A long, tiring day. Left Whitehorse hoping to get to Watson Lake and perhaps beyond. There is a wild fire burning east of Watson Lake and the highway has been closed off and on, so we decided to push on while the road was open. There was a pilot car guiding one-way traffic through the fire area. The smoke was intense for about an hour on the west side of the fire. Flames were visible right beside the road, but we think this was not part of the main blaze, 
but a back-fire lit to prevent the fire from jumping the highway.
but a back-fire lit to prevent the fire from jumping the highway.We got past the fire by mid-afternoon and started looking for a place to stay. Saw lots of closed signs and a few dumpy cabins with rickety steps unsuitable for wheelchair access. One log building with perhaps 4 rooms had an outhouse in back and a sign on the wall saying if the door was open to go ahead and stay and pay in the morning. Cheap, but not an option. Amazing how we've gotten use to running water. Another picnic on a gravel side road, then we headed east again through absolutely amazing geology. Huge mountains of sedimentary rock thrust up and twisted into beautiful shapes. I won't bother to post any pictures because a small photo can't capture the 
almost unimaginable scale, beautiful colors and textures and looming intensity of a highway totally wrapped in the mountains. We had a great day of wildlife viewing. First, a buffalo. This guy's hair was almost totally rubbed off in the spring molt or whatever it is that bufallo do. Tiny birds were sitting on his back (picking lice?) and flying around his feet eating the insects stirred up by his grazing. We later saw several cow elk, two mule deer, and a family of Stone Sheep.
This ewe was quite stylish in her yellow plastic earrings and high-tech, radio equipped necklace. She also had a yearling with her, and thw whole family was unimpressed by the presence of camera toting interlopers. We arrived in Fort Nelson around 10:30, bone tired, but happy to have covered over 600 miles. We'll stay in Fort Nelson for another day to rest up and get organized for the drive through British Columbia, Alberta and on into Montana.
almost unimaginable scale, beautiful colors and textures and looming intensity of a highway totally wrapped in the mountains. We had a great day of wildlife viewing. First, a buffalo. This guy's hair was almost totally rubbed off in the spring molt or whatever it is that bufallo do. Tiny birds were sitting on his back (picking lice?) and flying around his feet eating the insects stirred up by his grazing. We later saw several cow elk, two mule deer, and a family of Stone Sheep.
This ewe was quite stylish in her yellow plastic earrings and high-tech, radio equipped necklace. She also had a yearling with her, and thw whole family was unimpressed by the presence of camera toting interlopers. We arrived in Fort Nelson around 10:30, bone tired, but happy to have covered over 600 miles. We'll stay in Fort Nelson for another day to rest up and get organized for the drive through British Columbia, Alberta and on into Montana.
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