Alaska-Canada Adventure Ride
Day 7 - Watson Lake, Yukon to Faro, Yukon (294 miles)
Up to this point, most of the riding on the trip had been on asphalt, with the exception of some relatively short side roads to reach a campsite or the road out to the Salmon Glacier. We now headed up the Campbell Highway (4) toward the town of Ross River. This road becomes dirt about 40 miles up, but in relatively good condition, continuing as dirt for the rest of the day of riding.
We had briefly investigated the idea of stay on the Al-Can Highway to
Johnson's Crossing, and then take Road 6 up to Ross River. But we heard that this
road is a lot more technical, not suitable for big bikes, and may not even
be open.
Perhaps the recent dry weather pattern was to our advantage given the amount of mud was minimal up to Ross River via the Campbell Highway. But you could see some areas heavily rutted from previous episodes when the mud was worse. The area is relatively scenic, and quite remote, seeing only a couple of other vehicles on the road before the reservation areas closer to Ross River.
Given we were now in more the classic soggy arctic tundra landscape, mosquitos were quite bad. Stopping for lunch at the side of the road required a full application of Deet and a mosquito net over your head to keep them at bay. To eat, you need to temporarily lift the net over your mouth between each bite.
We stopped at Ross River for gas as pumped out of large above ground steel tank, but there is not much else here beyond a minimally stocked general store. This area is part of a native reservation, with a high poverty level that was clearly visible. As we were getting ready to head out, a local RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) overhearing some of our comments, mentioned that there are more facilities in Faro.
After some tricky berms and muddy sections due to some repairs underway on the Campbell Highway after Ross River, we reached Faro with no mishaps. We ended up finding a campsite at a lake a couple miles before this town, and seemed to be the only folks there.
Riding into town to kill some time and help Tucker find a beer ended up being a bigger search than expected. Liquor sales on reservation land is more heavily controlled in Canada, so they don't make it easy. We eventually found the official liquor store next to the Faro High School in a non-descript unsigned building.
Images (click to select the larger view at bottom)
All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2019 - 2020. Last updated: 1/10/2020