We left Whitehouse this morning on a cold and foggy day and veered off the Alaska Highway and travelled on a bypass road via Carcross. Emerald Lake which we had seen yesterday was shrowded in fog today and not visible. It was a lovely quiet drive along a lake with quite a few homes tucked in amongst the trees and hardly visible from the road. After some distance the road joined up again with the Alaska Highway where once again we were driving through mountains with plenty of lakes and rivers. There were lots of great camping spots along the lake edges.
Our lunch stop was at Teslin which has a population of 450 people. The scenic lakeside community is home to the Inland Tlingit. We received a warm welcome and a delicious meal supplied by the local community. Sharon, the lady who was responsible for organising the lunch was an Aussie from the Eastern States of Australia so it was lovely to talk to someone from home. She has been living in Canada for 40 years 20 of which have been in Teslin.
Jim and I were fortunate enough to have the Chief of the First Nation sit with us during lunch and he told us that the Teslin Lake was 80+ miles long and 700ft deep. The Nisutlin Bay Bridge has a seven-arch metal span and is the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway. The Chief still preferred to eat traditional food and fish formed a large part of his diet. Unfortunately though the younger generation enjoyed their "fast foods".
We were invited to visit the George Johnston Museum which is one of the best museums we have seen on our travels and has a great selection of colorful exhibits, dioramas and artifacts honouring the lives of George Johnston, the Inland Tlingit and other Teslin Lake residents.
The road in the afternoon was pretty good with not too many steep grades. We came across a vehicle accident where a non-convoy driver had run off the road and down a steep embankment. The Dr in our convoy attended to him until an ambulance arrived.
Our night stop was at Rancheria River Lodge where we had a group dinner. The lodge was constructed in 1946 and opened to civilian traffic in 1947. It is one of only a few original highway lodges in operation today.
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