Dempster camping

Day 30, Friday, 7/17: Woke up during the night about midnight and couldn’t believe how light it was. It’s just amazing and feels a bit weird. Only heard one big truck go by during the night and Bob heard one car this morning (I slept in). The sun is out and looks like it is going to be a beautiful day. Bob is cooking breakfast and then we will head on down the road. Plan to spend one more night somewhere along the Dempster before getting back to Dawson City.

Forgot to mention yesterday that we got our first battle scar! A big truck went by and kicked up a rock so we now have a chip in the truck windshield but it is down low and to the left on the driver’s side. Doesn’t interfere with seeing the road and we somewhat expected it to happen sooner or later.

We visited with a couple from Wellington, New Zealand at the Arctic Circle marker. Her brother was also with them and he lives in Calgary, Alberta. Friendly folks and they are traveling in a small SUV pulling a tent trailer. Not sure how they all fit since they were all quite tall! She trains search dogs so there was discussion about search and rescue.

Fueled in Eagle Plains where there was a tour bus full of teenagers. Not sure where they were headed but they were going south toward Dawson City. Lots of RV’s headed north toward Inuvik while we are headed south. Stopped at a rest area and saw Elephant Rock. It is a rock on the very top of a mountain that is shaped like an elephant. Hard to see without binoculars but we managed to spot it. Pretty cool! It is in the Dempster Hwy. guide book that we got at the first campground on the way in and that has been a wonderful thing to have. Lots of information about things to look for and see that you would miss if you didn’t know about it.

We are stopped in a rock quarry again for the night. It is about 5:00 and we were getting tired. About the 150 kilometer marker from the Dempster Hwy. junction. Plan to spend a few hours at Two Moose Lake in the morning. It is at the 102 marker and that is where we saw the big bull moose on the way north.

OK, so Betsy is getting addicted to cribbage on the computer!!! We have even had to run the generator so we could charge up the laptop….  Camping in the wilderness is such a challenge.