Winter road trip, Day 1 – Whitehorse to Muncho Lake
I’m back on the road for 10 days or so, driving from Whitehorse to Calgary and back to see my kids. It’s both faster and cheaper to fly, but when I saw an absolutely incredible weather forecast for at least the first 7 days, driving was the easy choice. Well not actually “easy” – I even tried to find someone who needed a vehicle shuttled one way so I could fly the other and cut the trip down to a week, but that didn’t happen.
So, at 08:00 this morning, under a clear sky and with the temperature sitting at -5°C (23°F), I headed down the Alaska Highway in my all-wheel-drive Cadillac.
Fifty minutes from home, with White Mountain ahead. Sunrise wouldn’t be until 09:51, but the temperature had risen to +1C (34F).
The view ahead at 09:27, along Teslin Lake. There were some crazy swings in temperature – an instant drop from +3 to -10 iced all of my windows up just before reaching Johnson’s Crossing. Windshield washers made the world visible again, but it took a few minutes to get everything cleared.
The pastel colours looking back up the highway towards Whitehorse were wonderful.
The sun coming up over the Dawson Peaks and Teslin Lake.
The Teslin viewpoint is always a must-stop.
Km 1143, 101 km south of Teslin.
A few places are signed as being high risk for caribou on the highway. This sign is at Km 1016. Although I saw huge numbers of caribou tracks, no animals appeared. A few minutes previously, I went through an area which would turn out to have the lowest temperature of the day, -16C (+3F).
The Upper Liard Catholic mission, Our Lady of the Yukon, built in 1955 by the priest, Father Joseph Guilbaud, OMI, and Kaska parishioners. More information about this church as well as the related ones at Watson Lake and Lower Post can be found here.
I made a quick stop for fuel at Watson Lake, and at 1:15 made the final crossing into British Columbia, at Km 964.5 (the highway crosses the BC/Yukon border a total of 7 times).
By 1:45 the sun seemed to already be starting to dim, though sunset wasn’t until 3:52.
Looking up the Liard River from the Cranberry Rapids pullout at Fireside (Km 840).
Road conditions varied as much as the temperature, but by Fireside the wheel wells had a good load of slop.
Usually there are lots of bison along the highway, but I had only seen a few stragglers until coming upon this herd of some 60 animals about 25 kilometers from Liard Hot Springs.
A glance in my rear-view mirror as I climbed the Washout Creek hill brought me to a stop to get a few photos of the Liard River valley.
The temperature rocketed from -9C to +6C (from 16F to 43F) in less than 10 minutes halfway between Liard Hot Springs and Muncho Lake. That may be the wildest jump I’ve ever seen.
By 3:30 the sky was getting some great colours.
Wow! Km 740.
At 3:45, 7 minutes before sunset, I was at Km 725, a spot that I have many photos of.
3:50 – I was going to get to my lodging for the night just in time.
The main Muncho Lake viewpoint, right at 4:00 pm.
Five minutes later, I reached the Northern Rockies Lodge, having put 686 km on the odometer. It’s one of the nicest lodges on the Alaska Highway, and offers good value in the winter at $129, though having $17 in taxes added to that is an ouch. I thought about staying at Toad River this time, but really do enjoy the experience at this place.
My room, #306.
The moonlit view from my little deck.
It’s now 8:30 pm. I had an excellent schnitzel dinner and a couple of beer. As soon as I post this, I’m going to bed – tomorrow is going to be a very long day.
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