We are now in the Yukon Territory. Here we catch the Campbell Highway which will be unpaved for a couple of hundred miles. We spend the night at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park in Northern British Columbia the night of the 30th. It was a hot spring in a natural setting and was very beautiful.

We will be stopping in Watson Lake shortly to fuel as there are no services along the Campbell Highway for a long time. They have a science center here with a Northern Lights presentation that we plan to stop in to see. After this town, there isn't much.

The Northern Lights show was great. We fueled up and got some coffee. It is 57 degrees here at 2:30pm Pacific Time. We are now on the Campbell Highway on gravel. Believe it or not, this is one of the major roads in the Yukon. The towns are not towns as we know them in the states. Only the larger towns have amenities such as lodging, gas, and grocery stores. We have passed one truck so far on this road in 10 miles. We are happy for the occassional signs that indicate a pull-out with litter barrels so we may change drivers or just to stretch.

The road is heavily forested on both sides. The mountains and hills have been beautiful to now as the were multiple shades of green due to the various trees on them including paper birch, poplar, and various evergreens. Brilliant wildflowers are in patches along the Alaska Highway. Some rivers and lakes boast trophy fish the weight of a toddler.

The really nice thing is that you don't have to worry where there will be clean public restrooms since there are no bathrooms. Haha

We have come to the time when running water that does not have to be boiled first and toilets that flush are luxuries. A hot shower will be a downright cause of celebration.

I am beginning to think there is no such thing as the ever elusive moose and there is a great moose conspiracy. What I thought was moose in Tetons was more likely elk. We still have not seen one, though others have reported to, even at the campsite last night. We saw mountain goats and bighorn sheep along the Alaska Highway yesterday. Today we saw a herd of buffalo so far. There are many more animals that people per square mile here.

While the amenities are far and few between, the region is beautiful and has so much to offer in the way of dazzling scenery and wildlife, it will make the transition back to urbanization with the traffic and commercialization difficult. The townsfolk we have encountered are friendly and it is a much less harried way of life. For comparison sake, I did some population density calculations:

Florida 272 people per square mile
Pennsylvania 271
Wyoming 5
Alaska 1
Yukon Territory .15

Since Bob is driving and I have time, here is a gross, though amusing excerpt from the Milepost "The Bible of North Country." It was written by Sgt Chris Gras during the construction of the original Alcan Highway which was completed in 8 months during the 40's for military purposes.

"About a mile from the Liard (River) crossing, we built a mess hall and set up a Quonset hut. We also dug a deep 4-hole latrine. It began to snow and got very cold. It was then our problems with the latrine began. It began filling up, forming columns all the way up to the holes...The captain had me and 2 other men build a fire in the latrine. I told Daunhauer and Warren to get a little gasoline and start a fire. They poured about 5 gallons of gasoline down a hole and then, for some reason, proceeded to wait.
"Finally, they threw a lighted match and the latrine exploded, plastering the sides and roof with a brown substance and toilet paper, which immediately froze. It looked like some bizarre kind of Christmas decoration. Daunhauer and Warren had their eyebrows burned off and were a mess. We did use the latrine afterwards, but I sure wouldn't have wanted to be there when it warmed up in the spring."

They have extreme winters here, sometimes -50 degrees. They plug in their cars to keep the engine block from freezing. For us, in the summer, it is an adventure.