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Day 33 – We woke to a beautiful, sunny, warm day in Beaver Creek. We had some oatmeal in our “suite’s” kitchenette and checked out about 12 noon. We filled up with fuel at our Hotel's Gas Station before heading out. We saw a couple of Female adventure riders at the hotel across the street when we were leaving town. Our first stop was at the Kluane River Rest Stop for a break after riding a little over an hour.
There were several areas of minor construction including 2 bridges under construction. At a bridge construction project, the project was not being fully worked that day and all the trucks and equipment were in a big yard to the south of the project. Standing in the middle of that yard among the vehicles was a lone Coyote looking around at everything. He was ignoring us on the road as we went by.
There was one section of Road Construction near Kluane were we had to wait for the Pilot Car, but after that the roads were good, only a few breaks in the asphalt, but nothing to slow us down. At that construction project, while waiting for the pilot car, the flag girl said we could go to to the front because we were motorcycles. The problem was that the front car was a RCMP Mountie. He said nothing when I went to the front, but Jennifer was behind me and told me through our Bluetooth communicator that he looked distinctly put-out. When we went with the pilot truck I took-off in front but he cut in front of Jennifer so she had to stay behind the Mountie through the construction. After that I was paranoid that the Mountie would be out to get me, so I stayed 5 below the speed limit until we got to Haines Junction and saw the Mountie Station with the patrol car out in front.
Before we got to Haines Junction we were at the back of a group of cars and motor homes when a bear ran right in front of all the vehicles. We stopped at Haines Junction for gas and lunch. We bought some yogurt, an apple and some chocolate milk at the grocery store there.
We continued on and got to Whitehorse about 18:30 where we again filled our tanks with gas and took a long break. Whitehorse looks like a nice town, really large in comparison to the other towns in Northwestern Canada we have gone through, clean and new, but it seemed really quiet and dead for a Saturday evening. We had expected a busier place on a Saturday Evening since people come from all over for their supplies and goods.
We then started on our last long stretch of Highway in Canada. We took the Alaska Hwy out of Whitehorse a little ways and then the Klondike Hwy southwest through Carcross. The highway through Carcross was a very pretty ride and very dramatic. Several different climates in 1 day’s ride.
There was Sierra-looking temperate forest through Carcross.
Then right before we reached Carcross we passed the "Carcross Desert" with a bunch of sand dunes! The smallest desert we have ever seen.
Carcross and the hills around the neighboring lake were dry and California looking because of the exposed brown rock and fewer trees. Interesting contrast.
Then the Klondike Hwy a few miles after Carcross was really windy along the long lake it was next to.
It also slowly got colder the further we got past Carcross. We stopped and took a short break at Chillkoot Trail Log Cabin for Eric to put on his electric vest and for Jennifer to turn hers on.
The road then climbed high into the mountains and we went over a pass. The scenery up near the pass was dramatic and otherworldly. Lots of bare granite/rock, lakes with small rock islands with sometimes a tree or so on them, surrounded by fog in the clouds, and it was Cold!
Just before the Alaska/US border we were crossing a large bridge and saw a Brown Bear cross the road right in front of us at the Skagway side of the bridge and jump over the rail into the forest. It looked like a small Grizzly with the lower shoulders, but hard to tell because he was moving so fast.
We reached the Alaska Border at about 20:30. There were no other vehicles around the border. The US Customs and Border Patrol guard seemed to be lonely and talkative. Eric couldn't hear everything he said because he was wearing earplugs, but tried to be friendly and comment about what he was talking about. Eric hoped his possibly unrelated replies and comments weren't too weird to the guard.
We got to Skagway and checked in to the last available room in town at the tiny Morningwood Hotel (above the local Pizza, Beer and Wine restaurant) near the intersection of 4th and State. It was a room with just a double bed. The bathroom was down the hall. It was a quiet, nice and clean room, but Jennifer had to clean the bathroom before she would use it! After walking just a few short blocks and seeing that nothing else was open, we came back to the Pizza, Beer and Wine restaurant and had some Pizza and Artichoke Dip just before the kitchen shut down for the night at about 21:50. We sat one booth over from a homeless guy at dinner and talked to him a bit about the town. He described himself as “Retired”. It was hard to understand everything he said so we eventually stopped asking him questions.
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