Our morning in Watson Lake ended up a bit different than expected. As planned, we visited the Sign Post Forest with around 85,000 signs. The sign forest began in 1942 when a U.S. Army soldier from Danville, Illinois named Carl K. Lindley was injured and was asked to repaint a sign that had been damaged by a bulldozer. He asked whether he could add a sign indicating the distance to his hometown and ever since people from all over the world have been adding their own signs.

The nearby Alaska Highway Interpretive Centre was our next stop and we learned a great deal about how the 1523 mile highway was built in just 8 months and 12 days!

We spoke to the tourist information agents and got a number of new brochures and information about our upcoming Dempster Highway trip. Now we were really excited about this segment of the trip.

Our next destination was the Watson Lake Airport to learn about the U.S. – Russia Lend-Lease program where the U.S. lent aircraft and other machinery to Russia during the second world war. The information panels and images also showed the network of airports used to ferry the aircraft to Russia. A large, now seemingly empty, former military hanger can still be seen.

When we were ready to leave we had a bit of a surprise – the information panel in the van’s dash showed that the right rear tire was low in pressure. We hurried back to Watson Lake to a tire repair shop and they discovered that the valve stem was leaking. Fortunately they were able to fix it, although they didn’t have any stems compatible with the tire pressure monitoring system. The owner told us that a shop in Whitehorse would be able to replace the valve again with one that was compatible.

On our way to Teslin we stopped at the famous Rancheria Restaurant that was already mentioned in the 1949 edition of the Milepost. Here we had apple pie and talked in great length with the Kim, the daughter of the owner. Kim is a teacher and lives in BC now.

A little further up the road we saw a wolf walking in the bushes by the side of the road.

The rest of the drive to Teslin was uneventful and we crossed the Nisutlin Bay Bridge, the second longest water span on the Alaska Highway at 584 meters.

We checked into the Yukon Model and Lakeshore RV Park right across the bridge and then hurried off to the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre for the Ha Kus Teyea Celebration. Here we enjoyed traditional dances and ate smoked and BBQ’d salmon for dinner. By the lake we saw the canoes that had participated in the traditional lake crossing.

Dead tired we returned to our campsite and went straight to bed.

After breakfast we went to the Yukon Wildlife gallery adjacent our campground. They have a wonderful display of taxidermied animals in recreated natural habitat scenes.

Next we wanted to visit the George Johnston Museum with its photo gallery of Tlingit life from the 1920s to 1940s. Unfortunately a power failure at the gallery meant it was closed.

We returned to the Tlingit Heritage Centre and talked to a few of the workshop leaders about traditional crafts and smoking salmon.

It was now time to continue our drive to Whitehorse but we had to stop at the Johnson’s Crossing Lodge and RV Park to taste their famous cinnamon buns made from the original 1949 recipe. Their scones also looked good so two of them joined us on our trip and will be breakfast tomorrow.

We made it to the Caribou RV Park just outside of Whitehorse were we will be spending two nights. They have an outhouse with a with an interesting and amusing sign on the door.

Right next door is the Wolf’s Den restaurant which has Swiss specialities. We couldn’t resist and enjoyed a delicious cheese fondue (although Martin’s homemade one is still much better).

The scones from Johnston’s Crossing were great!

We drove to Integra Tire to get our valve stem replaced again with one compatible with the tire pressure monitoring system. This was done quickly while we waited. We met a German couple who had rented a car in Vancouver and had driven it up the Dempster Highway with four kayaks on the roof. On the way they had shredded two tires and possibly wrecked a wheel bearing. We’re sure the rental car company is eager to get their car back before it gets trashed anymore. The nerve of some people.

The rest of the day was spent touring Whitehorse. We started at the Visitor Reception Centre where we got our Yukon passports stamped and lots more information on the Dempster Highway trip and options to get to Tuktoyaktuk. An extension of the Dempster from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is set to open in September but unfortunately won’t be done before we get there. There are options to fly and do a day trip. Hopefully this will work out for us.

We visited the White Pass and Yukon Route Depot, the Whitehorse end of the former narrow gauge railway that ran to Skagway and dates back to the Gold Rush time. These days one can take a tour by bus to Fraser, BC and then the train to Skagway.

After this we visited the MacBride Museum of Yukon History. Here we learned about some of the colourful characters that were part of the Yukon’s history, saw some more animals, beautiful native craftsmanship, and really enjoyed a special photographic exhibit on the the building of the Alaska Highway which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

Tired from walking we enjoyed a rest at a local coffee shop, sitting outside in the warm sun.

On our way back to our campground we briefly visited the S.S. Klondike, a stern wheeler that had transported goods and passengers along the Yukon River between 1937 and 1955. The S.S. Klondike was restored in 2005 and is now a museum.