From Whitehorse to Muncho to Dawson Creek to Grand Prairie

Whitehorse has become our place for staging the Dempster and for cleaning up afterwards.  We arrived caked in mud.  It took $30 at a do-it-yourself car wash just to wash the majority of the mud from the undercarriage and running boards of the truck.  David wore his slicker suit but his face was so muddy after the car wash that he was hardly recognizable.

We had a shower at our favorite campground, the Caribou RV Park, followed by a wonderful dinner of jagerschnitzel and spaetzle at the Wolf's Den restaurant.  The next morning, we had many errands to run, including changing the oil in the truck, reprovisioning, and doing laundry.  By the time we were done, Whitehorse had become amazingly busy in preparation for their Labor Day holiday.  It is always a surprise to come back into civilization after the remoteness of the Dempster.

While we rarely eat out during our travels, we call this section of the Alaska Highway between Whitehorse and Tetsa our "foodie" section.  We have dinner at the Wolf's Den in Whitehorse, stop at the Rancheria Lodge for breakfast, have schnitzel again at the Northern Rocky Mountain Lodge, then top it all off the following road day with one of the best cinnamon buns on the planet at the Tetsa Lodge.  (We have learned over the years that we can only have one cinnamon bun and split it... the results of the sugar low after eating a whole one each is not a pretty sight!)

Our good weather coming off the Dempster didn't last.  It rained overnight in Whitehorse.  From there on, we couldn't seem to outrun the weather as rain continued to chase us.

We saw wood bison and both black and grizzly bear along the northern section of the Alaska Highway before Muncho.

While in Muncho Lake, we took a hike up Mineral Lick Trail in between showers.

I finally relented and let Roxanne in the lake for a swim.  She was so happy but spent most of the afternoon shivering until I finally had her mostly dry by using nearly every remaining towel we had.

We found a few animals during our morning tours between the hiking trail and Toad River, mostly stone sheep.

Our last afternoon in Muncho and after our hike, we discovered an Xterra and trailer precariously pulled off alongside the Alaska Highway with Katie sitting inside.  Katie told us that the truck had just quit running.  Husband Kevin had caught a lift to the lodge to call the Canadian version of AAA.  We found Kevin and gave him a lift back to Katie.  Kevin told us they were on their way to Prince Rupert so that Katie could finish nursing school.  The tow truck would be by in two hours or so to tow them into Fort Nelson.  It was a holiday weekend, however, and Kevin feared they would not be able to repair the truck until Tuesday.  Normally these trips of ours have been all about the animals.  It has been interesting to see the many human paths we have crossed during this trip.

After two rainy nights in Muncho, we decided to try to finish the Alaska Highway at Dawson Creek.  As we drove south, we found breaks in the clouds and spectacular fall scenery.

The southbound drive between Muncho Lake and Dawson Creek is always bittersweet for us.  At Muncho, we are in the northern end of the Rocky Mountains.  By Fort Nelson, the mountains have turned to hills, then to pastureland, then to prairie by Dawson Creek.  It is sad because we know that the remoteness, unpaved roads, and multitude of wildlife are behind us.    

Dawson Creek has always been our drying out camp.  Each time we have arrived, it has been sunny and warm.  We drag all our wet gear out to dry, looking much like a Hungarian tent city with all the towels and bedding.  Not this trip.  The rain again caught up with us.

We awoke to a downpour and headed to Grand Prairie, realizing that we were keeping pace with a front that was heading east.  After stopping at a laundromat to dry the towels, we decided that in order to get past the rain we would need to pull up somewhere.  We checked the map, and Jasper looked like the next good spot.  Hopefully in Jasper we will find sunshine and elk!