Driving the Alaska Highway from Whitehorse to Muncho Lake
I’m back on the Alaska Highway headed south again. This time, I’m alone, helping friends move by driving their U-Haul from Whitehorse to Kelowna, a 2,440-kilometer trip (1,516 miles).
I left Whitehorse just before 10:00 am yesterday (Sunday), with weather forecasts showing mostly sun all the way. After the amount of rain we’ve been having, that was a relief to see. There was some thick fog along the Yukon River and Marsh Lake (which are both extremely high) as I headed south, but within an hour it was pretty much clear.
I made a brief stop at a rest area along Teslin Lake. The mountains in the southern Yukon got a heavy dump of snow on Friday night – it makes a nice addition to the Fall colours as long as it stays up there 🙂
Wandering through the mountains south of the community of Swift River – the highway crosses the Swift River at the bottom of the hill I’m descending.
At 1:30, I reached Rancheria Lodge at Historic Mile 710 of the highway. I can always count on Rancheria for good food and service, and a burger and soup were perfect for a late lunch.
The approach doesn’t look bad in this photo, but I’ve always hated the curves at both ends of the Big Creek bridge. The hills on both sides of the creek, though, don’t leave many options.
This is by far the nicest of the many U-Hauls I’ve driven. It’s almost new, with only 26,000 miles on the clock, but a few buildings or whatever have already left dents and scrapes on the box.
The Hyland River bridge. Even though the new bridge has no character, this is one of my favourite crossings on the highway, though I don’t really know why. I have a lot of photos of it, in both directions.
The road ahead at Km 915. The intensity of Fall colours varies a lot year to year. While the southwestern Yukon has brilliant colours this year, as I got into BC, they faded and went mostly brown.
Right at Km 905 is a Point of Interest I’d never stopped at.
Now I know – the Alaska Highway crosses back and forth across the BC/Yukon border many times.
To the left (north) of the highway as it crosses Scoby Creek at Km 903 is an old section of highway that’s extremely well preserved. I’ve not yet stopped to drive or walk it, but it’s on the list 🙂
This is another spot that I have many photos of – the Alaska Highway and Liard River about 20 minutes north of Liard Hot Springs.
As always, there were plenty of bison beside and on the highway all the way from Contact Creek to the hot springs. People make ne nuts sometimes. At 2 spots where there were bison right on the paved shoulder of the highway, as I crawled by, RVs and semis coming the other way seemed to not slow down at all. I saw a dead bison calf, with a headlight and other pieces of a motorhome still laying in front of it, so it had probably just happened. There were half a dozen extremely long full-lock semi skid-marks around the herds, too. Just slow down when you see them! Geez… 🙁
Mom and baby were having differing opinions about whether it was meal time or time to go somewhere else – Mom was winning 🙂
I was up and down about whether to stop at Liard Hot Springs, but just before 6:00 pm, I pulled in, paid my $5, and started the walk. The evening light was gorgeous.
I was going to go up to the Hanging Gardens first. Or maybe not: “Danger, Area Closed. Problem bear in area. Do not enter.”
I had a good long soak in the hotter part of the pool. With all my sore spots feeling much better, I decided that the stop was worthwhile.
The reconstruction of a lengthy section of the highway between the hot springs and Muncho Lake Park is in its final stages. The rains of the last few weeks have made some of it pretty soft, but it’s looking great.
I just have a little truck – I want a bigger truck! 🙂
A very impressive slope stabilization project.
The final rays of sunlight along Muncho Lake at 7:25. Ten minutes later, I stopped for the night.
I had made reservations for the Northern Rockies Lodge just before leaving home. This is the nicest lodge on the Alaska Highway now. The rooms are good value at $129 (lake views are $149), but meals, though very good, are spendy – adding dinner and breakfast to your room is $55. The lodge is also among the most expensive places on the highway for fuel, though guests get a 20 cent per liter discount – I never fuel here except when I’m on my motorcycle.
The view from Room 305.
This look at the dining room gives you a good idea of the quality of the construction of the lodge -it’s quite spectacular.
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