Aug 7, 2022 (Sun)
The Mounties in Whitehorse are big, eh?
12:30 pm Just north of Whitehorse, YT
Here we are at the Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs (formerly Takhini hot springs, but somebody got bought out), ready to try yet another hot springs (Gini likes being warm). The new owners have big (BIG) plans for the place, but right now it’s all under construction, so it’s a bit…scattered.
Still, there are hot springs, fed from some naturally occurring hotness. We don’t see any volcanoes nearby, but there must be lava somewhere. The water is also full of all kinds of minerals—but thankfully no Sulphur like at the last set of warm water.
There are three pools, and each one has a different source and, theoretically, a different temperature. Much is made of this, but honestly, the difference between 103° and 105° is too subtle for us.
Gini at the hot springs (still under construction)
1:50 pm
Back in Harvey for lunch!
One of the great things about Harvey is you can look at the café offerings at the ritzy spa and say, “Nah, we can do better than that!”
And we can, as Gini whips up some BLT sandwiches, although we did eat a piece of carrot cake from the spa. (Harvey doesn’t have an oven, so baking is off the table).
4:25 pm Haines Junction, YT
After a couple hours of travel, we pull into Haines Junction to see what they have to offer (this is a good size town of 600 people). Fortunately, we’ve gotten out of the habit of reserving spaces at RV parks ahead of time. We find that we like to take a gander at the park before we commit.
In this case, it was a great move—the “RV Park” where we were planning to stay is a series of eight parking spots right next to a gas station right next to the highway.
“Oh, that looks peaceful!” says Gini and we continue on to the next RV park in town.
4:30 pm Haines Junction, YT
This park looks better, although there’s a lot of overgrown weeds and the place looks…deserted.
There’s a notice on the door saying that while it might look closed, and in fact is closed, we are welcome to park around back and put money in an envelope.
Sure, we’re closed, but you can stay anyway!
We drive around back and it looks like the set for Serial Killers Attack RV Campers, complete with just one lone camper in the middle of a field of weeds. We decide we don’t want to star in that movie.
Maybe the last place in town will be better!
The purple Fireweed has given way to yellow flowers that Gini is quite fond of
5:00 pm On the way to Beaver Creek, YT
Nope, the last place in town was five spots in a dusty parking lot next to a motel. This is the Yukon—surely somebody has a scenic RV camp, right?
Oooh—we find one that Google says is fabulously scenic and pretty and is just down the road 40 or so miles. It’s the prettiest RV Park Google has ever seen and it’s got four stars!
Along the road, we see very pointy mountains. It turns out there are three mountain ranges here, one of which includes the highest mountains in the Yukon—around 15,000 feet. Very picturesque.
Some very pointy mountains
6:30 pm Cottonwood RV Park
By this point, you probably know what we found: yup, it’s closed, closed, closed. Our choices are turn around and sleep in a parking lot (said parking lot being about 90 minutes back down the road) or keep going to Destruction Bay, which has an RV park (according to Siri).
We decide to press on. With a name like “Destruction Bay,” what could go wrong?
At least we have great scenery during our search!
7:00 pm Destruction Bay, YT
And this place has been closed for three years. But there’s a dozen or so big rigs (Class A RV’s—the ones that look like big busses) parked here. They advise us to knock on the door of the rickety old shack and talk to the guy.
After we wake him up (and he seems perfectly suited to be living in a rickety old shack), he agrees to let us take one of the abandoned spots. (“But no water or sewer! Just 15 amp power!”)
At this point, we’re tired and that bottle of wine is calling to us, and by golly this looks just lovely.
Gini whips up a delicious meal of fish, broccoli and fresh peaches (which is tastier than it sounds). The wine soothes some of the rough spots away, and we go to sleep only slightly canted.
Yukon Harvey!
By the numbers
“Without mathematics, there's nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.” Shakuntala Devi
Miles traveled so far: 1,911
Estimated Percentage of total road miles: 55%
Days so far: 15 days
Estimated Percentage of total road days: 48%
Gini & Robert
Harvey Staff