We crossed into Canada, no problems at all at the border. No line, no hassle. Papers were clearly in order and our passports were on hand. They stamped our little blue booklets, took a look at our health records for the horses, and then said we were free to move on. Sad to say, they didn’t even ask to take a look at our beautiful horses who were in the trailer, waiting for their water buckets and hay bags to be filled.

We made little time because we got going so late. We drove through miles and miles of spindly black spruce forest, with mountain ranges at the distance, later in the day.

We soon arrived at the Beaver Creek Visitor Center, which was directly across the border. A tall, thin, older fellow with wispy white hair and a mustache curled at the ends stopped to greet us and shook our hands firmly. It then occurred to me that it is still early in the visitor center season. In a few weeks, his hand will be sore, and when he sees tourists pull up, he’ll take off running in the opposite direction.

Hovering behind this fellow was Lianne, the other visitor center greeter. Sid moved in the direction of his 1951 Buick, which aside from a dent in the left rear fender was in good shape. Now that I think of it I should have asked for a ride. It’s not often that one gets to ride in a vehicle that’s older than they are.

Sid and his 1951 Buick

Pete touching the electric fence

We stopped at the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center – closed. Nice deck and overlook – and free spotting scope viewing. We’d seen swans earlier and were hoping to see more. Would need to have been there earlier or later. The birds are most active at dusk and dawn.

Towards the day’s end, Pete began looking for a gravel pit pull off area. I then looked in the Milepost and noticed that the Congdon Creek Campground, a Yukon Territory site. The passage indicated that there was an electric fence surrounding the tenting area. I said to Pete “let’s go for it,” my reasoning being that this was a known bear area. Far better I thought, to be in an enclosed space than not.

Well, it turned out to be a skookum fence. When they do things in the Yukon, they do them right. We checked out the enclosed space and found a good highlining area for the horses – two trees that were far enough apart to rig up our horsey clothesline. We then moved the horses in, and set up our tent close to them. We ate at the picnic table outside the fence. After, we made sure there was no food around, so as to keep the bears from being habituated.

I felt quite good about our choice, I think Pete a little less so. I wish they had these fences everywhere. I took a few photos of it – it would be a good building model maybe at a future point in time.

Next: 139. 5/20/19: The Continental Divide Lodge