To Lake Kluane, Yukon

Leaving Clearwater Campground we take the Alaska Highway heading for Tok. We stop for a lovely 2 mile walk down to Lisa Lake, a lilipad covered lake stocked with fish, which jump out of the water at regular intervals. We spot a couple of ptarmigan/grouse on the track on our return, and then back into the truck to continue on into Tok.

Tok is really a staging post, with a visitor centre, 2 fuel stations and a grocery store. We fill up on fuel and provisions and get back onto the highway as we intend to cross the border back into Canada before we stop for the night. Progress is slow as the road is in poor condition, with many bumps and undulations meaning we have to keep our speed down, but we eventually come to the Canadian border crossing at Beaver Creek.

We stay in Snag Creek campsite, finding the last spot, cook steak over the fire and retire - we have lost an hour in the time change as we crossed the border.

Snag Village’s claim to fame is the lowest recorded temperature in Canada, at -63C in 1971. Fortunately is it 30C for us today!

Leaving Snag Creek we turn south onto the highway. The road is in very poor condition, and we rollercoaster our way along through the valley with mountains and pine trees all around us.

We enjoy our first sighting of wild horses down on the White River bed.

We stop at Pickhandle Lake which has an abundance of fish rising to the surface, and we can see them swimming just below. There’s plenty to see - lot of ducks with their ducklings, a bald eagle sitting in a pine tree on the far side, and a gull who successfully catches a large fish and proceeds to eat it very vigorously while floating on the water. And fantastic reflections in the water of the surrounding mountains.

There are any dragonflies and mayflies flitting about, small birds, butterflies, beetles and other large flying insects. We spot a merlin flying low and fast over the lake.

After an hour or so we take our leave and continue southwards, stopping briefly to watch a small black bear at the side of the road, the first we’ve seen since leaving Yukon two weeks ago.

We eventually come through Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay, and try our luck in the Congdon Creek campsite, but it’s full so we decide to wild camp nearby on the shores of the huge Lake Kuane, which at 124 square miles is Yukon’s largest lake.

We find a spot right by the water. It is windy and then water is choppy. We take a walk along the shore where there are two piles of bear droppings and lots of bear paw prints the wet sand. The wind gets up even more and we watch as the rainclouds come in from the mountains, expecting a deluge, but in the end it comes to just a few small drops and a rainbow. Shortly afterwards the wind drops again and all becomes calm with a few birds bobbing about on the surface.

We decide to stay up late in the hope of seeing bears on the beach, but to no avail.