18 June. Muncho Lake, BC to Watson Lake, YK

Today we made a relatively short drive of 160 miles from beautiful Muncho Lake to not-so-beautiful Watson Lake.  We made a few stops along the way chiefly to do laundry when arriving at Watson in what surely is the most advanced laundromat in the province.  And I am not kidding.  The proprieter at the local market/restaurant/gas station/laundromat had closed the laundromat because "Mushroom Pickers" were ruining the machines.  We thought he was joking, but evidently there are about 500 gypsy-like people who make a living in Canada jumping from burned-out forest to burned-out forest in search of valuable Morel Mushrooms.  I talked to one who appeared as though he had just exited a West Virginia coal mine. He was covered with soot from head to toe after spending a day crawling over burned out trees. "The year after the fire is best."  The pickers can make up to $2000 per day.  

We departed the Northern Rockies Lodge and RV park on a perfect morning.  60 degrees. Clear blue skies.

Muncho Lake with Mt. Peterson in the distance.

From the overlook as we drove north.

We were stopped on The Alaska Highway for about 20 minutes while crews were working a realignment of the highway north of Muncho.

At about the 60-mile point we stopped for a geocache which took us to the Whirlpool Rapids along the Liard River.  John takes in the beauty.

We saw a couple of more black bears (are still on the lookout for grizzlies) and these wild bison walking along the highway.  Note the calves.

Taken from the windshield, you can get an idea of what we experienced as a typical portion of asphalt as we traveled through northern British Columbia. The road quality was excellent with wide lanes and 8-foot shoulders.  Note the vegetation is trimmed well back from the road to reduce collisions with wildlife.  When we crossed the border in to the Yukon, the road quality suffered.

The Alaska Highway took us back and forth across the BC/Yukon border about a half dozen times. This was the first welcome sign we saw. It speaks a lot to the relative poverty of Yukon in comparison to other Canadian provinces.  We were told that Yukon has around 35,000 residents to share the tax burden of running a province.  30,000 live in White Horse (which we will see on 19 June).  

Later we came upon this more respectable version.