Page 4. My Yukon experience, 1000km from Dawson City to Watson Lake. Lots more trees, brutal headwinds and flow state moments.
Road navigation isn’t hard in the Yukon. After leaving Dawson city south, the next turn was 5 days away! I was on the Klondike Highway and finally heading proper south for the first time on my trip. The next big town would be Whitehorse then a left turn onto the Alaska highway towards Watson Lake. This would be a 1000km section down to the southern border of the Yukon Territory.
I had the fresh legs feel riding out of Dawson City and It felt good. The Garmin is set to message me every 20km and they just seemed to keep popping up this day. There was a steady headwind going on but this first section of road through the vast forestry was amazing. I imagined looking down in myself from a really high perspective as a tiny spec moving incredibly slowly, no need for drone cam shots here.
Like a wolly I got carried away and went past a perfectly good camp spot at around 100km. I went on as it looked like there was another promising river spot at 120km but it didn’t amount to anything. Nothing else was looking remotely comfortable or safe either, going wondering off into the woods I’m sure I’d have found a lovely wild spot. But, the bugs get even worse and there’s a good chance of disturbing bears so I talked myself out of that.
The road was all gravel now due to works and feelings can change quickly on the bike, I was very ready to call it a day. There was a government campsite in reach 30km away so I just kept plodding on. In short, this turned into a 150km day and, after a late morning start and a steady headwind, that was pretty heavy for me.
Rolling up to Moose creek campground at around 10:30pm was a massive relief. Setting up camp and doing some dinner then extends the evening but I was comfy and a bit safer than fully wilding it. It also felt productive getting that much distance done, good day.
Method in the Madness
I do love pedalling but the main reason I was pushing on a bit was because of a one month setback. A big part of this trip was to ride the Great Divide Route from Jasper, Alberta to Colorado, US. The best time of year to be heading out of Jasper for it is usually Mid August. Leave it later than August and you can end up hitting the mountains when there’s more chance of challenging weather.
Because of this I originally planned to leave Anchorage early June, giving me loads of time. However, due to pushing my unpaid leave from work forward a month, I didn’t actually start the tour until July. I didn’t change the route plan either, I just worked out I could move faster and still make it to Jasper in August. This was the main reason I was trying to ride an average of 100km a day for these first 6 weeks.
Ultimately it wouldn’t have mattered if I didn’t make it to Alberta in August but I fancied that as a personal challenge and gave this thing a bit more focus and intention too which was a big motivator.
The next four days riding on this Klondike Highway were bloody tough. The headwind had picked up and there were long sections in a high tree line with nothing to see, it wasn’t inspiring. Music sometimes helps when it gets tough but my headphones had died so it was just good old fashioned mind games.
Sometimes a small sign in the distance ahead would intrigue me with the idea of something different to see. I’d get close enough to find out it was the radio channels for news or a business that sponsors the road. Desperate times.
I just wasn’t used to riding these long flat roads and of course it wasn’t all boring. A few river crossings and breakouts to big views of the Yukon were always appreciated. The road also famously follows the old school Overland Trail from Dawson to Whitehorse so there’s load of interesting stories from the gold rush years of the early 1900s.
Each of the proceeding nights arriving at a camp place was just a huge relief. Hours of spinning away into a headwind sucks bad and it’s even worse if you don’t know when it’s going to change. Not that there was much service anywhere but both my SIM cards weren’t working in Canada. I mostly enjoy being on aeroplane mode but it would have been nice to look at a weather forecast here and there.
Third day down from Dawson was the worst for it as the road opened out into the big lake region. It’s always amazing what glaciers leave behind but out in the open that wind was seriously brutal. You know it’s bad when you have to pedal downhill to stop from falling over, dangerous at times too as I was getting pushed all over the road. One morning I got on the road before 6am to try and avoid it but it wasn’t much different.
The pains are always short lived and I eventually made it to the big town of Whitehorse feeling ready for a break from pedaling. The bike needed looking at too so this was a good place to stop and do town jobs. Cheapest rooms were $130 a night so I camped just outside town by the river and made the most of the facilities at the library.
I met a chap called Yusei (You saay!) in Whitehorse who was living on the bike travelling. At this time he was planning a 7-10 day canoe trip down the Yukon river. It was ambitious since he’d never paddled before but fair play to him, it would also make great content for his YouTube channel!
After a productive day off sorting a SIM card, getting the bike looked at and doing next to nothing, I got moving again. I planned to make the next town Watson Lake in three days on the Alaska highway.
Not long after leaving, some persistent rain arrived then my front tyre started slowly deflating. This was because I had the tyres setup tubeless but on non tubeless rims, it had been working fine for a month but I was starting to need to top up air every day. It fully failed at this point and I needed to clean the sealant out and put an inner tube in. I didn’t fancy it at the side of the road in the rain so, dripping wet, I went knocking on the door of a small private lodge off the road.
The chef, Vincent, welcomed me in, made fresh coffee and let me use the shelter on the deck to sort my bike out. Perfect. My timing was so good that when I popped back in to say thanks, he whipped a fresh cake out the oven. Enjoyed a slab, had a chat in the nice warm lodge and took one for the road. Arguably a bad start to the day with rain and flat tyres but they’re good problems really and when cake magic like that happens I’ve no complains!
I was feeling on form after my day off and a tummy full of cake, the kilometers were flying by again. Thankfully the winds weren’t anything to complain about either so I highly appreciated that. This was the lower Alaska Highway section, I found it very quiet traffic wise once I was out the town. There was loads of room to ride and the scenery class so it was ticking all the boxes.
It’s difficult to explain but there was a point in the day when I was fully immersed, the flow state feeling is always worth acknowledging when you get it. At one point I came around in a little panic that I’d left all my stuff somewhere. Of course I was still dragging a 40kg bike up a gentle hill but it was feeling weightless for a short moment, you’ll know what I mean if you know what I mean. Another 150km day with a late evening finish but it was magic.
Something cool happened the next day. After camping in someone’s garden, with owners permission, I packed up and got moving first thing. I decided to aim for one of the Yukon campsites 20km down the road for a late breakfast and chill out. When I pulled in Pete was there who I met in Dawson and he was with a couple from Germany on a long bike tour too.
They were moving on then but I caught up with them at lunch and we rode together for the next two days. Camping was a corker too as we found a beauty spot by a big lake that evening. I’m very comfortable touring on my own but sharing it all with these guys was really appreciated. I would probably have gone passed and missed them that morning if I’d had breky first thing like I normally would.
This was still the big lake area in Lower Yukon, the rivers open out into these absolute whoppers, it reminded me of the Lochs in Scotland but bigger. Riding along one called Telsin lake was all day pretty much, it’s easily more than three times bigger than Loch Lomond for perspective. So vast.
After a late lunch with the crew at a gas station for some distinctly average poutine. The others fancied calling it a day, the camping looked good there and we had done a solid 80km. It was the right call as there wouldn’t be decent stop like that for another 80km. However. The wind was finally in favor and noticeably on the rear, I was highly excited by this. I just wanted to exploit the long awaited situation, so I said my goodbyes and rode on not really thinking about where I might camp.
It was another epic evening ride on that road. No cars, beautiful scenery and the tailwind of dreams all helped push me another 80km to the campground. I saw lots more black bear that evening too and even watched a black wolf on the road ahead, so wild.
I was quite near Watson Lake now so the next day I had a slow morning and made town early afternoon. Other than a huge sign forest which I loved, it seemed a small place which people just pass through typically. These little Canadian towns are not like American ones in the way of getting a beer at a fun bar. There was nowhere. So it was a nice quiet celebration on my own that evening camped down by the lake. After getting through this long Yukon section with no drama I was a tired but very happy boy.
I didn’t have a day off, just a chill out and resupply before the next leg down into British Columbia. I’d been hearing good things about the Stewart Cassiar Highway coming up and was keen to find out what the fuss was all about. I’ll share some more words on that in the next page.
Photos from this section in the gallery below
Thanks,
CW
My One Year Bike Tour 