After some midnight sun canoeing on the turquoise waters of Boya Lake Provincial Park, we continued North on the Cassiar, or Highway 37. We loved taking the scenic Cassiar up and would recommend taking it in at least one direction for anyone starting or ending their drive to Alaska from the Pacific Northwest.
It was only an hour’s drive from Boya Lake to the intersection of the Cassiar and the Alaska Highway (1), or the Alcan (short for Alaska-Canada Highway), as it is most well known. It was around here that we officially made it to Yukon territory. We were well on our way!
We had passed up opportunities to get gas in a few of the towns on the Cassiar, thinking it might be cheaper close to the Alcan – but we were wrong. It turned out to be about the same price, if not a little higher, and there was only one choice of gas station, at least going West (Watson Lake was just slightly East of here and has services). So if you’re going this way, too, make sure to stop for gas before getting onto 1! If I remember correctly, we paid around $1.27C/litre here – probably the worst we’d seen up until that point but still not as crazy as the worst case scenarios we were imagining.
We also caught a little bit of cell reception at a rest area soon after to help decide where we wanted to land that night. We had this really awesome Yukon/Eastern Alaska promotional magazine from a visitors center with a map in it telling us which towns we might find reception in and found it to be pretty reliable! We’ve really come to appreciate visitor’s centers in our travels, but never as much as on this stretch of our trip! (You should see our ever-growing stack of pamphlets…John sometimes thinks I’m crazy, but I think I’m prepared!)
The scenery on this stretch of the Alcan didn’t prove to be quite as grand as the BC roads we’d taken, but was pretty nonetheless. These photos were highlights, but the majority of the scenery was spruce tree-lined road.
We dipped uneventfully back into BC on this stretch of road before landing in Teslin Lake Yukon Government Campground for the night after probably six hours of towing with occasional stops. We found the road to be in pretty good condition in early June, but were starting to see the famous frost heaves pop up here and there – though they were always pretty well marked with cones so we were able to slow down for them. We didn’t find anything too special about this site – it was a small wooded campground adjacent to a rest area and with no services or lake access – but it was cheap and had free firewood, a perk we found in every stop we made in the Yukon. Another chill Canadian public park to rest ourselves as we made our way north – we weren’t complaining!
John and Katie's RV Honeymoon 