Day 13: From Toad River, BC to Swift River, YK

I woke up early on the morning of August 20, 2007, and peeked out Harvey's window shade to see if there was any wildlife activity in the lake next to our campsite at Toad River, BC; and there were two moose out there. I struggled with the shade, trying to raise it so that I could videotape them, but the shade wouldn't cooperate. When I looked again, the moose were gone. Doug didn't wake up, which is just as well since I had only a fleeting glimpse of them.

During that day's travel, we enjoyed some more beautiful scenery, as well as wildlife sightings of caribou and buffalo.

Caribou

Muncho Lake

This big fellow was just strolling down the highway. In fact, we had to wait for him to get across a bridge that we needed to cross from the other direction.

Buffalo Herd

Now, we've seen herds of buffalo in our national parks, but this was the first time we'd seen a herd grazing alongside a highway outside of a national park.

At Watson Lake, where we bought gasoline for Harvey, I bought some bread and tomatoes at a little store next to the gas station. Then we stopped for some pictures at the Sign Post Forest before logging more miles on the Alaska Highway.

Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake, Yukon

The Sign Post forest was started in 1942 by a homesick U.S. Army G.I., Carl K. Lindley of Danville, Illinois, Company D, 341st Engineers. While working on the Alaska Highway, he erected a sign here pointing the way and stating the mileage to his hometown. Others followed his lead and are still doing so to this day. There are well over 10,000 signs in the forest today.

Alaska Highway West of Watson Lake, Yukon

We stopped for the night at Continental Divide Lodge in Swift River, Yukon. They had RV sites and offered the Good Sam discount. It wasn't much on ambiance, and Doug was pretty sure that the guy who checked us in had been drinking pretty heavily. But it wasn't crowded, so it was quiet.

I fixed hamburgers, sweet potato, and green beans for supper while Doug worked on the hookups and re-sticking the small mirror that attaches to the outside mirror on the driver's side. It had fallen off the day before.

We had noticed, as we drove through some of these remote parts of Canada, that creative uses were found for old railroad cars. There was at least one motel made out of them. Here at the Continental Divide Lodge, I used the campground's bathroom facilities and, as I was exiting the building, noticed a sign on the door that said, "Keep door closed while train is in motion."