The Journey from Liard Hot Springs to Watson Lake
We only travel 130 miles to Watson Lake from Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. The temperature at Watson Lake was around 75° during the day. The weather was generally clear, with a few scattered clouds, making it a pleasant day.
The Alaska highway crosses the Yukon-British Columbia border seven times today.
The highway passed through forested areas, open meadows, and rolling hills. The Liard River ran alongside the highway for a portion of the journey. After 35 miles, we stopped to get gas at Coal River Services, located at Mile 533 on the Alaska Highway at the junction of the Coal and Liard Rivers. It has been serving travelers since 1949.
We crossed the Coal River and continued north toward the Yukon. At mile 70, we pulled over for an overlook of Liard River.
As we continued north, we passed two herds of Wood Bison along the road.
After 84 miles at Alaska Highway Mile 585, we crossed into the Yukon for the first time. The First Nations word “Yukon” means ‘big river.’
The highway crossed the BC-YT border five more times over the next 11 miles, traveled through BC for 28 miles, then crossed the border for a seventh time and continued north to Watson Lake. Just north of this border crossing was a large pull-off with several informational signs about the history of the Yukon and the establishment of the 60th as the southern border. There was also some information about the local First Nations peoples.
A few miles up the road, the Welcome to Yukon sign was covered with stickers from various tourists. It was very upsetting that people thought using these stickers on the places we visited was okay. I saw it as a lazy form of graffiti, which I found equally offensive.
Watson Lake is located at Mile 635 on the Alaska Highway and has a population of just over 1,000 people.
Tags RV Park
Tags RV Park is on the west side of Watson Lake, across the street from the Sign Post Forest and the Visitor Center. There was congestion at the entrance, so we pulled over near the Sign Post Forest for about 30 minutes before pulling into the campground. This allowed us to briefly explore the forest before parking our camper.
Tags RV Park sits behind a gas station, restaurant, liquor store, grocery store, and laundromat. It was a large gravel, mostly dirt, parking lot with many potholes and long but narrow sites. Each pedestal services two sites.
The campground provides full hookups, pull-through sites, showers, and a laundromat. It also has a gas station, convenience store, and small restaurant.
Watson Lake Sign Post Forest
Sign Post Forest is a park in Watson Lake containing a collection of signs visitors place.It was started by a homesick GI in 1942 when he erected the signpost for his hometown: Danville, Ill., 2835 miles. Soon, others added their signs, and today, the forest contains over 100,000 signs worldwide. The city maintains the park now and puts up additional posts as necessary. A few pieces of equipment on display were also used during the highway construction.
Walking through the forest, we saw various signs, including street signs, license plates, and homemade signs. The park has the dubious honor of being the largest, unprosecuted collection of stolen property in the world.
Someone in our group created a nice wooden sign with our caravan information. We had all signed it earlier, and it was hung while the group toured the forest. Lisa and I had also created a metal and vinyl sign that we hung just below this group sign.
Northern Lights Centre
After exploring the Sign Post Forest, we crossed the street to the Northern Lights Centre. This center has a large domed ceiling on which a stunning presentation of the Northern Lights is projected. The footage was shot exclusively in the Yukon over three years, and the show combines a variety of auroral motions and colors set to music to create an immersive and emotional experience.