August 14
57mi/92km
2000ft/610m elevation gain
We left town this morning along a seasonal road following the Yukon River. We had a steep climb to eventually rejoin the Alaska Highway, which we will follow to Watson Lake. It was a lot more traffic than we’ve had the past couple weeks, but the scenery was pretty great. Although it was hilly, with some longer climbs, the grades were mostly gentle.
We crossed the Yukon River for a fourth and final time, near a dam, the beginning of Marsh Lake, which we followed for miles. At a rest area, a man walked over to us to ask about our trip. Earlier in his life, he did a long car trip around the US for around a year, then decided he wanted to sail the eastern seaboard. He didn’t know how to sail, but he bought a boat and spent three months learning before leaving. It’s always nice to chat with friendly people and hear their stories.
We stopped for lunch at a campground on the lake to take advantage of the picnic tables and trash cans. It was tempting to just stay and spend the day on the lake, but we continued on. We watched a Bald Eagle hunting on the water as we continued following the lake. In the afternoon, we finally left the lake behind and moved into the trees.
We started getting really great mountain views, and we found a campsite with a nice view that is out of sight of the highway. We were a bit out of sync today. I was sluggish in the morning and Paul was sluggish in the afternoon. Still, we didn’t get an early start, or a late finish, and covered plenty of ground.
