DAY 53 - 54 (6/25 - 6/26): ALCAN Whitehorse to Muncho Lake

Leaving Whitehorse we are now back on the ALCAN (Alaska-Canada) Highway.  It is confusing because I think it is officially called the Alaska Highway now???  But most of it is in Canada...apparently, the US wanted to build the highway early on, but it was not until the onset of WW2 that the Canadians agreed.  I may have mentioned it before, but while the highway brought access (including goods & services) to these remote areas, it also brought tragedy to the native peoples, whose communities were abruptly demolished.  Below is a map that shows the ALCAN (Yellow), and the other highways we have driven so far on this trip (Orange)

We left early in the morning for what ended up being a 12 hour driving day with stops.  Took some last minute photos of town, including this cute fox, along with his buddy rummaging for food.

Our fist stop is the Teslin Tinglit Cultural Centre.  There are Native First Nations Cultural Centers in nearly all of the towns we have stopped at on this trip.  They serve as gathering places, and places to communicate their culture to others, as well as preserve for their own future generations.  They are very protective of their artifacts and art, so we are not allowed to photograph anything in the interior of this center.

This is the center for the "Interior Tinglit" people.  They are related to the Coastal Tinglit that live in Alaska, and were established here when the Russian demand for otter and other furs drove them to hunt in interior areas (before the Russians "sold" Alaska to the US). 

A little ways down the road is the Village of Teslin.

We are so glad we stopped into the George Johnston Museum.  George was a forward thinking (I would say entrepreneur) Tinglit man raised at one end of Teslin Lake.  He was a self taught photographer at a young age and documented life in their village in the early 1900's.  He also purchased a car before there were any roads in the area, and started a "shuttle/taxi" service which ran across the frozen lake to transport people and goods in the wintertime.  Later, he opened a store in Teslin (the museum has an exact replica of the storefront housed within it).  Sadly George passed away a year before the museum that was named after him opened.

Next stop is Watson Lake.  I read there is a famous "Signpost Forest" here - you can read the history of it here.  There are over 100,000 signs from all over the world here now...we realize we should have brought something with us!  Oh well...next time 😉.  The funny thing is that we run into a group from our ferry here - 22 days after we got off the boat!  What a small, small world!

From this point, we cross into British Columbia (BC) and are told that there should be a lot of wildlife along the road now that we are headed into the Canadian Rockies...sure enough we run across many bears and bison!

Our destination is "Muncho Lake" (which means "big water" in the local Kaska language).  The waters at this lake are a beautiful color of jade!

We are camped here for two nights at Northern Rockies Lodge & RV Park.  

Here is a view after dinner from our campsite (Note we are further south now, so it actually gets a little dark at night).

Our full day at Muncho Lake is relaxing!  I think we literally have the best spot, and I announce (after sleeping in - whaaat?) that I could just sit by the lake all day - that is unheard of for this itchy-butt!  Well, let me caveat that by saying that I brought my sewing, so I would still be doing something - Ha!  Ha!

After dinner Barry got a fishing license on-line and we hiked around the bend in the lake and he tried his luck...not even a bite! 😞

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 441 (from Whitehorse to Munch Lake)