"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/02/2020 at 11:08 • Filed to: TQ3
12
7|
"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/02/2020 at 11:08 • Filed to: TQ3 | 12
| 7 |
When we last left our heroes, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Now we head into the largest city in the Yukon to drink some beer, come across a strange country called the “United States”, and go into an ice cave!
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Day 9 - Watson Lake to Whitehorse - Saturday, September 7th, 2019
Today was another “make it up as we go along” day with the added bonus that tomorrow was going to be a “day off”.
We headed out reasonably early and hit the same restaurant again for breakfast as they served a full American breakfast. Or at least we tried to. Turns out they weren’t open for another couple hours.
So instead we grabbed breakfast at the local gas station/ food market/ diner/ post office/ hardware store/ etc etc which seem to be so common in this area of Canada.
On the way in we’d seem something we couldn’t quite explain. It appeared to be a huge area covered in.... signs?
A quick stop by it and the requisite visitor’s center and yes. That is exactly what it was. The Sign Post Forest. According to Wikipedia:
In 1942, a simple sign post pointing out the distances to various points along the tote road being built was damaged by a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Private Carl K. Lindley, serving with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was ordered to repair the sign, and decided to personalize the job by adding a sign pointing towards his home town, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and giving the distance to it. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Several other people added directions to their home towns, and the idea has been snowballing ever since.
So there we are.
We wandered around and took some pictures.
And then Taylor decided he needed to add to it. Since we somehow failed to realize this would be on our trip, we were unprepared. Taylor improvised and took off his front plate. I then affixed a spare trip sicker to it and we found a spot.
It was at this point Taylor discovered he might have done an oops the last time he filled the Celica up with oil. And by “did an oops” I mean “left the oil cap off.” As a result we were happy to find out the slight burning smell coming from his car that he had been not telling us about and also attributing to our cars was, in fact, a bunch of oil having sloshed out of his engine.
Luckily the cap had the good grace to stick around the engine bay, so it was quickly installed and we were instructed to say we saw nothing.
Oops.
Anyway!
Today was a day of firsts. Namely, our first full(ish) day in Yukon Territories and our first full day on the AlCan proper. We mostly kept pushing towards Whitehorse with very few stops.
We stopped for a quite “hike” at Rancheria Falls Recreation Site, which was very pretty.
Then again in Teslin where there was a pretty cool heritage center.
Allegedly.
Turns out it closed for the season on the 1st. Oops.
So instead we took a brief peek at the “George Johnson Trail” which... dude sounded like a nutter.
George Johnstone was a local leader of the Tlingit First Nation people. George was a trapper and then a leader of innovation completing his life as a well known photographer of the Yukon Territories. [… Before the Alaska Highway,] the transportation routes for the First Nation people consisted of the Yukon River, Teslin Lake and the Nisutlin River. In 1928 that all changed. George went out and bought a Chevy and barged it to Teslin.
Soon later he built a 6 kilometre road to Fox Creek to transport people from village to village operating as a taxi company. In the winter the sedan would be painted white to camouflage with the snow covered Teslin Lake so George and his buddies could go hunting for wolves.
Later on in life his road was used as the foundation for the Alaska Highway near Teslin. Today the trail is a reminder of the George Johnstone highway.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Eh Canada Travel.
Sounds like our kind of people.
We also stopped at Johnson’s Crossing for some delicious cookies and scones because we were told we had to.
Also apparently what we’re doing is... not that unusual. As per Taylor’s trip log:
The cashier there saw us, asked us about the cars, and immediately jumped to the conclusion “oh they’re just junkers for a one-way run, right? sellin’ ’em when you get there?” She says this is actually quite common, a rental for the trip would be horrifically expensive. And for locals, new cars don’t survive well up here anyway. Everyone prefers to buy an old beater, fix it up a bit, and ditch it when it becomes too much trouble.
Well ok then.
We trundled on through some epic scenery...
Eventually reaching our overnight stay in Whitehorse early enough to catch dinner at a strange pub-like thing in walking distance.
Then called it a night.
Day 10 - Whitehorse - Sunday, September 8th, 2019
Finally.
A day of rest.
Oddly placed on a Sunday.
Whitehorse is a strange place, by the way. It is the capital of and the largest city in the Yukon Territories with an estimated population of 25,000 people.
No, I didn’t accidentally drop a “0" there. The Yukon Territories is that sparsely populated.
We were staying out in “the burbs” in Potter Creek, a surprising distance from the town center. Even out in the ‘burbs we were surprised to see a lot of what I would call medium density housing. Townhouses, condos, and duplexes seemed to be a lot more common than the expected single family homes. We never got a good answer on why this is the case, but our speculation is warmth in the winter and/or ease of clearing parking lots vs driveways.
We spent the entire day eating through the AirBnB hosts’ cereal supply, drinking though our beer supply, and watching Letterkenny. Not exactly adventurous, but it was our day off.
We did take some time to walk around downtown Whitehorse, but mostly we just lazy AF.
We were also treated to a spot of northern light, even though it was very much not the season for it.
Day 11 - Whitehorse to Beaver Creek - Monday, September 9th, 2019
Man oh man.
Last day in Canada.
The feels. The feels.
Once again we didn’t do too bad getting out of the AirBnB on time. Taylor got up at the butt crack of dawn to head into Whitehorse for an oil change. We joined him and grabbed breakfast at our first and only Tim Hortons.
It was, indeed, quite tasty.
We then did our usual ritual of “taking entirely too long to get gas” in which we got this photo of which I am quite fond.
And moved on.
Today we hiked.
Too much in my opinion.
First was a strange trail Taylor found on AllTrails called Paint Mountain. It was described as “moderate”. I described it as “vertical”.
Some stunning views though.
Then we moved on to Kluane Lake, also gorgeous and apparently quite historical as it was the point at which the Alaska Highway was... finished in 1942?
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Which was... worrying. Luckily after some checks we concluded that it was not from any of our cars and moved on.
The rest of the day was uneventful but gorgeous.
And eventually we reached our “hotel” in Beaver Creek, the last stop before the US border.
Day 10 - Beaver Creek to Paxson - Tuesday, September 10th, 2019
Waking up and realizing this is your last day in a country you’ve come to truly love is an odd feeling. Made even more strange by deciding to have a fire sale on our remaining Canada-bucks. We carefully selected snacks and such so that we could have the fewest number of Canada munnies remaining as we crossed the border in a few short miles.
After filling up with gas for, frankly, criminal “last stop” prices, we hit the road again and quickly were in the strange no-mans land between the Canadian border checkpoint and the American one.
Despite our worries about over-empowered border guards and strip-searches, the American border crossing was exceptionally friendly and straightforward. The guy took the chance with his captive audience to tell us of cool stuff we should go see and welcomed us back to the US.
In fact he took special care to welcome Taylor, whose car was registered in Texas, to the largest state in the United States.
We had a good laugh about that one.
We made three major stops today. One to stretch our legs on a river.
One to wash off the cars a bit (in preparation for selling)
And one to go inside an ice cave.
I’m sorry what?
Yeah... turns out there is a glacial cave you can hike in to and it is almost as cool as that sounds.
The trailhead is down a narrow and rather offroady road. Shortly we abandoned the loooooooong Volvo and the looooow Celica and hopped in the Tracker to head further down the trail.
We didn’t make it very far.
Turns out the Tracker isn’t that high off the ground, lacks 4WD, and with us three and all our luggage weighing in down didn’t really have the ground clearance needed to make it much further.
A short hike up a very silty river and a very dirty cave came into view.
Yeah. Turns out that cave is both made of ice and where all of the water was coming from.
It was... very cool.
Due to the swiftness of the water, the drippyness of the ceiling, and how slick the floor was (did I mention it was made of ice?) we decided not to go very far in and instead enjoyed the majesty from the mouth of the cave.
It was... so pretty.
We may have completely fallen for Canada, but Alaska sure was making a case for itself.
A beautiful drive later, we arrived at our Cabin in Paxson.
Day 13 - Paxson to Trapper Creek - Wednesday, September 11th, 2019
Over breakfast at our BnB/cabins, we learn the Paxson is a bit of a ghost town. Originally anchored by a roadhouse at the crossroads of the AlCan and Denali Highway, Paxson was once a thriving area. The roadhouse was literally everything to this community, providing gas, lodging, an allegedly white glove restaurant, and even generating electricity for the area.
That is not the case anymore.
Apparently the roadhouse was bought out by a large corporation or hedge fund of some sort, run into the ground, and then left to rot. As a result, Paxson went from hub to ghost town, with our host claiming himself, his wife, and his child are the only three remaining residents.
That depressing tour over, we continued.
Today we were crossing the Denali Highway to Denali State park.
Denali Highway, by the way, is unpaved.
And stunning.
We stopped at a strange little trailer restaurant for some remarkably good food considering their only cooking equipment appeared to be an air fryer and a microwave.
Eventually we ran out of Denali Highway and joined the Parks Highway, and turned south to start our final push towards Anchorage.
Before all that though, we stopped and looked at some mountains and some trees.
Denali, specifically. Initially the weather wasn’t cooperating, but we eventually got what we’d come for.
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Note: All photos are special to us. All the good ones were probably taken by Taylor. Please do not reuse without permission.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/02/2020 at 11:42 |
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I must take this trip.
TSmith
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/02/2020 at 12:46 |
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Definitely. It is both a must- do, and a must-do again. I miss Canada.
Derpwagon
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/02/2020 at 14:51 |
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I love reading your trip stories every time. This one though... this one is NOT helping my increasing wanderlust and feeling cooped up because of coronashit.
Rufant
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/02/2020 at 18:31 |
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That guest house. I love me a ghost town.
Scenery not too bad either.
Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/02/2020 at 18:34 |
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This travelogue has not done anything to alleviate my wanderlust, as Derpwagon said. Lovely stuff and so breathtakingly wild. I’ve looked, and I can’t even find so much as an unpaved anything anywhere near me. Having an entire unpaved main artery seems so strange, though the maintenance costs are reason enough.
Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/03/2020 at 15:12 |
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The sign post first is a cool place. I wish I would've had something to leave there as well. I saw it at night when I was driving up to Alaska with my sister.
CB
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/03/2020 at 16:28 |
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Loving reading about your trip. Though I had a laugh at “Yukon Territories” (we just call it the Yukon) and taking an unpaved highway.