Whitehorse and Highway 37

This time we saw more of Whitehorse than just the campground and Walmart. We stayed in the same campground, but in the morning we went into town and ate at a Tim Horton's and toured the last riverboat that operated until 1955. It was way bigger than I expected and I was amazed at the weight saving measures they employed in it's construction. It only weighed 300 tons, and could carry 300 tons of cargo! It was also very luxurious, but passengers were carried only when it had freight to transport. If the mines were not shipping ore then the boat was parked - the passenger business was not profitable enough to pay for the voyage. They also used a lot of wood, and the boiler was designed to burn whole logs, about a foot around and 4' long. I'd have hated to be the fireman who had to chuck one of those in the fire every 30 seconds.

After leaving Whitehorse we were facing 1000 miles of very remote areas, so we did our laundry, got a really good, hot shower and started South. We would follow the Alaska Highway to just before Watson Lake, then turn south on Highway 37 and drive down the western part of British Columbia.

I didn't realize it until I started mapping our route that BC is about the same size from north to south as the western US. Just to cross BC was the equivalent of a drive from San Diego to Seattle! Unlike the US, there is no Interstate 5. The first 60 miles or so of Highway 37 were basically a two lane gravel road (recently sealed though, so not too bad) There were no painted road markings, few signs, and the trees came right to the edge of the road, so the sheep, bears and horses crossing the road appeared almost instantly in front of you.

We stayed at a very remote campground, but they did have internet access so I managed to get my work done before the generator was shut off and the internet connection went dark. Since there were no restaurants around, we used the camp stove and ate some Pork skewers that we bought in a grocery store and some dehydrated food and canned veggies. It was very cold at night, so I slept well since my tent fan was not working so heat would have been an issue.

As soon as I heard the generator come back on in the morning I checked my email and then it was time to go.

.