Speeding down Yukon Highway #2 on my motorcycle, I was trying to put distance between myself and the rain clouds that were following me. I was in no mood to pull over to snap some pics as I had no other reason to stop. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, and I didn’t need to pee or get gas. It’s just not very practical snapping vacation pics on a motorcycle so I like to have at least two reasons to stop. I had little time to waste, but as I passed this spot I knew I had to stop and turn around. I had already passed way too many opportunities like this and was willing to risk maybe getting wet again to capture this strange scene.
Moose Creek, Yukon is the only establishment (village would be too charitable) on the Klondike Hwy #2 between Pelly Crossing, Yukon and the gas station at the Dempster Highway junction. It’s so small that it doesn’t show up on Google Maps. I knew this as I had carefully studied the road map and accompanying services guide to ensure there were adequately spaced gas stations to accommodate the 275 kms fuel range of my bike. Obviously, this lodge had at one point long ago offered fuel but now offered only camping, lodging and a small store. They certainly don’t lack a sense of humour.
This was just one of many former gas stations/lodges/small towns that are slowly getting erased from Northern maps as the need for automotive services every couple hundred kms decreases with the popularity of modern, reliable vehicles. This lodge seemed to be doing alright without automotive services but I passed many other “ghost lodges” that went from thriving outposts offering fuel, repairs, tires, groceries, liquor, camping and lodging to just a grouping of dilapidated buildings. A Yukoner construction worker I was chatting with at a construction stoppage on the Highway joked that towns spring up and later die around gas stations. How right he was.
The old ‘binder still has beer cans in the bed
This pair of ’66 (?) pickups undoubtedly led a difficult life. Rust hasn’t completely ravaged their bodies as I doubt salt is of much use this far north. These trucks likely spent their whole lives in the area running up and down very rough back roads without the “luxury” of 4 wheel drive. Perhaps a past owner was a gold prospector perpetually chasing paydirt like so many Northerners before them? Or more likely they dutifully spent their whole lives serving the Moose Creek lodge and its many tourists? I did notice a trailer brake module inside the GMC.
I didn’t have the time talk with the proprietors and pop the hood so I’m not sure if the celebrated GMC V6 resides under the hood. There’s no V6 badge but the hood’s obviously been swapped in. As for the ‘Binder it’s beefier tires lead me to believe it’s a 3/4 ton and likely has a beefier engine, maybe the 345 cubic incher.
All business on the inside, but one of the few options I fully expect these rigs to have is a heater. While temperatures in the Yukon aren’t much worse then some spots on the Canadian prairies, it would be masochistic to operate these beasts in the winter without a reliable heat source. Considering the lack of sunlight in this area in the winter it would be downright dangerous if you added frosty windows to the equation.
Could this have been the first horseless carriage to grace Moose Creek? If so, I can only imagine the brutal journey it took to get there as the “roads” between Whitehorse and Dawson City were very primitive before WWII. It may well have done some of the journey up the rivers via steam ship. Even today, I would dispute the use of the word “highway” to describe that road, it laid a beating on the tires and suspension of my 34 year old motorbike. Was this “T” replaced by the two trucks still awaiting the gas attendant? Given it’s nearly a century old it’s still in pretty decent shape. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still runs.
There were a couple other treasures lurking behind the lodge; a ’78 Ford LTD and a camperized late 50’s Ford school bus but time was tight and I figured I might be crossing the line into private property. Not that anyone would have minded but I didn’t have the time to get into any conversations and had to keep moving. The rain clouds were catching up and I had only 10 days to travel the 6200 kms round trip to Dawson City Yukon and back. My old bike and I were straining under these ridiculous demands and I needed to get closer to civilization to regroup.
Canada Day Long Weekend (July 1) 2017
Full CC Roadtrip article to follow
Nicw ! thank you for sharing this .
I wonder if I’ll ever make the Alcan or other cool roads like this one .
-Nate
I’ve been down the Alcan once and want to do it again. Lots of great scenery and memories from 1974.
The Chevy Sonic is also interesting since this is the last place I would expect to see a compact sedan. Maybe it is a rental.
Possibly a rental, but just as likely a local. We Yukoners are not too phased by the condition of our roads.
Those of us who grew up here remember what they were like 30 years or more ago, and think of the roads as quite good!
Also, smaller lighter cars tend to take the abuse well. I ran a 2005 cobalt for many years, and took it places that it had no right going. It is amazing what a set of m/s tires and a positive attitude will do!
If you actually get off road into the bush up here you run into generations of busted or stuck trucks abandoned. It is kind of surreal to be in the middle of nowhere and find a trail side classic!
As for moose creek, glad to hear they are doing some business. For many years it was deserted.
Sounds about right. A Toyota Yaris does reasonably well on Tompkins County’s rough roads for comparison..
It is not good for those abandoned trail vehicles to be leaching fluids into the environment, but it is what it is.
Indeed, it is depressing. Many of our Native bands have made a real effort to clean up their sovereign land. It is an expensive and difficult endeavour.
The worst of it has been there since the building of the Alaska Highway, and has probably leaked all the fluids decades ago. Good luck getting the US military to take care of it or compensate.
Certainly our limited environmental clean up budget (less than 50000 people in The Yukon) has better uses.
It is great hearing your perspective, thank you. I am very alarmed at the ramifications for the north if the Arctic ice cap continues to melt and the region is open to further exploration/exploitation for natural resources. Hopefully the the Yukon government will find a supportive ally in Trudeau’s government.
Thanks for piping in Amos, I’ll echo the sentiment that it’s good to hear the perspective of a real sourdough. I did notice that there was an unusually high number of compact cars, some of which were rentals, but lots that were locally owned. It’s refreshing given that jacked-up over-priced diesel 1 ton pickups are the prized status symbols in my neck of the woods, among the wealthy tourists that visit here.
We’ve got generations of abandoned trucks out in the bush here in southeast BC, but I suspect they’re not quite as common. I usually come across them while exploring off the beaten path, many have been cleaned up since I moved here 10 years ago. I keep meaning to do a couple of articles on my finds but haven’t found the time. I really wish I had more time to explore the back-country in Yukon, but I will be back.
You Yukoners really do keep your vehicles solid, it was good to see some old iron that far north.
This GMC’s wraparound windshield dates it to no later than 1963.
1964-66 models, like their Chevy counterparts, had conventional windshields.
The hood looks to have come from a Chevy as there was more sculpturing, albeit quite subtle, around the parking lights on the GMC hoods 1962-66.
The International, after checking Google Images, looks like a ’66.
Canadian light duty GMC’s did not have the US V6’s, but were the same as Chevy’s. Could be 230, 292 or 283.
That would explain why I’ve never seen a GMC V6 of this vintage. As mentioned elsewhere, the truck looks to be a Chevy/GMC parts mash-up anyway.
Link:
http://moosecreek-lodge.com/index.html
Rustic, but not nearly as much as one might think.
Thanks for the link. Having looked through their photo gallery, the old pickups and Model T are no where to be seen. Looks the scene is a relatively recent addition.
Wonderful pictures from a place I would like to one day visit.
Now, you got me thinking about salt. I suspect little, if any, was used even if the temperatures were generally warmer in the winters. Here’s why…
Say a tandem axle dump truck will haul 15 tons of salt; it’s likely about 12 tons as a spreader is used, but let’s say 15 tons anyway. So the operator needs to be judicious with salt use, but use enough to provide some melting, provided the temperatures aren’t too cold (it’s the Yukon – of course it gets cold!) where salt becomes less effective, so let’s say he sprinkles 200 pounds per mile in his one lane. (We also won’t determine if the salt is sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, or some combination thereof and with or without some abrasive as application rate is application rate.)
That 15 tons goes 150 miles. The 275 km distance Nelson states equates to 170 miles. So one truck cannot go the distance without running out – and he still needs to get back home or go twenty more miles to refill at the other end of this route. Maybe a second truck is used, but that’s an awfully long way to deadhead. Or if one truck only went half-way, which is 75 miles, there would still be a 20 mile gap in the middle. Or maybe they had one hellaciously large truck with abundant capacity.
And let’s not even think about cycle times as any truck regardless of size would be running about 20 to 25 mph if the plow was on the ground.
Of course, this is all speculative and is assuming some type of facility is in place on either end of the route. I’ve never had to figure anything like this before. Ever. And I’ve never lived in the Yukon.
Your point explains why road maintenance facilities are replacing gas stations as the reason for the continued existence of some of these tiny hamlets. There was a fairly large maintenance/plow truck shed at every village and I believe some smaller ones in the middle of nowhere in between villages. Having re-checked my maps, the longest stretch between villages on the Klondike Hwy was 180 kms so that falls well within the 170 mile range. Some of these tiny hamlets had apartment style living quarters adjacent to the maintenance sheds which I assume were for workers to stay in the same manner as a mining or logging camp. Week on week off kind of work.
The 275 kms fuel range of my bike was never an issue, other than that I had know which hamlets had gas. Prices were higher but it wasn’t a big problem since the tank only holds 17 litres.
That said, things change once you head further north up the Dempster Highway. The first gas station was 370 kms so I suspect there must be maintenance facilities in the actual middle of nowhere. I wouldn’t know as that was beyond the capabilities of my bike as that “highway” is unpaved.
I figured salt wasn’t used due to the general lack of rust on the old vehicles up there. I’m pretty sure salt doesn’t do much beyond -10 C so it would be useless for much of the winter.
I suspect sand is used quite liberally though. At a rest stop a local told me about a bad spot on the highway he always thought was just a gravel patch but had just noticed (haven just driven it in summer) that it was actually paved. It was a bad low spot that iced over in the winter and they just covered the ice with sand.
These highways are the lifelines to these towns so I’m sure they do whatever it takes to keep them open year round. The even more remote towns that don’t have roads have to fly goods in and the price is usually exorbitant.
Not sure about the Yukon, but here in BC salt is not used beyond about -5C. Many contractors are going to tri-axle trucks with another 5 tonnes or so capacity. Remote northern roads like this are usually maintained by plowing and applying sand on hills and corners only, which stretches range considerably. Sand is carried during normal patrols and applied to some of the areas in between hills and corners after, and eventually you end up with a completely sanded road, more or less.
Sand is usually mixed with 3% salt to prevent freezing into a solid block and also promote adhesion when applied. A common rate is 500kg per 2 lane kilometer. Sand storage is usually spaced about 50km apart, and is often just a stockpile with a loader and a place to plug it in. Salt storage facilities are normally about 100km apart though it varies by area.
Compact snow and slippery sections are expected in areas where temps go below about -9C and no attempt to get to bare and black is made until it warms up. Various chloride liquids are becoming more common in place of or supplementing granular salt and winter abrasives (sand). In extreme cold, it’s better to remain compact than to try and de-ice which usually begins to melt and then turns to clear ice. Too much salt will actually speed up the freezing process which is something a lot of people don’t realize.
When I lived on the Alaska Highway people just accepted that winter involved driving on snow roads and prepared for it. I suspect folks in the Yukon are much the same. Needless to say, winter tires are a wise investment in these parts!
Now I know that you work(ed?) for a highway maintenance contractor here in BC. It’s funny cause a good friend of mine is a mechanic for MainRoads here in Invermere.
Truthfully, salt is probably counter productive. As the author noted, our roads are a bit rough in The Yukon. One we get a layer of ice and packed snow it fills out the potholes. Sand is liberally used, and all that is needed. With plowing obviously.
Another down side to salt is that wildlife are attracted to it. They lick it right off the road. Running into a moose (or a caribou, deer, whatever) in the middle of nowhere is our greatest road hazard here. I have seen moose disable semi’s. Being stranded, at -40c, hundreds of kilometres from a tow truck, with no cell service or traffic is terrifying and occasionally deadly. If you are not prepared only luck will save you.
That said, us sourdough’s think nothing of it… And keep our vehicles solid.
Like a scene from Groundhog’s Day, where every morning the drivers are met with the news “the fuel truck has been delayed until tomorrow.” but in real time.
That Model T may be the most roadworthy thing there.
Nice write up. Thanks for sharing with us a part of the world to which I know I may never travel.
The GMC says Chevrolet on the back end. Must be an early hybrid.
Now I’m looking forward to the full road trip report, thanks!