Sgt. Marcia of the Yukon! Watson Lake, I presume.

We are official de-parkers at Poplars going to Watson Lake in the Yukon, along with Pennsylvanians Linda and Reggie.  That means we have to be on the line at 7 AM.  Not easy, especially for Marcia.  I have been awake since about 3:30 and the light coming in around 4:30 guarantees I won’t be back asleep.  At 6 AM, when the alarm rings, it starts to rain.

We are on duty to 9 AM.  Each rig, as it leaves for Whitehorse, is to be checked to verify it is safe to go (windows closed, steps up, lights working, etc.).  

Sometimes a de-parker, or a driver, is a bit of a snot about this but all goes well.  I catch one door unlocked.  I don’t really check for locked doors but this one was a bit ajar so I pulled and it opened.  I tell the driver but he says just to close it, he never locks the door.  I know him from a previous caravan and his response is no surprise.  I’m certainly in no mood to debate the merits of making sure your door doesn’t pop open on the road, and I wish him a safe journey.  (“Keep the silver side up”, we say.) 

At 8:45 AM there are only three rigs remaining.  The place looks odd so empty.  The camp’s friendly large male cat offers me a part of the rabbit he is dismembering.  No dog would be that generous, but I’ve eaten and politely decline.

Yum.

About 70 miles we stop at Laird Hot Springs, strip to swimsuits, spray on Off!, and dash for the springs followed by swarms of mosquitos.  The springs really are quite pleasant, but the Off! is no longer On! and the mosquitoes know it.  Fortunately, with only our heads showing there is less to sting.  In fact, the mosquitoes seem mostly to be feasting on a family of uncomplaining small kids, although I’m positive they will be complaining in a couple hours. 

Marcia & Linda fleeing Laird.

We have lunch in the rig and continue our journey.  The scenery is really nice but I guess our demands have also notched up and we proceed mostly without comment.  But we do see a beautiful stone sheep, a couple bears, then a couple bison, then a couple herds of bison, and then a lone small bear with a large bull bison grazing 75 yards away.  Later we learn others in our group saw a family of grizzlies.

It is definitely cooler but comfortable, and we are hit with brief showers.  For two hours we are swatting the occasional mosquito that boarded as we departed Laird.  I fuel-up at the last stop in BC.  I ask the owner about the odd antennas on his roof and learn they are microwave linking his phone with the rest of the world.  Fiber has passed by his place for 7 years but nobody will let him hook-up (apparently no cell service either).  I ask the lady why they reintroduced bison in this heavily forested area where they can do nothing but wander the grassy shoulder of the road, and she says there were never bison here until they introduced a herd in a meadow behind Laird and they wandered up here.

We pass into the Yukon and settle at the Downtown RV Park at Watson Lake.  We are in the caravan area, which means a large dirt lot, but it does have hook-ups.  Unfortunately there has been a water main break and we are told not to connect to the water unless we plan to boil it.  Bottled water is rumored to be $14 a gallon.