Swan Lake IRL

Today was a long driving day with 3 scheduled stops along the way. First, we returned to Watson Lake. Greg went for a run along the Alaska Highway, then we visited Sign Post Forest. The idea is cute: people post signs from their home, like street signs and license plates. There were signs from across Canada, the US, Europe and beyond. But it was really more of a collection of junk like frying pans with names written on it. Someone even posted a pair of jumbo underwear! Gross! We spent 5 minutes at Sign Post Forest, which was about 4 minutes too long. Before we left town, we fueled up since we were entering another long segment without services.

About an hour later, we stopped at Rancheria Falls. There was a short walk to the falls, which was actually two waterfalls separated by a small island. Specifically, the island split the river into two sections, and each section had its own waterfall. Neither of us had seen something quite like that. It was a short but welcome break.

Another hour later, we reached the town of Teslin, a settlement of the Tlingit people. We visited the George Johnston Museum. The museum was small but the collection was meticulously curated. Better yet, the docent gave us a detailed history lesson about George Johnston, an Inland Tlingit man who was a real innovator in the community. First, he bought an early camera. He learned how to use it and develop his own pictures, despite that he didn’t read English at the time. He used the camera to document the life of the Inland Tlingit people, before they lost their traditional way-of-life. Later, he bought the first automobile in the town, even before there were roads or gas pumps! He used it to drive people across the frozen lake, and he painted it white for winter hunting expeditions. Finally, when the Alaska Highway was built, he opened an early store, selling refreshments and souvenirs to travelers. The museum was filled with his photos and artifacts from Tlingit life. And it had his old car, restored by the dealer who sold it to him! George Johnston seemed fascinating, and the museum was one of our favorite stops so far.

We also learned that the area is a popular stopover during springtime swan migration. We passed Swan Lake, where Trumpeter and Tundra Swans stop and rest before flying to breeding grounds further north. Unfortunately, we missed the swan migration by a month or so.

As for wildlife, it was a fairly quiet day. We saw only two animals: one porcupine and one black bear. It was a small black bear, walking alongside the road. It was probably a young male. We were moving too fast to get any pictures.

We finally reached the city of Whitehorse, which has two Tim Horton’s and even a Canadian Tire store. We have defined the Timmy Index as the number of Tim Horton's in a town. A Real Canadian Town must have a Timmy Index of at least 1 or else it’s a smaller place like a village. Based on the Timmy Index, Whitehorse is a Real Canadian Town but Watson Lake is just a village. We passed the turnoff for the White Pass, which leads to Skagway, so we’re really close to Alaska. But first, we’re going to spend the next few days sightseeing around Whitehorse.

Bear count

Today: 1 black bear
Total: 4 bears