NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 70 TO 73 - A MOOSE!! PELLY CROSSING FREE CAMPGROUND

We left the Midnight Dome in Dawson City and headed on further south. We are now on what's called the North Klondike Highway. This was going to be a nice traveling day, the weather was cooperating with sunshine, blue skies, and temperatures in the 60s.

First we had tons of road construction. About 20 miles of it, maybe 30. It was pretty rugged --- we had to wait for a pilot car and wait for the big machinery to get out of the way. It was pretty interesting watching the new road that they were creating, but it still took a lot of time. 

We had chosen Moose Lake as our intended campground. But lo and behold, off in the distance we could see smoke! Yep, there was a wildfire and it was in the direction we were going! 

When we got to the turnoff to Moose Lake there were warning signs and everyone was being evacuated. Lucky us, we hadn't even gotten there yet and we were being evacuated? It was time to go further down the highway and to the east to get away from the path of the wildfires. The wind was blowing in the opposite direction so we weren't getting a lot of the smoke. But we knew we had to follow the experts advice and get the heck out of the area fast.

Our next surprise was a moose! It appeared to be a young male. He was on the left side of the road munching on something and decided it was time to cross the road. He didn't care if there was a motorhome coming or not. He was going to cross the road, whether we liked it or not!

I didn't have the big camera ready, so these were just snapped quickly with my cell phone. But we were very happy to see the moose in the wild, roaming free. I just hope he learns about how to cross the road and avoid oncoming traffic?

They say that hitting a moose is like hitting a cow on stilts. And it comes right in your windshield and often causes a fatality.

We could still see more smoke off in the distance. We're glad that we were moving in the opposite direction. Wildfire situation is really getting bad, especially to the northern parts of the Yukon and up into Alaska. Maybe July is a good time to get out of there?

We drove on down to a big bridge that crosses the Stewart River. It was named Pelly's Crossing.  By this time, the skies were looking much better and we were far beyond the wildfire danger.

We had watched someone else's YouTube about pulling into a free campground, just after the bridge on the right. It was an abandoned government campground that now has been taking over by the Selkirk Nation. They were offering the campsites for free and just asked that you clean up after yourself! We were also told that the first four campsites have free electric hookups! There's also a water spigot with potable water available right at the entry shack. We pulled in and found site number one was vacant. How lucky was that?

Sure enough, the power was on. We hooked on up and made ourselves at home. Steve got out the grill so we could start some dinner. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon and evening. There was some road noise further off, but we didn't mind. The price was right.

Steve grilled up some hamburgers. These are the most expensive hamburgers we have ever bought! They were approximately a half pound each. We paid about 10 bucks a pound for them! They could have been cut in half crosswise if they have been thawed and we could have gotten two meals out of them. But they were frozen when Steve tossed them on the grill. They were very thick and took quite a while to cook.

But soon they were done, and they were pretty darn good.  The other thing we splurged on at the grocery store in Dawson City, was a huge wedge of watermelon! I know it was about 8 bucks, but it was worth it because just think of how far they had the truck it to get it there?  Ooooh It was so delicious and sweet and absolutely perfect degrees of ripeness.

Then it was time for a couple little projects. We had bought this really nice little mini vacuum cleaner at Aldi before we left. Since we had electricity, it was time to try it out and vacuum the carpeted area back around our bed. Nick has been shedding and we have quite a bit of hair hanging around... Actually, dog fur is made of little glistens and sparkles to remind us of their love and devotion for us!

This unit, under the Ambino brand, was mentioned as being good for pet hair. The main nozzle just has suction, no beater brush. But there is a beater attachment that goes on the end of the hose to do small areas. And that's just what we had, the small areas around the bed.

Steve also pulled out the runner rugs and gave them a good shaking. That gave me a chance to trim some of the excess plastic that was always sticking out underneath this run of cabinetry. It had been there since the motorhome was new and was never trimmed away to the edge of where the toekick meets the floor. So while he had the rug out, I laid down on the floor with the utility knife and very carefully cut away the excess plastic. I've been meaning to do that for over a year!

Once our projects were all done, we put everything away and decided to explore the campground a bit before dark. Right next to site 1 is this adorable little log cabin. I don't know if it had been a caretakers building back when this was a provincial park campground? Or if it had been built to be a little visitor center? Not sure. But the door was locked now. The place could use a lawn cutting, or at least a weed whacking. But all in all, it was a really pretty campground.

Some sites were along the river. Somewhere nestled deep in the woods in the shady trees. There was also a community garden in the back half of the campground that was run by volunteers of the Selkirk Nation.

We settled it into our lawn chairs and relaxed for the rest of the evening. There was a slight breeze, and the temperatures were absolutely perfect.

This was a pretty comfortable campsite. We decided to stay two nights because it was so relaxing and we needed a little bit of downtime.

I realized from sitting in my lawn chair, that at arm's length I had a whole variety of wildflowers! All of these were taken with a camera while sitting in my chair. Imagine that?

We enjoyed our down time, with perfect internet signal from our Starlink. We had access to more water if we needed it. It was very comfortable to sit back and smell the flowers. Actually, the wildflowers.

Here is the video that goes along with today's blog: 

165 miles traveled today 

5,917 miles traveled so far