We left Jasper with the goal of Dawson City within five days, which would involve close to 300 miles of driving a day. The first day, we drove over 300 miles towards Whitehorse from Jasper and made it just over the border into British Columbia. Swan Lake Provincial Park, a little park on a lake, had some short hiking trails so we took a walk, although we were both coughing and sneezing with itchy eyes and throats from the smoke. We hoped to get another 300 miles towards Whitehorse the next day, with Whitehorse being a total of about 900 more miles. Our biggest concern was having adjust our route and timing due to fires.
The next day, we drove another 300+ miles to Beaver Lake Campground just past Ft. Nelson. This was a small free campground just off the Alaska Highway, which we entered in Dawson Creek. We saw signs of fairly recent fire, including signs at the entrance to the campground road advising against through travel due to fire, but although it was very smoky, we didn’t see any fire. We set the next day’s goal as Watson Lake.
The next day’s drive was probably our most stunning day of driving so far in our trip with beautiful views and many exciting wildlife sightings, all just along the Alaska Highway, not in a park. The count for wildlife for the day on the Alaska highway between Fort Nelson and Watson Lake was a bunch of bighorn sheep, a couple of bunches of bison, a mama black bear and three cubs, and two Caribou. We also saw a spruce quail at the campground before we left. We parked with a bunch of other overlanders in public parking near the Sign Forest, which we walked through quickly because it was raining, but which could be worth a day of wandering to see who posted signs from places we know. The welcome center people were super helpful and not only discretely told us where we could park, but also gave good advice for the trek to the Arctic. Watson Lake didn’t have much, not even a decent grocery store, but since we were heading for Whitehorse the next day, we knew we would be able to get outfitted for the Dempster Highway there.
In the morning, we took a quick walk around Watson Lake and got on the road. We stopped to see waterfalls at Ranchería Falls Recreation Site, which were very pretty. That day’s drive was faster but not as interesting as the day before, but got us into Whitehorse in time to get ourselves outfitted to head north - fuel, propane, water, and food. We spent the night in the Real Canada Superstore parking lot so we could head out early the next morning after a walk along the river. The river walk was great, and we got to see a lot of Whitehorse, which is an interesting city. It has everything you need, plus a lot of culture and history. We got on the road around 11 to head to Dawson City.
We made the long drive from Whitehorse to Dawson City, which was over 300 miles. The scenery was beautiful but not as awe inspiring, and we had to drive on a lot of washboard dirt roads through construction zones. We figured it was good practice for the Dempster Hwy! We stopped at an old stage stop ruin for lunch, which we found interesting especially since it was a historical site that also served as a rest area. We pulled into Bonanza RV park before Dawson City so we could get our laundry done before getting on the Dempster Highway the next day, after checking out Dawson.
