Takhini Hot Springs, YT >> Whitehorse, YT >> Takhini Hot Springs, YT 46 miles ridden
Who would’ve thought the biggest bargain in the Yukon would be doing laundry?!?? In a situation where they really have you – everyone needs clean clothes, after all – soap was only $1/box while wash and dry were only $2 each! (For perspective, this in an area where a .75L bottle of water costs more than $2 and ~5 minutes of warm water in a shower costs a loonie.) Nice to have these mundane, yet pleasant surprises every now and then.
One dichotomy I’ve noticed the further north I travel is that unlike in the Lower 48, where expenses – food, gas, etc. – are high in cities and cheaper in small towns, everything is expensive here. Food, water, gas… you name it. Because the area is so remote, supplies come through only every few weeks, so being in northern Canada is almost as expensive as city living. Just without any of the convenience.
Today was set aside for exploring Whitehorse and running errands. First stop: laundry. Showers are good for rinsing the stink off one’s body, but sooner or later your clothes need a bath too. At home, I felt soooo inconvenienced when I had to spend time at the laundromat to make sure no one swiped my clothes or took my dryer time, but on the road those two hours are happily spent writing postcards.
Afterward, while downtown looking for a library/internet connection, I ran into another Shadow rider, a guy in his 20s from Toronto who was on the first leg of a “Four Corners” tour – Alaska; the Baja Peninsula; Key West, Florida; and Nova Scotia – with nine friends. He and his group were on their way back from Alaska. “Most of our trip has been checking out places people we’ve met told us to visit,” he offered. Sage advice. They were hoping to be back home in November… and I thought it would be cold if I wasn’t back in Boston by October!
He also let me know a bridge on the Top of the World Highway had been washed out, so Fate was steering me clockwise around Alaska in lieu of the counterclockwise route I’d originally planned. Hopefully by the time I get back to Tok, AK, the road will have re-opened. If not, I’ll figure it out then. To borrow a phrase from the estimable Hunter S. Thompson: Que sera, sera.
This far north, there’s much less of a “metric vs. American” mentality and all bike brands typically live under one roof, so it wasn’t surprising to see a virtual United Nations of motorcycling represented in the parking lot of the local shop: Harley, Honda and Beemer riders were all working on their bikes – everything from routine maintenance to MacGyver-ing a fifth wheel – side by side with nary a sneer. I chatted with a few folks, then decided on a tour of the local brewery, strolled around downtown, and went back to camp for another soak in the springs and to catch up with my Canadian compadres.
A former gold rush outpost situated on the west bank of the Yukon River and located about 300 miles from the border of Alaska via the ALCAN, Whitehorse is one of two towns overland travelers must pass through en route from British Columbia to central Alaska. This ensures a steady stream of tourists looking to stop for a spell before tackling the next leg of their trip. Because of this, downtown is an efficient, compact grid sprinkled with saloons offering olde-timey entertainment and restaurants slinging salmon specials.
For motorists in Canada, there are two times of year: winter and paving season. According to local lore, every road in the Great White North gets re-paved every year to tamp down frost heaves, fill in potholes, and “improve” them by straightening out the curves… So motorcyclists, get up here before they ruin too much!
In fact, the ALCAN – which was built by the U.S. Army in 1942 and opened to the public six years later – was originally ~1,700 miles of twisty tarmac connecting Dawson Creek, BC, to Delta Junction, AK (just south of Fairbanks), and is now only about ~1,390 miles, getting shorter over the years as it gets “improved” by replacing the original majestic sweepers with arrow-straight sections. In some instances, I was leaning over so long I thought I’d backtracked on myself and almost forgotten what it was like to ride upright; these are the roads one dreams of, and now they’re being “fixed”… *sigh* The price of progress!
Since I’ll now be riding the ALCAN into Alaska instead of the northern arm of the Klondike Highway, tomorrow I’ll head south to Skagway, AK, for the ferry to Haines, AK, and then take the Haines Highway north: a circuitous, 260-mile detour to avoid having to drive a 95-mile stretch of the ALCAN twice. The Haines Highway is said to be amazing, so following the advice of my Toronto pal, why not check it out? Up here, the only luxury I have is time, so why not spend it seeing as much as I can?