Rancheria River valley
It is a week ago today that we left Prince Albert. This morning we drove back the four km from the Watson Lake Campground where we stayed last night, and spent about an hour in the Signpost Forest, looking for signs from places we knew. After we’d filled up our water jug there, we drove on, stopping at a few locations to see some of the scenery.
For a good part of the morning we were driving along the Rancheria River, and the mountain valley there is very pretty. We also stopped and walked in to Rancheria Falls. It is about a ten minute walk to the river from the parking lot, over a very well constructed trail. Much of the trail is an elevated boardwalk. The falls are not large, but scenic nonetheless.
We crossed the Nisutlin Bay Bridge at Teslin shortly after lunch. There is a viewpoint on the south east shore, where we stopped. A man from Boston was driving a motorhome he’d bought, with the intention of leaving it in Anchorage so that he could fly up and spend his summers there. He also was lonely, having driven all that way by himself, and wanted to talk, and me to take his picture.
We arrived early at this campsite, having driven through a few rain storms. Our tent fly was very wet from the rain we had last night, and I’d hung it over the clothesline to try and dry. That wasn’t very successful, as it started to rain almost right away. We set up the tarp over the picnic table, and then headed in to Whitehorse which is 20 km north of here.
We got to the information centre, and they told us there was no shoe repair place in Whitehorse. However we next went to Coast Mountain Sports, where the clerk informed us that there was a place called Northern Medical Services, “just two blocks away” that did boot repairs. We hustled out the door, as it was almost five pm, and quickly covered two blocks, with no sign of the store. After another couple of blocks, I stopped into a book store, and the clerk there said it was maybe three blocks further. I was afraid that I was going to get a parking ticket, as I hadn’t put enough money in the meter, so sent Enid ahead on foot, while I ran back (literally, I’m the crazy person jogging on the streets of Whitehorse!) and got the Yukon. When I caught back up to Enid she was waving to me from across the street, so I pulled in, and we went into the store. The shoe repairman won’t be there until tomorrow morning, but the clerk in the store didn’t have much faith that he would be able to fix it.
We drove back to this campsite, and it is a nice, pleasant, though cool, evening beside the creek which drowns out some of the noise from the highway. We’ll probably be staying here tomorrow as well, but we haven’t decided yet.