Wandering along the Alaska Highway on the motorcycle
Summer has finally returned to the Yukon, and yesterday I was dying to get back on my motorcycle. Checking out the recently-reopened Johnson’s Crossing Lodge, 110 km down the Alaska Highway, was as good an excuse as any 🙂
What a superb day to be on 2 wheels. There were a lot of bikes out yesterday, making up nearly half of all the vehicles I saw on the highway. That’s White Mountain ahead, from about Km 1343, just north of Jake’s Corner.
A bit early for lunch, I rode past Johnson’s Crossing to get a few shots of the Teslin River Bridge. The roof of the lodge can be seen on the far side of the bridge.
As I pulled into the Canol Road rest area a few hundred yards from the spot where I shot the photo above, the bike’s odometer clicked over to 26,000 km. Given our very short seasons, that’s not too bad for 2 full seasons and 2 part seasons of riding (I bought it in late July of 2010).
A general view of the rest area at the junction of the Alaska Highway and the gravel and little-used South Canol Road. Very few people stop here – perhaps because it’s not visible from the main highway.
A photo of the Teslin River Bridge (Bridge No. 416) under construction in 1944, on one of the interpretive signs at the rest area. The bridge is 37 meters high (121 feet) and 450 meters long (1,476 feet).
Looking north on the Canol Road – the next services are in the little village of Ross River, 226 km (140 miles) ahead.
One of the 7 old trucks at the rest area – an FWD, I think. Hmmm – I could pick up running gear cheap at the salvage yard… 🙂
Adding some RV stock to my photo collection on the way back to the lodge.
I was pleased to see lots of action at the Johnson’s Crossing Lodge. Having regular gas at $1.399 per liter is a great way to get people to stop, to start – that’s the same as the average price in Whitehorse.
The small dining room has great character.
The menu is basic but has some interesting options such as bison and elk smokies, and prices are good. I ordered the loaded Crossing burger.
While I waited for my burger, I looked around, and was pleased to see several photos of the historic lodge that sat at this site, mounted in window frames from that historic structure. Ellen Davignon wrote a wonderful book about her life there, The Cinnamon Mine: An Alaska Highway Childhood.
The very good Crossing burger with potato salad. Good grub at good prices is the number one thing that gets me coming back to a place over and over. Both servers I chatted with were very friendly locals and seemed to genuinely like working at the lodge.
Even the gift shop was unique, both in layout and many of the articles stocked.
Thoroughly pleased with my visit, I started the ride home, but quickly decided to pop down to the river for a look, to at least get some photos of the bridge from that angle. This is a popular spot to launch boats (canoes, mostly) to go to Dawson City.
I find bird identification to be very frustrating. This little guy I saw at the boat launch under the bridge is a sandpiper, but even with the dark legs limiting the options considerably I’m not certain which one. My guess, though, is that it’s a juvenile Semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla).
I had decided not to fuel up at Johnson’s Crossing, but instead to go back to Jake’s Corner, a former fairly regular stop for me. The restaurant closed in April 2013, however, and I haven’t stopped since (late Spring seems like a very odd time to close a business whose boom days are in the summer). The bike only took $13 worth of gas at $1.388/liter.
The restaurant is available for lease, and I hope that someone picks it up, because I can’t imagine that fuel will keep the business open much longer. I’d really hate to see the sign at Jake’s be the next one to go dark.
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