Day 10 - Monday, August 17

Before we get to Day 10, here's a link to a story about a grizzly attack in Alaska last weekend: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/bears/attacks/story/954004.html (a close look at that link shows that the Anchorage Daily News has a whole category dedicated to stories about bear attacks).

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After leaving Toad River, we made a quick stop at Muncho Lake. Here's Lindsay, trying to pretend it wasn't 45 degrees in August:

Next, we came upon these stone sheep. They thought that if they stood still enough, we wouldn't see them. It didn't work:

A bit later, we came around a corner and saw this bad boy coming up the hill:

A wood bison, for those keeping track at home ("a distinct northern subspecies of the North American bison").

Some video footage of a herd of them from Ms. Scorsese, including one taking a dirt bath:

A young one having a bite to eat:

The horns were the only thing that kept Lindsay from jumping out of the car and petting this Molly look-a-like:

This here beast appeared to have an old fashioned bowl haircut (remember 7th grade, fellas?):

"Yeah, I'm standing in the middle of the highway, licking the road. What are you gonna do about it?":

It's a bit tough to see in this picture, but this guy got out of his camper to get an upclose look at one of these monsters:

He got back in before the bison did anything. Would have been nice to clean up the gene pool a bit.

The Alaska Highway crosses the border of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory seven times before settling in Yukon, so it was hard to tell where the official welcome sign was. Lindsay thought it was this one, so she had me pose for a picture:

But I'm always partial to the underdog:

Lindsay at Lucky Lake:

A sign at the lake explained: "Word of mouth has it that when the Alaska Highway was being built in 1942, one enterprising young woman set up a tent beside this lake and went into business. Her callers referred to their business transactions as 'a change of luck.' Since then, this body of water has been known as Lucky Lake."

Lindsay and I stopped at Lucky Lake to take a short hike. The farther we walked into the woods, the more poop we saw on the path. We hadn't been prepped on the appearance of bear poop, so we just assumed that what we were seeing was bear poop. We learned later that what we were seeing was probably deer poop. Oh well. We're terrified of deer, too.

Our next stop was the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon:

I see two signs of note in this photo: one on the bottom left for Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the white one on the middle left for Fancy Gap (if it's fancy, we dig it).

The Nisutlin Bay Bridge outside of Teslin, Yukon, the longest water span on the Alaska Highway (1,917 feet):

A puzzling sign for the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre:

Here's what they have to offer: Cultural Programs! Traditional Fish Camp! Heritage Gift Shop! Admission Fees! Easy RV Acc . . . wait a second! Admission Fees?

A graveyard of World War II vehicles at the beginning of the Canol Road:

There is an interesting story behind the Canol (Canadian Oil) Project and the Canol Road: http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-canol.htm

Sunset at the start of the Yukon River, just outside of Whitehorse, Yukon:

A bridge over the river:

Because the Canadian prime minister was going to be in Whitehorse later in the week, it took us a while to find a hotel room, but we ended up having a pretty good night. Unless you include the drunk shouting/knife match outside our window from 1-3 a.m. Cops would have put a stop to a fight like that in five minutes in downtown Indianapolis. Not in Whitehorse, Yukon. Every man for himself.

Toad River, British Columbia, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory - 474 miles