to Watson Lake - 2 days worth

to Watson Lake - 2 days worth, a set on Flickr.

TREES, TREES, AND MORE TREES
This is an update for the last 2 days. We stayed last night in Fort Nelson, BC. We got up early and drove 285 miles to get there. The road was pretty good with only a few miles of construction. We met a fellow traveler who had a window broken in his camper because of a flying rock on that section of road. We were unscathed.
Today we got up early, again, and drove 320 miles to Watson Lake, Yukon. We saw lots of wildlife today. Our totals were: 3 black bear, 3 moose, 2 caribou, a bunch of Stone Sheep including little lambs, and a herd of buffalo. Too Cool! We were on the road at 0615 which might have helped with a few of the critters. We have found that starting early also gets us ahead of the traffic, and we get to the campground before most folks and chill out for the afternoon.
What about those trees? Well, just like the American Great Plains, the Canadian forests here are endless! For the past 2 days of driving, we have not left the forest at all. We transition from a lower elevation forest (aspen, birch, and pines) to the high forest (several species of spruce) and back again as we descend. The views from the tops of the mountains are spectacular. BIG valleys ringed by mountains and unbroken forests are everywhere.
We crossed the Canadian Rocky Mountains today. We climbed and descended (1500’-3500’-1600’-4200’-2700’) several times today. Big 9% climbs and descents were the routine. The truck did a super job on every pull. I used the engine brake system for the descents and it worked pretty good. Pulling the trailer has become routine for us now, and we hardly know it’s back there. At least until we try to pull into the Tim Horton lot.
What about getting up early? “You’re on vacation.”, you say. Well, Sunrise around here is 0410 or so. It’s still daylight when we go to bed at around 2200- 2230 so we don’t really see night time. We are just naturally waking up early so we get ready and leave. It works so far. I did have to take a nap yesterday, though.
Tomorrow we go 280ish miles to Whitehorse, Yukon where we will spend a couple of days resting up. Hopefully, we’ll get to wash the truck and trailer. Oh, one of the final things that we do every day when we set up the camper is to wash the bugs off of the front of the trailer and truck. I do the trailer and Judy does the truck. What teamwork!! She really does do a good job. Thanks Honey.