IT WAS FREEZING LAST NIGHT !!! I had to get up and go over to the car twice to get more clothes out to put on !!!! I only slept fitfully until about 5 am, and then the next thing I knew it was 8 am ! And still only about zero !! So I did get some sleep. I had done laundry last night so am all squeaky clean again, and thought they had an internet conection at the camp site, but at about 9 pm it suddenly stopped working so I couldn't get blogs or anything done yet again !!! But I packed up the tent etc this morning, had my breakfast, then had a LOVELY hot shower which helped warm me up, and then I headed into town to the Information Centre, and then the Bakery, in that order !!
I had visited both places briefly the night before, and both looked interesting. The bakery's attractons were obvious, but the Info centre had a lot of information about the Kluane National Park. If you are like me, you may have never heard of it, but it is the Canadian part of the Wrangell-St Elias NP just over the border in Alaska, and that I have heard about - In fact they say it is even better than Denali in some respects. Kluane has Canada's biggest mountain - Mt Logan at some 5900 metres, and also has the largest ice / glacial area outside of the two poles. And a lot of other big hills in there as well. So I went in there to see a couple of videos they have about the park and the attractions in there as I wanted to learn more. These are the mountains I have had on my left for the last day or so, and they are impressive. I am not exactly the sort to go off into the back tracks with nothing but my tent and my bearspray, but I sure can appreciate the beauty they have around here in bucketloads. So, watched the movies, and looked around at some of the displays, and then headed over to the bakery !
Nice ham and cheese croissant and coffee for next breakfast (hey, it had been at least an hour since my last breakfast !!), and then I hit the road north. Today started out with big mountains, and one absolutely beautiful one in clear blue sky.
But eventually these slowly movered further away and got smaller as the day progressed, while the scenery became more like tundra with small lakes and lots of stunded fir trees - Very "British Columbian" scenery, if you know what I mean !!! Like you see on the calendars. It was very picturasque for a while, and then it tends to go on for a bit too long - Like driving in Australia sometimes - Its a long way to the next place !!
Lake Kluane was enormous. We had to drive around a big arm of it and that seemed to take for ever !! A lot of it is also still frozen, and all the many campsites along not only the lake but also the whle drive today are also all still closed. Defiitely time to head north and get into Denali etc befoe the crowds arrive.
Compared to yesterday did not see a lot of wildlife today - Couple of black bears was about it. The first one I did not even bother to photograph !! The next one was quite a big chap, and he was just plodding along the road, definitely on a mission, and he was stopping for no one ! He never even turned his head to look at me once as I drove slowly along right beside him !! Amazing.
Finally pulled into Beaver Creek where I decided to stop as it is a fair way on to the next place of Tetlin Junction. I am only a few miles from the US / Alaska border so I may even ake it to Fairbanks tomorrow. Will have to see how we go. While I was getting petrol a lady on a puch bike with a British flag on the back road past - and then a man. I later caught up with them in a restaurant just 100 yards up the road, Laurie and Ethel - He being originally from Plymouth !! and Ethel from N Ireland. They have done long cycle trips a lot before (including Australia), but Anchorage to Washinton DC through the Rockies for 4 months ??? No !! I thought I was crazy, but that is too much ! Sleeping in a tent beside the road ? With bears ? And inquisitive porcupines ? What about when you ride past a bear on the road ? I do not mind cycling, but those kind of distances take a secial kind of person, I think !
Tonight I am motelling it, (Buckshot Betty's Motel !!) as it was a very grey sky earlier, and now at 9.30 at night I am very glad I am not in the tent - It is snowing VERY large flakes at the moment, which are starting to settle on Elsie !! I might be snowed in by the morning !!! (I keep thinking of Laurie and Ethel in their tent, and on their bikes tomorrow !)
Here are today's pics, including the snow right now, and at last I am up to date with my blog !!!!!
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/HainesJctToBeaverCreek?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzjk8iit8fbFg#
