Icewind's Ramblings

This is the last day if all goes well so we awoke early to hit the road for the couple hour drive to Beaver Creek and the lodge there so we could eat breakfast. It was nippy outside in the early morning light. Haines Junction is located in a valley with mountains on the west side of town. Just over the mountains are the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean . We were on the two lane road by 4:30 am and were heading towards Kluane Lake . Notice it is already a ‘normal’ daylight outside. It was not long before we finally hit the section of road that has made the Alaskan Highway famous. We hit the gravel roadway about 10 miles from Kluane Lake . They were replacing the drainage culverts that drained all of the snowmelt from the mountains into the lake. There were many of them every 1000 feet or so. The road looked like it had actually been paved since our trips five years ago but they were torn up again now. Man was it torn up now. The best ‘spe

Watson Lake to Haines Junction . . . Watson Lake has a couple of neat things to see . . . one is the world famous Sign Post Forest where thousands of people have left signs as they traveled the Alaska Highway. It started when the road was being built and continues today. It’s amazing to see how many signs are placed there. When we were here in the winter most were covered in snow as the drifts where ten feet high in many places so you could not see many of them . . . only the top few signs. With the snow melted it takes on a whole different meaning to see all of these left by the travelers of the world. Soon we are in the high country again, tired but continuing on . . . More beautiful scenery . . . Our approach to the Teslin Bridge and Teslin Lake . . . We continue our drive into the afternoon we pass a long and beautiful Teslin Lake still frozen and late

Fort Nelson to Watson Lake . . . It seems like every 10 minutes or so we drive around this curve or crest this hill and we run into another pack of Caribou or Moose standing in the middle of the road. Then you come upon a really nice one . . . Then not to be outdone a couple more miles down the road a nice small herd . . . There were about 10-12 more down in the riverbed area. We stopped briefly to watch them look at us and slowly continue on their way. Another tourist sign . . . it is a hoax to keep everyone amused, especially in winter . . . The head butt . . . Our first encounter with the mountain sheep along the highway was comical. We topped a hill and came upon several sheep in the roadway and one . . . well just say he was quite headstrong and would not move . . . He stood his ground . . . Then about a minute later we stopped as another sheep was showing his ass . . .