Teslin, Yukon Territory

Good morning, my friends! This morning we find ourselves at Teslin Lake Campground, a Yukon Government campground. It is lovely here. And it completed a day of mountain views. 

Right away after leaving Watson Lake, the mountains began to appear.

On and on...

We couldn't get over the beauty of the landscape.

And we're told it will be even more beautiful when we reach Alaska.

This next one had less snow than the others, but still a frosting at the top.

Lovely. It was a beautiful drive all the way.

We ran into the first hint of bad roads yesterday. We crossed over several patches of gravel. One was particularly "washboardy" and practically rattled the fillings from our teeth. Fortunately, it was just a short distance.

Our drive paralleled the Lower Rancheria River and the Swift River.

Here's what our Milepost tells us about that.

Continuing on, our drive was short. Still...so many mountain views. We were ringed by mountain ranges.

Eventually, the road dipped into British Columbia for a while.

We returned to Yukon Territory within about 25 kilometers.

Our final destination was Teslin Lake Campground.

Coming over a rise, we were treated to this view of the village.

Here's what our Milepost tells us about Teslin.

The bridge over Teslin Lake is being replaced.

We were stopped here to await a pilot car to take us across the bridge. Yeah...sorry about the crack in the windshield. I can avoid getting it in my pictures if I hold the camera close, but sometimes I forget. And by "forgetting" you should know that I barely notice the cracks at this point. They are no worse than they were at the beginning of the trip, and they stopped moving across the windshield before reaching the driver's side...kind of a backwards bonus, if you think about it. It's like being glad you're not dead after getting a colonoscopy.

After crossing the bridge, we had just a few more kilometers before reaching the entrance to the campground.

It was first come first served here, and we believe we got the best campsite in the campground. Here's the view from our back window.

The kitties were so excited, they were willing to share the catio to have a look around. Try to ignore the cat snot on the window.

To the left of our campsite was a short trail down to the lake's edge.

Along the way we spotted some lupine. This was growing in tufts all around.

Also, these little purply things. My phone tells me these are known as Jacob's Ladder.

We carried our chairs with us and enjoyed lovely views of the lake. It was cloudy and gray earlier in the day.

By evening, the sun came out, and the light was much better for pictures. Looking to the left, we saw this:

Looking straight ahead, we saw this:

Looking to the right, we saw this:

And the mountains were so pretty, I zoomed in for a close-up. To the left:

Straight ahead:

To the right:

Walking back to the RV, we looked up overhead to see this:

Smitty was all about getting out for a walk. He was very brave.

He got another good sample of this Mewkon Territory grass. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Some other campers drove past our site. He held it together, but that was enough excitement for him. We went back inside for most of the evening.

When I woke up this morning, the sun was shining on the mountain across the lake like a spotlight.

We are far north at this point, but not as far as we will be. We are at 64 degrees north latitude here. Last night's sunset was at around 11:00 p.m. Sunrise comes during the 4:00 a.m. hour. The sky is never really dark. At this point, we're seeing nearly 19 hours of daylight every day, and the days will continue to get longer. It's nice for these travelers because we are not limited by daylight when it comes to sight-seeing. 

Our trek today will take us to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. It's about 100 miles down the road. We'll spend two nights there. Today is the best day of weather, but we'll arrive in Whitehorse early enough that we can still make a trip out to see Miles Canyon...I'll say more about that later...even if we don't go until after dinner. Also, there's a quilt shop there. It's closed on Sunday, so that will be on today's agenda.

For now, I must finish up quickly. I'm working on battery power, and I don't have much left. So that will be it from me today. Breakfast is next, and then we'll get on the road for another short day of driving.