It's 30 July, and we are in Eagle Plains. There are
no Eagles, and we're on the top of a hill. Go figure... So here's the
scoop.Subject: Trip Report: Frenchman Lake to the Dempster!!!
Hey now,
We've made the Dempster!! It's 30 July, and we are in Eagle Plains. There are
no Eagles, and we're on the top of a hill. Go figure... So here's the
scoop.
After we hit Whitehorse and got gas and groceries my Dad & I continued on up to Frenchman Lake, in the vicinity of Carmacks. Beautiful spot, a medium sized lake back off of unpaved roads. Pit toilets, boil lake water to drink. Since we got there a day early we got to kick back while everyone else drove-even the others that went to Whitehorse the day we did, as they camped in Whitehorse.
So I went fishing. Walked along the shore for a ways away from the campground, and started casting. Got a trout real fast, about my 5th cast, but he shook the hook. Farther on down I got a Northern Pike, but he had teeth. Just like all Northern Pike. Bass don't have teeth. I fish for bass back home. So I don't have steel leader. I don't have that lure anymore either. Managed to hook 4 Northern Pike, and managed to lose 3 lures. One of the Pike got hooked through the top of the mouth so he couldn't bite the line, so he became dinner. Very tasty, much like Smallmouth Bass. Anyway, that first Pike got my good spoon, and the trout didn't like the rest of my lures, so no trout were to be had.
As I was fishing on the bank, I heard a VW back at the campground, so I wandered back to see who was there. It was Dave, and he offered me the use of his canoe for chasing fish. So I spent several hours (2 by myself, another 1-2 with Neil and my Dad) out on the lake in the canoe. Losing lures to Pike and watching trout run away from all my offerings. At least the scenery was great.
So we left Frenchman Lake and headed on up to Dawson City. A
misnomer, as the population can't be much over 2000. I guess it was a
city back in the gold rush days though. On the way up we found the
Partridge Creek Organic Farm. Great place, we told them what we
wanted and they walked out into the field and picked it for us. Talk
about fresh... Once in Dawson the nice folks at the Klondike Visitors
Association allowed me to use their phone line to get a weeks worth
of email and send off 2 trip reports.
We all stayed at the Klondike River campground, just
outside of town. I spent some time trying to repair my passenger side
vent wing, it got taken out by a rock on the way up, and Don and a
few others prepared their busses for the Dempster. And this morning
we hit it. Late. Had coolant leak problems with Sue's bus. Sue is
from Ohio, and is on a cross country trip making a documentary in her
diesel Westy. She ran into us at Laird hot springs and joined the
group. So we finally have a member of the trip who didn't find out
about it on the internet... So we started up the Dempster. There was
a road grader making big mounds of dirt in the middle of the road. So
of course to get around him we had to go over the dirt mounds. When
Sue went over, she kept going, right off the road into a ditch. She
and the bus were ok, but stuck, and only 3km down the Dempster. An
inauspicious start to be sure. Bob Hoover hooked up his bus and tow
rope and we started to push and pull. No dice, need bigger vehicle to
pull... Enter road
crew... Big ol' tractor... Exit Bob's tow
rope-SNAP!!! Enter my tow rope, exit Sue's bus from ditch, exit
vicinity of ditch. As we drove along at about 35-50 mph, a little
Ford Taurus zipped past us all. Japanese family on vacation in rental
car. On up the road I was in the lead, came up on 4 people standing
on the side of the road, no car in sight. Weird. Oh well, they seem
ok... wait, they're flagging me down... wait, there's that Ford, in
the ditch. Apparently they rolled it. I don't think he'll drive that
fast on a shale road again... Everyone was OK, but I couldn't pull
them out, so I went back 3 miles to a guy with a Dually Chevy working
on the road. Said he'd be up in half an hour when he got off work, so
I went back, told 'em, and kept on going. Seems that the folks at the
back of the line had taken to calling them the Insane Family on the
CB when they zipped past, the title fit.
Farther up the road, at a rest stop, Bob H. and Pete & Sally
had to repair flats, the Dempster takes its
toll
again. Even farther on there was snow on the road-on
30 July. We're North. Far North. It started raining about the last
100 km into Eagle Plain, so the road was pretty skittish. Slippy and
slidey, mucky and cold. I found myself envying Dave in his Synchro...
So here we are at the lounge in Eagle Plain. Jorge and Jack are shooting pool, Ivette is watching, and I'm about to go in search of a friendly phone line. Tomorrow we will arrive in Inuvik, with any luck. Don Kane and family are experiencing engine troubles, so they'll be loading into other vans in the morning for the final leg, and we'll leave Don's van here and pick it up on the way out. According to Jack and Jorge, Doug Freeman from Indiana has just arrived outside, perhaps I'll go meet him before I go to sleep tonight...
Tomorrow the journey will end. After a day of rest, we will begin to head home. It will be nice...
Peace,
Eddie
PS-Thanks to all who responded to our border troubles, I may not have time to respond personally until I get home, LOTS of folks expressed sympathy...
PPS-The kind staff at the Eagle Plains Motel, who showed me a corner with a phone and power outlet for my modem, say Hi! They say they wish they were anywhere but here... ;-)
Back to the Main Trip
page