Alaskan Highway – Watson Lake (Day Two Road Wash Out)

Our port in the storm

June 8 Friday Woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning...no rain all night. Unfortunately, the rain had already done its' damage. We heard today that the road north was still closed and not expected to be open until noon. But as the day wore on we got more accurate information from the truck weigh scale station. It seems that the mudslide has been cleaned up however, there is a 200 ft long 20ft deep road wash out between here and our next planned destination, Whitehorse. The supervisor at the weigh station said in all of his 21 years here the road has never been washed out. Lucky us! They are now assessing the situation by helicopter and saying it will be 4 to 5 days before the road is passable. In the meantime, RVs are pulling in from the south...our RV park is full and there are a line of RVs waiting in the road. We are lucky to have our site for the night, much better than being stranded somewhere on the road. Not only that, we have WIFI and an extra cinnamon roll in the fridge from one of our stops yesterday. Nothing fancy here, just a spot to park and hook up to elec/water/sewer/cable & wifi. Just a way station for traveler's to spend the night on their way to Alaska. Oh, and there is a pretty lake to hike around on the other side of the park that is not visible in the picture.  

Watson Lake is a small place, pop. 1,500...the highway runs right through it. There is a visitor's center, the Sign Post Forest, the Northern Lights Center, a small restaurant, gas station, well stocked grocery store within walking distance of our park, post office and 3 or 4 RV parks. There is a school and a hospital and airport which was used in WWII as a way station to Alaska. This is what the town grew around, but now the airport is more like a museum-- many interesting pictures from the 1940s, but only charter planes available. I think we have seen everything that is here. Groceries are expensive in Canada...for instance I saw a small, seedless watermelon today priced at $12.99! And a container of Breyer's ice cream for $11.99!! No watermelon or ice cream for us today!! Oh, and did I mention that we are already experiencing daylight until almost midnight? This is so weird to us and it really does play with your mind. Makes you think you aren't tired at all!