explains Scott Gilbert, a biology instructor at Yukon College.

Bear-proof food lockers are provided for people, like cycle tourers, who don't have a vehicle to store bear-attractants in. 

"Bears have always been frequent in that area. It's an important movement area," he said, noting that bears like to move along the Kluane lakeshore and feed in the Congdon creek fan.  

Gilbert worked with Yukon Parks to re-establish a tenting area. They set up an electric fence with room for about eight tents, depending on their size.

Gilbert says the fence itself is not a new idea — electric fences are used by groups like researchers and industry to deter animals from entering camp — but he says it's a first for a Yukon territorial campground.  

The 8-stranded fence uses an electric current to keep wildlife from entering the enclosure. Humans don't want to touch it either and signs instruct them how to safely navigate the fence. 

The enclosure is not intended as a place to store food. Yukon Parks has installed bear-proof storage bins for people travelling by foot or bike, who can't store food in a vehicle.“

(Ed. Note: we did not stay inside the fence as we have a hard sided trailer, and we did not encounter a bear.)

After we arrived at the campsite around 3:30 we had a beer (Michael) and G&T (Nancy) in the deck chairs, and then read our books and had a nap. After waking up around 7pm, we had supper of KD & weiners, chop-chop salad and sliced tomatoes (we tried the last of the corn on the cob from Idaho we had been given, but it had ‘gone off’ and we chucked it!). Adding fresh veg and salad can make even KD feel like a healthy meal choice!

We had a pleasant post-dinner walk along the lakeshore (a great stoney beach), had a campfire as the sun set, saw a snowshoe hare in the underbrush, and enjoyed a good night’s sleep lulled by fresh air and the sound of waves lapping on the lakeshore.

We are at the 60th parallel here, and it is still light at midnight!!