August 5, 2007
To Marsh Lake: Yukon Government Campground
We're headed out again today, starting the long stretch to Watson Lake and onto the Cassiar Highway. Our bags are bulging with food items and Rachel has a fully loaded backpack in addition to her normal yellow canoe bag.
We have breakfast with Joel, check the internet one more time and pack up the last of our food items that are stored in the refrigerator overnight, something easy to forget. It is cloudy and rather cold this morning, only 10C. Joel has a Yukon license plate for Patrick's garage collection, Patrick is willing to make room to carry until the next package sent home. We ride back down to the SS Klondike and then on the road out of Whitehorse connecting back to the Alaska Highway.
Only a short day today...we hope!
Our goal is a Yukon government campground on Marsh Lake, but we heard that the leak is at record high, flooding out homes and beaches around the shores. We could not get confirmation the campground is actually open, but are confident the Belgian cyclists we met just two days ago said they had stayed there gave us accurate information.
If the campground is closed today might end up being a long one... The sun tries to break through the thick cloud cover and the rolling hills makes us warm up quickly. We stop at the junction to Skagway and have a cup of coffee with some our cereal bars at a roadside grease joint.
At the bridge across the Yukon River we can see the high waters of the lake, its shores are flooded. But the campground turns out to be open! We find a nice "pull through" site with a flat soft pine needle spot for our tent and a huge picnic table, firepit and free wood! First business is starting a fire, we have soup, a ham and cheese sandwich and some more coffee. Rachel works on the journal, Patrick goes in search of more pictures. The weather is nice now, cool with sunshine, just hoping it will last. The water\pump at the campground is removed, a sign says because of the arsenic levels in the groundwater are too high.
Luckily the caretaker comes by to have a chat with us and gives us enough water to fill the water bag. We eat pork loin with mashed potatoes and baked beans.
A gourmet meal in the wild.
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Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 11,865 km (7,368 miles)
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