7/5/19 - Day 7 - Dust on the Trail and Hazy Sun

We made it up to the Alcan today. It was a relatively uneventful drive from Deese Lake on the Cassiar Highway. We did see the rump of a large moose as it disappeared into the bushes and then later a grizzly ambling along in the ditch by the road. Compared to yesterday's animal sightings, it was a slow day.

We traveled through a variety of forests again today and we covered over 300 miles. The skinny alpine spruce gave way to more arid pine forest. We passed through a large burned out area just south of where the Cassiar connects to the Alcan. There was also a section with a lodge pole pine forest. There were also many lakes and rivers. The Cassiar is a gorgeous road and could provide many different camping /fishing spots.
These are the stages the jade goes through
from rough stone to polished bear.





Jade City was one stop today. It was interesting to see how they process the raw jade into the finished products. We bought a few pieces to see if we can work them into usable items. Looking at the uncut boulders though, it seems like we have seen rocks like this around. It is hard to tell from the exterior what the interior looks like!

They have been doing road work on the Alcan, so every 5 or 10 kilometers there are "SLOW" signs because they laid down gravel to seal the roadbed. Some people follow the posted speeds, but most just flew by with dust clouds billowing in their wake.

The dust extended to the RV sites we stopped at. We did stop at Johnson's Crossing, dust and all. It turns out they have a great diner and bakery. We can smell smoke from forest fires here and the sun is a hazy orange. We asked the cook about the location of the fires. He thought they were near Dawson, guess we'll find out in a day or so.

We should reach Whitehorse tomorrow and will turn north from there. As I write this it is 10 PM and the sun is still well above the horizon.
A glimpse of the burned out forest.

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