07:00 Tetsa River Campground (BC)
16:00 Whitehorse (YK) 861 km
A superb day of motorcycling despite a meager 4°C in the morning, but the situation improved a bit later on. Finally, the real Rockies! Shortly after leaving the campground, the landscape finally became what I expected of Western Canada: mountains, lakes, and wild animals (deer, bears, bison, caribou). The road is splendid and the weather clement. Passing through Stone Mountain Provincial Park and arriving on the Alaska Highway made this the best day to date. I feel I am getting closer to my goals; I am finally where I wanted to be.
I arrive in Whitehorse around 16:00. After a quick reconnaissance tour and a visit to the tourist information center to find a hotel ($80), I head to Honda. On the agenda: an oil change and fitting new tires (TKC80s for the Dempster Highway) for $125.
By 18:00, I am already back at the hotel! Incredible. I spent days planning this important stage of the trip and the result is there: I knew exactly where to go and didn’t waste time searching or circling around. Long live planning and GPS!
This allows me to enjoy the late afternoon having a few beers with two bikers heading north on BMWs (an RT from Ohio and an 1100GS from Alberta).
An eventful evening watching street fights. The downtown area is, once again, rather deserted, but it is Tuesday after all.
I am surprised to cross paths with so many Quebecers. The service manager at Honda is actually from Montreal. He informs me that salaries here are very attractive and that 20% of the population of Whitehorse is originally from Quebec. I didn’t expect that and, to be frank, I still don’t understand what pushes people to settle here permanently.
I head back to the hotel around 23:00 to prepare the bike for the straight shot toward Inuvik.
Lesson of the day: never leave the bear spray with your clothes! Oof, it doesn’t smell good and, above all, it burns!