Its been a tough week. Headwinds... 40mph headwinds!
Rough roads... Tough but rough chip-seal and totally unsealed gravel roads.
The scenery has been great, although a few days ago, we were barely able to appreciate it... The roads we have been on heading towards and around Kulane Lake have been pretty well graded, so not many steep climbs, but they were often rough, bumpy and in many places, unsealed. That combined with the day-long strong headwind meant slow going.
We should have been able to clip along at a decent 12-17 mph, but even pedaling downhill, the headwind meant we were moving at a hard-fought 6 to 8mph.
Taking a break at the cultural centre at the southern end of Kulane Lake, we enjoyed a brief respite from the wind and some gorgeous scenery.
It was a long, long day, all of us feeling red-faced and windburned by the time we made camp.
Since that windy day, we have made further miles south to Whitehorse, but not before stopping for a very well earned and much needed break at Takhini Hot Springs.
The soak in the springs (for most of the afternoon and evening!) made us quite prune-like, but much better. And it was even more appreciated for the crazy very tough, long 'short cut' we tried to take.
About a year ago, when we were planning this ride, I'd googled the springs and marked them on the route. Being about 20 miles outside of Whitehorse, it meant a bit of a back-track to get to them. Trying to avoid that, I managed to plot an alternative route that was more direct. We knew it'd be on dirt roads, and when we found the turn off (well plotter on both my GPS watch and Tons Garmin) the road was a dual-track 4WD path, but in good condition.
We made camp a few miles down, looking forward to the mornings 15 mile quiet ride to the springs. The view from the bush campsite was amazing.
Moving out the next day, my Suunto Ambit GPS watch was guiding us perfectly... But it was the road that was becoming much less than perfect.
Including there now being a river across the trail..!
After a lot of lugging of gear and bush-whacking, we got across the water and into a rough rutted ATV track.
Tom took on the trail head first... Literally! A wayward branch caught him in the face, so he's sporting a pretty good war-wound.
Finally, we made it to some 'maintained' dirt roads, and a few miles later, to the awesome hot springs...
Covered in mud, soaking wet, and bitten to all heck by the damn mozzies. So yes, the soak in the spa was quite amazing..!
Now we are resting up for a couple of days in Whitehorse...
It's time to re-supply and rest-up before heading towards Prince George, some 1000 miles south east of us...
Cheers y'all!
RWK.
OUT!
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Location:Wood St,Whitehorse,Canada
