| Campground: | Watson Lake Campground, Unnamed Rd,YT, Canada |
| Total Distance: | 6881 Miles. |
| Traveled Today: | |
| Key Highlights: | Teslin Lake. Rancheria Falls. Watson Lake – Forst of Signs |
Today we were heading to Watson lake – a major community on the Alaska HWY and a place famous for the Forest of Signs (more on that later). Today was also the only significant stretch of drive in our trip that we were driving for the 2nd time – the road along Teslin lake. The lake and its surroundings looked absolutely different compared to a month ago when we traveled this stretch northbound: There was no rain, and the vast and open landscape was humbling. Most of the snow melted from the peaks of the mountains, and the water in the lakes receded to its normal level: The Teslin Campground that was flooded when we had to stay in it last month was back in normal condition, and the views along the huge Teslin lake were open.
As we continued south, we stopped at the nice Rancheria Falls and got early to Watson Lake to catch a place in the National Park first come, first served campground. We looked at the forest of signs – a strange tradition where the visitors to the city bring signs (like license plates or names of locations) and hang them at the junction. It started with one of the soldiers that paved the Alaska HWY, which added a sign of his hometown, and turned to 88,000 signs today and counting. It was frankly not very interesting, and the signs were not creative or intriguing. The only thing that surprised me – was that we did not see any sign in Hebrew. That is very strange- Israeli people like to put their mark everywhere 😉
We really wanted to go on a hike or sit and relax on the lake – but the minute we got out of our car – we were attacked by gazillions of mosquitoes! We killed dozens, or even hundreds of them- trying to survive. We even started hiking around Wei Lake, which ended with a run from the mosquitoes. It was time to move from offense to defense, wear our long sleeves gear, cover our faces with nets, get into the RV, close the door, and hope for a better future. We had no chance.