Watson Lake, Tetsa Lake and Whitehorse Yukon

After we pulled out of Liard, we proceeded to Watson Lake, Yukon.

Watson Lake is the home of the world famous Sign Forest.  This is a tradition that got started back in WWII when a homesick GI working on the original Alaska Highway made a milepost marker that included a arrow pointing and the distance to his hometown.

Watson Lake History

Over the years, travelers along the ALCAN have stopped and left their own signs for people to admire.  The town of Watson Lake supports this activity, dedicating land and wooden sign posts for people to hang their signs.  It has grown to probably an acre of densely populated signs.

Good luck finding any particular sign in there.  We tried to find the KYD (see you tube for the KYD stuff) sign, but had no luck.

All and all we found the Sign Forest to be a worthwhile and interesting stop, however I doubt we will stop there again until we have a sign to post.  Note to self:  Make it metal....

We did go to the Northern Lights Center across the highway from the Sign Forest and enjoyed their presentation of the Aurora Borealis.  This is a planetarium like theater and is quite good.

We stayed one night in a full hook-up RV park in Watson Lake.  All the RV parks are essentially parking lots with semi and full hookups.  Nothing remarkable there.

Tetsa River

We took off for White Horse the next day and overnighted in a RV park in the rural mountain area at the Tetsa River Lodge and RV park.  This was a rustic RV park where the water was supplied to our site via a garden hose and 15 amp power via an extension cord.  The generator did not sound healthy so we declined the electricity and lived on our own generator.

This place claims to have the "Best Cinnamon Rolls in the Center of the Galactic Cluster".  They may well be.  The Cinnamon Rolls earned them a spot in the RVs GPS for future stops.

Whitehorse

Most RVers consider Whitehorse a point along the way - They stop an Walmart, fill-up and are on their way. They are missing one of the most interesting places in Canada.

There are many museums in town, excellent restaurants and wonderful natural history.  One of my favorites was the "Worlds Largest Weathervane".  This is a real DC-3 mounted on a pole and is turned by the wind.

Whitehorse is the start of the Yukon River and one if its claims to fame is the worlds longest fish ladder.

Claire at the headwaters of the Yukon

The Worlds Longest Fish Ladder

Headwaters of the Yukon

We stayed in Whitehorse for about 10 days for logistical reasons, but we were not bored at all.  We will be stopping at Whitehorse during our return leg.