Sign Post Forest and Whitehorse
03 July 2018
Welcome to the Yukon
I really wanted to get back in the springs and possibly just stay there. But, I still needed to get to Alaska at some point, so I packed my bags and carried on. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for riding again today, so that made it a little easier.
My first stop of the day was Watson Lake, a small town near a lake along the Alaska Highway. Its claim to fame is the Signpost Forest, which is exactly what it sounds like. The story goes that a GI working on the Alaska Highway was homesick, and so he put up a sign pointing the distance to home on a vacant corner along the highway. Over the years, other people have pitched in signs from all over. There’s a little of everything in there, from stickers to signs to license plates and mardi gras beads. I even found the University of Okoboji sticker that I stuck to the back of the Volvo in high school. I wandered around there a bit, definitely didn’t see every sign, and carried on.
The road to Whitehorse beyond Watson Lake wasn’t particularly memorable for any one reason, but it was a very pretty drive overall. The landscape reminded me of northern New Mexico in some respects. There were also lots of really neat old bridges, some of which have metal decks. The grating makes the front tire on a motorcycle wander around a little and that can be very uncomfortable for some motorcyclists.
Speaking of road surfaces, this is what they call “chip seal” I think. This is the road surface of choice for the Alaska Highway. I’m pretty sure they use it because it gives good traction in the winter, but I could be just making that up. Either way, its like riding on a cheesegrater and chews through motorcycle tires relatively quickly. I definitely won’t get the 10,000 miles I was hoping for out of my rear tire.
I wasn’t feeling great when I got to Whitehorse, or at least my nose wasn’t. It was running, and let me tell you - sneezing in a motorcycle helmet is not something I enjoy. I considered getting a hotel, but the prices in Whitehorse aren’t for the faint of heart. Luckily, my campsitemate from Liard Hot Springs, Bob, had said that the Robert Service Campground in Whitehorse was a good place to stay, so finding a place to camp for the evening was quick and easy. The campsite is technically a park your vehicle and walk your stuff to your site campground, which is really nice because of how quiet the camp is. But, if you’re on a motorcycle, they actually let you ride around the gate and park right in your campsite, which is really nice considering how much of a pain it is to move all of the stuff without strapping it to the bike.
I grabbed a roll of toilet paper, put up my tent, and sat around using their wifi and blowing my nose. There are definitely better and worse ways to spend an evening. Since it didn’t actually seem to be getting dark, I went to sleep when my watch said it was 10. I’m not entirely sure what time zone that was though. Nonetheless, I slept easily.