The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake started in 1942 when Private Carl K. Lindley placed a sign pointing to his hometown of Danville, Illinois. The idea caught on, the ‘forest’ has grown and when we added our little sign (12,681 km to Christchurch, New Zealand) they numbered close to 80,000.
Alaska and the Yukon, the two places are intertwined in history and location. Visit one and you will likely find it hard to resist visiting the other. A shared history of the Klondike gold rush, of wild, adventurous folk pioneering the last frontier of North America, of traditional peoples linked through trade and culture back to a time when the modern borders of the USA and Canada had no meaning. It is easy for the absent-minded traveller to forget which country they are visiting—are you in the USA or Canada? Until you try to buy something.
Let’s face it. Alaska is pretty darn amazing. We couldn’t resist returning. Our budget didn’t quite stretch to a long ferry journey, so on some local advice we opted to check out Haines and then take the short ferry trip to Skagway.
Oh yeah! Hot water at the touch of a button—or rather the attaching of alligator clamps… and a 15min wait for the car to warm up.
Our time in Whitehorse proved to be quite busy, catching up on odds and ends, making good use of the wi-fi, doing oil changes, buying the ingredients for Ben’s shower project, that sort of thing. But we also found time to take in a few of the local sights.
Not satisfied with one trip above the Arctic Circle. Who would be? We decided it was time to investigate the Canadian Arctic and find out the Northwest Territories had to offer (or at least the small part of it that we could afford to visit—both financially and in terms of time). It seemed like the logical thing to do while we were in the neighbourhood at any rate.
Second Battery There are a several reasons why we decided to install a second battery. The main reason being we intend to install a fridge in the car, but it would also run the power inverter and LED lighting. Although we could run it all from the main battery, it is perhaps not a good idea when you’re relying on that battery to start your car after staying in one place for a few days.
Visiting Dawson City is like travelling back in time to the gold rush era. The dirt streets are lined with wooden boardwalks all leading to buildings that cause you to believe you have accidentally hit 88mph and travelled back to the wild west.
Factory Roof Rack fail. It was about six the morning of the third night in our roof top tent when we heard the first loud pop, which was followed about 15 minutes later by second loud pop but this time it was accompanied by the tent shaking … oh dear.
The time had finally come to drive the Dalton Highway up to Deadhorse to officially ‘start’ our journey. While we had been camping in Fairbanks, we had met a couple from Texas who had just completed the drive themselves. They spoke of lots of mud, roadsides teeming with wildlife and dipping their feet in the ice-filled Arctic Ocean. Sounds like our kind of road trip!