Again the ground that was muddy last night is as hard as a rock. As we soon discovered this also meant the gravel road back to Dease Lake was frozen hard making for good driving.
Today we would finally see some indigenous wildlife - I forgot to mention that yesterday we came across an Alpaca sitting in the middle of the highway - not something we expected.
Not long after starting out this morning we came upon a pair of moose on the side of the road. They stood and watched as we approached and at the last minute disappeared into the forest. Sometime later we came upon another lone female in the middle of the road - in an effort to get away from us she ran down the middle of the road for over a mile with us following her. Eventually to our relief - and probably hers also - she got the message and got off the road.
Back on highway 37 we headed north again with the morning still cold but the day clear with blue sky and bright sunshine. Like the past few days there are few settlements along the way and most of those that we do come across are closed. It was a perfect day for seeing the mountains and frozen lakes.
North of Dease lake we encountered our second stint of gravel road, but again the surface was in good condition and the gravel presented no problems. Indeed this gravel section was in better condition than some of the sealed sections that we would encounter later in the day.
Just after Dease lake a silver and black fox ran across the road in front of us - but we did not get a photograph.
There is not much to say about the remainder of the Cassiar highway - other than that the mountain scenery is enthralling and any one of the many mountain groups we saw today would be a major attraction for hikers and outdoor types in Australia.
Eventually we arrived at Alcan Highway and turned east towards Watson Lake in the hope of finding a camp ground open and with internet. As luck would have it not more than 10 kms down the road we came across a herd of caribou standing in the middle of the road licking the road surface. As we approached they eventually moved off the road but that was with some reluctance.
We found a campground open in Watson Lake - the owner had only just returned from wintering in California, the previous week - and it had nice showers but slow internet.
We spent a quiet afternoon washing the vehicle, our clothes, ourselves and enjoying the sunshine.
Just to explain the last photo. Watson Lake is famous for the forest of signs which now has over 10,000 signs from various parts of the world. The forest was started by a lonely member of the Alcan army construction crew in 1942. He put up a sign showing how far it was to his home town Danville, IL.
