We've had a great visit at Inconnu Lodge, arrived here in the evening of the 18th and will be hitting the road again tomorrow for Faro for some welding and then onwards to Dawson City.
While here at the lodge we've done some fishing on the lake and in the River outlet, caught a couple dozen Grayling in an hour or two as well as a really nice Lake Trout by my wife, somewhere around 10 or 15 pounds and about 24 - 28 inches. It took her a good while to bring it in.
So let's see, some thoughts on what we've seen so far. Day one was mostly a nothing day, just flat Alberta highways trying to get far fast. There was the new Dinosaur Museum being built near Grand Prairie, looks like a Dinosaur which is kinda cool, be interesting to visit when it opens. Then there was Mile Zero when we got to Dawson Creek, had to stop for a pic or two there. Then we sort of wandered looking for a campsite between Dawson and FSJ, they were all full, so we ended up in a Holiday Inn in FSJ (pet friendly) We did however take a detour between Dawson and FSJ to drive a portion of the original Alaska Hwy route which takes you across a really cool original bridge and canyon that you compleatly miss if you stay to the new Hwy. doesn't take long and worth the detour.
On the second day we went from FSJ to Muncho Lake, quite a nice provincial campground there. Beautiful lake and scenery. Supposed to be good fishing to but we just had dinner and crashed after two long days of driving.
But! That brought us into the North! We were only a short distance from the Liard Hotsprings and just beyond, the Yukon!
On the third day we stopped at Liard Hotsprings for a soke, very very worth it! You pull in and can either camp or go to the day use parking, which is what we did. After leaving the Jeep we walked down a very well kept boardwalk of a marshy area, seeing a variety of birds and flowers. There are some well laid out sign boards along the way describing what you are seeing. After the marsh it's back into the forest, still on the boardwalk all the way to the springs. The pools are not compleatly natural but haven't been messed with to much. Parks has however built a nice change room building and deck with stairs on one side. As you approach there is a mild rotten egg smell but not overpowering. The water is HOT as you enter but if you stir it up some it's perfect. There is a distinct layer of hot on the surface, about 12"-18" then cooler below.the pools are plenty deep to immerse in and it feels amazing. ( we'll be stopping again on the way home! )
After smoking as much as we could take we hit the road again for Watson Lake Yukon, night three would be spent in the Yukon!
There are some great view points along the way and there is an opportunity to detour to another old section of the Hwy that was known as Suicide Hill, we'll take that detour on the way home.
Arriving in Watson Lake our first stop was the Sign Post Forest, it is truly amazing how many signs there are. We didn't try to count them but there are apparently in excess of 60,000. Next time we come we will be adding on. After wandering there for a while we went into the info centre, they were very helpful but think southerners are incapable of leaving pavement. Stern warnings about the condition of the Robert Campbell Hwy. aside from the construction area it's better than Calgary roads! The infomcentre is also a mini museum about the early Yukon and Alaska Hwy, they even have an 18 min movie that is worth a look. All in all a very we'll put together little place.
From there we headed to the Watson Lake Territorial campground. Clean, quiet, inexpensive and well put together.
In the morning of day four we pulled up stakes and headed back to town for gas ( which was about 20 cents cheaper than Fort Nelson BC! A very nice surprise ) topped the tank and jerry cans up and headed up the Robert Campbell ... which is paved for the first 30 or so km! What! Oh well then we hit gravel and construction mud before reaching the turnoff for the Nahanni Range road. Some very beatiful vistas thus far and many more to come as we headed up the range road. The first bridge you come to is across the Francis River, and is a little decrepit looking but can handle the trucks bringing concentrate out from Tungsten so no worries. The quality of the road varies, some major pot holes and some really good, lots of rough in between quality. The least pleasant part of the road was where it had been freshly graded, lots of big rocks loose on the surface... Good by back window! Hello thunder lightning and heavy rain as we tarped it over. Ah well, all part of the adventure! The road winds along, sometimes with the growth right up to the side other times with it back a couple meters. We did find some bad bumps in some shadows, one of which apparently took out a spring hanger on the trailer.
We decided to camp in an old gravel excavation across a creek about 30 feet wide and a foot to 18 inches deep. It was after the crossing we discovered the spring! The vistas from our spot were amazing, high ruged mountains to the east, high rolling mountains to the west, a broad brush filled valley with the Hyland River running thru it north and south west with the terrain sloping up to the north. Breathtaking!
While supper cooked I got under the trailer with the bailing wire and reattached the spring to the frame at the front and secured the links at the back to the frame also. All we could do is hope it would hold, we were over 300 km from anywhere we could get it fixed!
The night was wonderful, quiet, just the sound of the running creek. Perfection.
Day five : In the morning we got up and packed up, inspected the rest of the trailer, and headed out for Tungsten. The climb thru the mountains and down into the Flat river valley was breathtaking. I've always loved the Flat river valley and now I can say I love the the Hyland valley too, we both do.
Unfortunately we arrived at Tungsten at a bad time. It was crew change day and they were in the middle of putting a lift on the tailings pile so they wouldn't let us thru to the hotsprings. Understandable but a bit of a bummer.
So we turned around and drove back with a bit of a side trip up the access road up to Flat lakes. The roads not great so we decided to turn back, what with the bailing wire holding the axle in place...
We continued back out the way we came in, just taking it a bit slower and at the Hyland River airstrip stopped to help a mine worker heading to work who had suffered a puncture. Lucky I had a repair kit and compressor, he still had a long way to go to work!
We called it a day where the range road crosses the Hyland River and camped down by the water. No trouble camping beside the bridge, no traffic. We did a little fishing but the water was high and fast so didn't get anything.
Day six: we set out again back along the Range Road to the Robert Campbell and up to the territorial campground at Francis lake. Another nice one, friendly people, and not to busy. Learned of a couple places on the Dempster to stop and fish, we'll let you know if they're any good... Or maybe we won't!
Day seven: we left Francis lake and continued north to Finlayson lake where we would be transferring to a Beaver for the trip into Inconnu Lodge.
For me the floatplane flight is old hat, I've got a few thousand hours flying the Beaver, but for Bu and Tiger it was something new. But was a little nervous, Tiger on the other hand was cool as a cucumber. Didn't seem to phase him at all!
While here at the lodge we've helped out with a few chores and I've gone along on a few flights with my former boss and friend to help out. Was great to see my old stomping ground again and my favorite old DHC-2. We did a trip over to Flat lake and the Nahanni River, up to the Glacier lake at the Circ of the Unclimbables. Before returning to the lodge. All told we were gone for 7 hours moving gear for a canoe group. A little sweat, a few fly bites, and a whole lot of smiles. Some stunning territory in them there mountains!
And now it's our last night here, tomorrow back on the road. A couple hours to Faro. Then some welding and onwards to Dawson City!
Much more to come!
