Sunday June 22, 2014 Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada

We were up early and I fixed coffee.  We didn’t get in too big of hurry with only 160 miles to go.  Since we had no hook up, preparation for travel was easy, inside items put away, slides in and jacks up.

We wanted to see the hot springs before leaving. So we drove to the trailhead.  As it turns out that was the shortest part of the trip.  The hot springs is a large pool.  It is nothing like Radium Hot Spring.  The pool is natural but has changing rooms for bathers.  The spring comes out of the ground at 53 degrees Centigrade, but another cooler spring cools the water enough to get into.  The springs do not flow into a creek.  Instead they empty into a large swampy area.  There is a boardwalk above the mushy ground.  We saw two Canadian Geese with two chicks on the walk to and from the springs.

Before leaving I wanted to check the coolant level.  I couldn’t get the cap off the coolant tank.  It is like a radiator cap, you have to press down as you are turning.  Brad and Susan came by and Brad was finally able to get the cap off.  I then filled the tank.  Leaving the park was the reverse of arriving.  We had to leave the park before hooking up the Jeep.

Once on the road we immediately spotted some Bison.  They weren’t up yet all were lying down in a field.  Later we saw two more Bison one was galloping toward the road, so we had to stop.  He walked across the road and then started to run again as we pulled away.  He wasn’t close to us but he ran for about a hundred yards parallel with us.

Around ten we stopped at a rest stop and shared the remaining cinnamon bun after Gerri heated it up.

Of course I keep a close eye on the temperature gauge.  Even when climbing grades it never went over 201.  I also have been keeping an eye on the mirrors, one of the bay doors opens occasionally and we have to stop and close it.  When I shut the door it locks but somehow the flexing of the coach springs it open.

Even though I had over ½ tank I stopped at Contact Creek and fueled up at a station that gives discounts to Fantasy tours.  I stopped and found one cache after we crossed into the Yukon Territory.  This is a new province for my caching stats.  There were more caches along the way, but Ben and Nancy wanted everyone in the RV Park at 1:30.  The plan was to walk over to the Sign Post Forest and put up a sign commemorated our visit.  This place has row after row of signs from all over the world.  Supposedly it all started with a soldier working on the Alaskan Highway posting a sign with the mileage to his home town in Louisiana.  It is now a large park.  It is obvious that many people, including some in our group, come prepared with signs they have made or stolen from their hometowns. 

I found one cache in the forest and one in a part of the park outside the forest.

Back at the RV Park I met a man that had a travel bug on his truck and fifth wheel.  He was traveling with another couple that had one on their motorhome.  He wrote down the travel bug numbers from my Jeep and coach and we all posted that we had discovered the other’s travel bugs.

Dinner was provided by the tour staff.  We had what they called walking tacos..  They had cut open bags of corn chips and as you walked past first you got the taco meat and then choose your toppings.  They also had salad for taco salad if you preferred.

After dinner we tried without much luck to get on the internet.

At 10:30 we went to bed even though the sun had not set.