Yukon Bound

 July 17^th – This trip just got international!

We woke up in a beautiful spot just off Highway 37 with minimal mosquitos. It has been truly amazing to see how many free campgrounds there are around Northern BC.  For anyone wanting to do a camping road trip you have to download the app iOverlander, it can help you find the best spots! 

We drove north to Stewart which is a border town with “the friendliest ghost town in Alaska” meaning we could officially cross a border and make this an international trip. We had recently been to Stewart (this time last year, but the border was closed due to COVID restrictions) and spent a lot of time within the community so we decided to drive straight to the border and then up the gravel roads to the Salmon Glacier.  Unfortunately, due to low clouds, we were not able to see the glacier in all its glory but based on what we saw as we drove up it is well worth the drive.

Fish Creek, a location in Hyder known for bears was a disappointment.  The US Government makes tourists, like us, pay $5 USD to walk along a boardwalk when no bears were present and we had to purchase it before we entered the US (due to lack of cell service in Hyder).  If we could have purchased the passes at Fish Creek, we would have decided against it, since the salmon run hadn’t begun yet.

The highlight of Hyder was the Glacier Inn, a must-do.  Even if you do not drink, the Glacier Inn is a cool place to visit with money lining the walls.  The money is placed during the “good times" so that you can still buy yourself a drink if the bad times ever hit. We asked, and yes people definitely take the money back from time to time. 

The Glacier Inn is also known as the location to be Hyderized.  By requesting to by Hyderized you are presented with a shot of colourless alcohol, poured from a bottle in a brown paper bag, that you are “not allowed to sip, not allowed to smell, and you must drink in its entirety then place the cup upside down on the bar”. This shot is Everclear and after drinking it they will light the remnants of the shots so it displays a blue flame right on the bar.

We spent a couple hours chatting up the bartender about life in Hyder and Alaska and taking in our surroundings.  We would have stayed longer but we had to cross a border and driving from the bar smelling of booze probably wouldn’t be a good look for us.

Kendra decided to be the person to drive across the border.  Now the Stewart border is known for junior border guards who take their job very seriously, but we were prepared.  We had filled in the Arrivecan app, had our passports, and Rupert’s paperwork showing he was vaccinated for Rabies (it also shows he was vaccinated for Coronavirus which I wasn’t expecting).
Unfortunately Kendra, after stopping at the stop sign proceeded to drive to the window/border waiting area; which according to the border guards we were not supposed to do.  We were supposed to wait at the stop sign.  Paul also annoyed the border guards as he got out of the vehicle to go into the office, he was told in a stern voice to “Return to the vehicle”. Bryan (the border guard) took his job very seriously and asked us a lot of questions.  When we didn’t mention the disappointing glacier view or the boardwalk at Fish Creek he seemed a bit suspicious of why we went to Hyder, but we were not about to admit we only went there to drink.

Anyways, they had no reason to detain us so they let us back into the country. We headed to a small campground just outside of Stewart and relaxed for the rest of the night.

 

July 18^th – Heading North

Paul wanted to get some kilometres behind us so after a shower in Stewart and a few attempts at some different moderate hikes around Stewart we left for destinations north.  Unfortunately, all the trails around Stewart were overgrown or blocked by a “small waterfall” which turned out to be a rushing creek☹.

The landscape of highway 37 is described as rugged and beautiful by Tourist Information.  This is an apt description, most of the highway is paved, with mountains surrounding us in various locations. 

 

The highlight of the day was eating greasy burgers from Bell 2, it had been a while since we had had a greasy meal and Paul was craving one, and Paul at least go the greasiest most delicious burger, 10/10 would buy again.  Kendra got a savoury pie, also good, but not as good as the burger.

We pulled into Sawmill Point Rec site for the night and sat watching the sunset on Dease Lake.

 

July 19^th – 20^th – Boy Oh Boya

 

We left Sawmill Point relatively early and headed to Jade city for some free coffee and to look at all their Jade sculptures and trinkets.  We even bought ourselves a little Christmas ornament. *Random but fun fact about the GoGoGauthiers- we used to buy cookbooks on our travels but began running out of storage space so we have now begun purchasing Christmas ornaments so we can reminisce about our trips as we set up our Christmas tree.

 Highway 37 is known as the Stewart Cassiar highway, we had been to Stewart so we decided to go to Cassiar which was just off the highway north of Jade City.  Cassiar is a ghost town that is mostly closed to the public.  Cassiar was closed in the early 90s, and the community existed as a location for the Asbestos mine workers to live.  We did a little drive around but started to feel a bit uncomfortable when looking at the ground and seeing asbestos.

We did decide to do some “house hunting” to find a really cool retro house to explore.

After leaving Cassiar we drove straight to Tā Ch'ilā Provincial Park, better known as Boya Lake.  This lake is gorgeous and with few mosquitos and a lakeside camping spot it solidified our decision to say for two nights.

We spent the next two days relaxing, canoeing around the lake, reading and playing games.  It was great.  Boy oh Boya you’ve got to come to Boya Lake.

  

   

 

July 21^st – Yukon bound

After a quick breakfast, we left Boya Lake and headed to the Yukon (then back across the BC border, then back into the Yukon because of the highway route).  We were in desperate need of groceries, among other things like a mosquito net.  We also hadn’t been in a cell service area for about 5 days and knew our families may be getting worried.

 

After a long 5-6 hours of driving, we reached Whitehorse, did our grocery shopping and went to visitor information which informed us that there was a farmers market occurring at that moment so we walked Rupert to the park and bought some local food, grabbed some meals for some food trucks and had a beer in their beer gardens.  YES, it is a farmers’ market with a beer garden!  And YES, the whole place is dog friendly.

Kendra and I had been to Whitehorse for Spring Break a few years ago (March 2017) and loved it, and in the summertime, Whitehorse is also amazing.  Don’t be surprised if this is the community Kendra and I settle in after this adventure, it is honestly one of our favourite Canadian cities.

Camping in Whitehorse area is difficult as there are so many campers, all the campgrounds were booked (on a Thursday) and camp Walmart, camp Canadian Tire and camp Superstore did not seem appealing so we looked on iOverlander to find a little spot near a lake past a quarry, it was a beautiful spot that we shared with a couple from Quebec. 

 Definitely, a great spot to sleep. We will hang around Whitehorse for a short amount of time and then make our way north towards Tuktoyaktuk!