2010 Yukon Solo Motorcycle Trip

Day 11 — Whitehorse, YT back to Watson Lake, YT

Wednesday was backtracking, but I was planning to take the Stewart Cassiar Highway south from near Watson Lake. The northern part of that highway would be a new road for me, and would mean a completely new set of roads home.

I had reserved a room at the high-end Bell 2 Lodge, in Bell II, BC via Skype on my laptop. Wednesday night I stayed for the second time in the Air Force Lodge, which I most highly recommend for lodging in Watson Lake, YT. Unbeknownst to me, about 9pm Wednesday night a small fire started on the Stewart-Cassier which jumped the road.

Fireweed seems to be the most common roadside flower on the Yukon section of the Alaska Highway. It's also the Territorial Plant of the Yukon.

Amazing how different the same road can look going the opposite direction in the sunshine, vs: the other way in the rain.

Teslin lake, where I stopped to eat my sandwich and drink my juice. It's a humbling experience to see so much and so far yet see no people, buildings, roads or boats...

Just east of the Continental Divide on the Alaska Highway, in extreme southern Yukon. The Rockies actually end in mid-Yukon, and just to the north of them is part of Beringia, the small bit of North America that wasn't glaciated during the last Ice Age. Current scientific thinking suggests that humans from Siberia migrated to North America via that ice-free zone.

Rancheria Falls, well worth the 10 minute hike from the Alaska Highway. If I had stopped here the previous week when it was raining so hard, the falls probably would have been three times as large. But then the water wouldn't have been so clear, either...

This river is reportedly full of Arctic Char, a salmon-like fish that lives in both fresh and saltwater.