Watson Lake in Yukon, Canada is a lovely little town spread out along the Alaska Highway with a population of 1,133 (in 2021). This tourist hub just north of British Colombia has been our home for the past two days.
After a great night at Cedar Lodge Motel, we packed up our bikes and travelled 2 km further into town to find A Nicer Motel, where we had a room reserved for the next two nights. Once our room was ready, we rearranged the furniture to make our bikes fit and settled in. Since there was only one bed, Gerald volunteered to sleep on the floor, all to make his daughter happy!
Rest days are a wonderful time to get other things done. In between doing laundry, and visiting the grocery store (which we did quite a bit), we also found some time to be tourists.
Watson Lake is home to the original Sign Post Forest, one of the most famous landmarks along the Alaska Highway. It was started when an injured soldier assigned to repair directional signposts added the distance to his own hometown out of homesickness. As of last year, the forest had 126,490 signs, and it continues to grow each day. Bearing witness to the thousands of other travellers from all over the world that have ventured to this place was a profound experience and we found ourselves there twice in the past two days.
During this break in cycling, we have still been thinking a lot about cycling. We made friends with the ladies at the visitors centre who were very knowledgeable about the area and provided useful information for the last leg of our journey. These employees couldn’t get over the fact that we’re on bikes that don’t have motors and decided Cheryl was a doppelgänger to their friend and former Watson Lake dweller. With details about campsites, water and grocery stores for the next 454 km, we now have a plan to complete our cycling trip by Wednesday, just five days from now.
Today and yesterday—our rest days—we repacked our bags with clean clothes, went grocery shopping for supplies, finalized our route, and went for a 3 km hike around Wye Lake. We also tried to get some extra sleep. Gerald bought a toothbrush, so he no longer has to use Cheryl’s (he forgot his in the van) and we met other cyclists and got to talk about biking. Overall, we’re now ready to conquer the final stretch of our planned route. Whitehorse, here we come!
*The cell reception will likely be limited after we leave Watson Lake and we don’t know if we’ll be able to access wifi. Just a heads up if you’re following this adventure in real time!*
Adventures on a bicycle 