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Canada/Alaska 2019-12: The Cassiar Highway

     On July 21, five weeks into our trip, we took the Alaska Highway from Teslin to Watson Lake, Yukon, for gas and supplies.


Fireweed continued to adorn the highway in puffs of pink.
From Watson Lake, we backtracked ten miles to go south on the Cassiar Highway and soon crossed back into British Columbia.
Black spruce forests on both sides of the chipseal highway evidenced lightning-caused fires of 2010 and 2011. 
When the majority of pit stops and campgrounds have outhouses, you appreciate a ceiling giving you daylight and a view...
...a truly practical toilet paper holder...
and amusing outhouse signs....
On his solo trek two years ago, Doug boondocked at a lake--with plenty of mosquitoes--along the Cassiar. With Marilyn in attendance and the problems nearby, we opted for provincial parks and scored a lakeside site at Boya Lake. 

For $15 US, Doug was soon relaxing... 
 ...and Marilyn was swimming. After sinking up to her knees in mud getting to the water, she swam around the bend and discovered a dock.
We longed for our kayaks and considered renting the next day, but rain all night and into the morning negated that idea.
The clouds!
The emerald water! The neighbors! Amazing how many Plan Bs we've encountered, and each time it has been grand. While visiting around their campfire, neighbors Alex and Alison from Vienna told us of a couple hikes--so of course we had to spend another day.
The next day, our new neighbors, Jean-Pierre and Caroline from Belgium, invited us to coffee in their German MAN earth mover they'd shipped to Nova Scotia. 
They've completed one year of a three-year trek toward Tierra de Fuego. They'll ship the truck home from Uruguay.
We also visited with Nansi and toured her "camouflaged" Promaster with poptop. She's from Whitehorse, so we now have a place to visit on our next trek north, already being planned.
Carrying bear spray, covered in insect repellent, and swishing branches as Alex suggested to keep the mosquitoes at bay, we walked the 3 km "return" (roundtrip) trail to some impressive beaver dams.

One of many stumps of trees felled by beavers.
Nosee-um netting allows us to open the doors. The mosquitoes weren't numerous, but they had good aim, and did they love Marilyn.
Boya Lake, 9:45 PM
Boya Lake, 5:30 AM.
We'd thought we'd make the 547 km (342 mi) run to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK the next day...
...continuing to follow the Cassiar through breathtaking scenery...
...but a lakeside site at Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park easily convinced us to spend the night.
Marilyn found her swim this time more invigorating than refreshing.
We chatted with a passing paddler in an Advanced Elements inflatable kayak and again determined to bring ours next time!
Sunny and warm skies at one end of the lake...
...and storm clouds at the other. 
Our "private" beach was priceless.
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