Day 10 - June 23rd, 2010 Watson Lake, YT to Carmacks, YT

Today the hope was to get north of Whitehorse, most likely Carmacks.  That would leave only 200 miles to Dawson City and the Dust to Dawson Rally.  We'll most likely be back at this same campground west of Watson Lake in about three or four weeks when we head south on Hwy 37 thru British Columbia.

The Watson Lake campground advertised having the cleanest bathrooms in the Yukon and I believe them.  Food at adjacent restaurant was excellent but again pricey.  Picture of Watson Lake campsite; you can see the Spot messenger on the picnic table sending our location home.

Today was a day to really appreciate the heated vest and gloves.  These two items have made cool, early morning and rain riding completely tolerable.  Gear is working great but will ship some home from Fairbanks to make packing easier.  Stopped for a late breakfast in Teslin and met two other riders heading to Dawson, one from Oregon on a KLR and the other on a BMW w/trailer from CA I think.  KLR guy would be seen several more times on the trip.  His KLR had an FMF after-market exhaust that was destroying itself and was way too loud.  I would see him again on the Haul Road north of Fairbanks and his muffler had completely lost its internals.  I heard he had a friend send his original muffler from Oregon to AK to replace the noisy FMF.

Bridge over the river at Teslin is scary for motorcyclists.  It has an open-grated metal surface and is over 2,200 feet long.  You can look down while you're riding and see the water below.  You quickly lose your focus of the road surface doing this.  And, all this time the steel grating is making the bike wobble back and forth requiring constant adjustments.

Stopped in Whitehorse for gas and a snack at McDonalds.  Town seemed filled with Native Americans/Eskimos with nothing to do but look at us.  Kind of an uneasy feeling.  North of Whitehorse, Tammy led and this is where we most likely avoided a speeding ticket from the Canadian trooper.  Glad she was leading and had switched her odo to metric.

Carmacks was once a large city at the confluence of two rivers.  Was where Indian tribes, trappers, and miners gathered to trade product.  Today, its a gas station/store with more people standing around.  Glad the campground was a little outside town.  Camped 25 feet from the Yukon River.  Managed to drop my bike turning around at the campsite; loose sand just pushed when I put my foot down.

Nice campground with good food served.  Surprised there was not other Dawson bound riders here being this close to the rally.


On to Dawson City tomorrow.