Day 41: Engineer Creek Campground to Mile 0 Dempster Highway

July 15, 2010

Today was a big day. My original plan was to cycle 120 km to Tombstone Territorial Park before 5pm. That's when the Visitor Centre closes. I could get potable water there and check the weather forecast. If the weather forecast was ominous I could continue on. It didn't quite work out that way. I got to the campground entrance a bit after 5pm. The Visitor Centre closes before then so I didn't get water or a look at the weather forecast. At that point, I decided to take advantage of the loooooooong days and cycled the 70km to the base of the Dempster. Who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow. I arrived at about 9:30pm. So, the damage for the day was 196km over 2 mountain passes (the North Fork and the Windy) on dirt roads. It wasn't the original plan, but it worked well.

It was such a relief to see pavement again. I celebrated by staying at the Klondike River Lodge in an overflow shelter for $31.50. For the first time in a while I slept in an actual bed with a roof over my head.

The weather was cloudy all day, but the rain held off.

The plan is to cycle to Moose Creek Campground tomorrow.

End point:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=63.99216,-138.74973&ll=63.99216,-138.74973&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1