Tag 28: Kathleen Lake - Whitehorse: And Zack - there's the flat tire!

9.8.2024

Our last campervan day! Sniff...😥

Today we are heading back to Whitehorse.

Originally, we wanted to take a glacier flight in Kluane NP this morning, but then we decided against it after our son definitely didn't want to fly. Good thing we hadn't booked anything...

The view from the window shows: good decision! The dream weather of the last few days seems to have 'flown away'. Good thing we hadn't booked anything...

Not so bad, we want to visit the Yukon Wildlife Preserve today and then leisurely pack our bags. That can also be done without shining sunshine.

We leave the beautiful campground at Kathleen Lake and head towards Haines Junction. After not even 10 km, the dashboard starts blinking and beeping 😱

The tire warning light is on; we are losing air from the inner dual tire on the driver's side at a rapid pace. When the pressure sensor drops from 80 to 22, we find a pullout along the highway and stop. When we get out, we hear the tire whistling and hissing loudly, then it's flat 😱 Damn... And now???

We look around; there is nothing here. I have the manual for the Fraserway C Medium on my tablet, which says: call Road Assistance in case of a flat tire and never change the tire yourself. The number is next to the fridge, but none of our phones have service here. And now????

I try to flag down a car. After 20 minutes, the first vehicle arrives, a truck that rushes past us, followed by an SUV-RV combination. I'm on the verge of tears. Why don't they stop??? The woman in the following car waves back at me 😱😵‍💫🤷🏻‍♀️

Then finally another car comes - and it stops immediately! A Canadian family with a huge dog in the backseat. The father, an Australian with relatives in Switzerland and Düsseldorf (🤪), has phone service and immediately calls the Fraserway Road Assistance for us. Unfortunately, the lady on the other end has no good news for us. We are 'too far out'; it could take hours or even the whole day to find someone who can help us. What?????

We are 180 km from Whitehorse and 15 km from Haines Junction and not in the deepest wilderness!? I'm speechless. When asked what we should do now:

Wait 2 hours, flag down another car, and assess the situation, or better yet, change the tire ourselves 😱😱😱

Okay, sch.....

The Australian is super nice, helps us look for the jack, and thinks with my husband about where to best position it. But then he has to leave; they are driving all the way to Tok today.

We thank him and are left alone with the tire-changing problem again. The first 3 attempts to lift the vehicle fail.

The jack is not long enough; the tire doesn't lift off.

What to do? We're standing on gravel - so grabbing the dustpan and digging a hole in front of the dual tires.

In the meantime, all sorts of vehicles drive by - it seems no one wants to stop, even though our tricky situation is obvious.

(Edit: I later learn that when you have a flat tire, you should open the hood. That's the sign for Canadians that help is needed)

The trick with the hole works. My husband rolls the two back tires into the hole, allowing him to lift the vehicle enough for the back tires to be one centimeter in the air.

The front tire is quickly loosened, then the flat tire is removed, and the spare tire is unpacked (very dusty and quite heavy in our case). We manage to hoist the spare tire into its new position, put the other tire back on, tighten everything, done.

Wasn’t really that hard...!?

Just as my husband tightens the last screws, a pickup truck parks next to us.

A Swiss named Josef gets out and checks the situation. He says he comes because of the flat tire but can only confirm that my husband has done everything professionally (and even confirms it in writing via email). Then he uses the compressor to briefly inflate the damaged tire and confirms a hole. Presumably, a stone was the culprit, but we do not know for sure.

Josef also helps my husband lift the damaged tire as a spare on the back of the RV, gives us the friend price of 40 $ for the trip, and drives away again.

Uff... that was exciting.

We pack everything up, and my husband has to wash up and change first. It is very windy outside; we are both now slightly frozen.

On we go towards Haines Junction. How good that we didn't book a glacier flight!! We wouldn't have reached it in time, and we wouldn't have been able to cancel it due to lack of internet.

The route is quite monotonous. The weather is not so great.

At the Canyon Creek Bridge, we take a lunch break and cook pasta.

As we look at the bridge, even the sun shines briefly.

Just before Cracker Creek, a wolf (?) / coyote (?) suddenly dashes across the road in front of us and disappears into the woods. Crazy!!!! I really didn't expect something like that! (That’s why there’s no photo).

While continuing our drive, we see wild horses by the roadside. How cool!

After a few rain phases, we reach the Yukon Wildlife Preserve around 4 PM. We inquire about what activities are available here, but unfortunately we are very late. In just under 1.5 hours, there's not much to see; the preserve closes at 6 PM. As it starts to rain again, we drive back to Whitehorse - alternative plan: Dollarama 😄

In front of Dollarama, we find a wallet that we hand in to the cashier.

This is by far the largest Dollarama we have seen so far. In hindsight, it's really recommended as a stop for a first shopping trip before the journey, as it has many inexpensive grill gadgets, as well as cheap muesli, crackers, etc. 😅

Before we head to the campground, we stop at the landmark of Whitehorse: the 'Horse of Whitehorse'.

It stands directly in front of the fire station, where there are more 'sculptures' to be found.

At the Hi Country RV Park, we set up our last campsite for this trip (Site 54). The site is not so great, as it is right on the campground road, but it's okay for one night. And the best part: there is free firewood and a fire pit!!! Yay, one more campfire to finish off!

Next to us are two Canadian retired couples, and they come to chat with us. We give them our (unused) bear spray after neither the fire department nor the police wanted it (they were tips from other groups). They thank us and tell us that they have never seen a bear up close 😂

They also enjoy our citronella candles, toilet paper, pasta, etc.

Everything else we have left, we pack into the cabin of CanaDream, which is located here in the campground.

The campground is not full; the shower house is clean, and overall, we find the campground to be quite okay for a private CG. Wi-Fi also works perfectly even though we are quite far from the reception.

After all the bags are packed, we enjoy our last campfire. The rain has passed, but it has gotten chilly. Good thing we have thick Fraserway wool blankets.

In the end, it was indeed another exciting day - even if it didn't go as planned...

For statistics:

Campground: Hi Country RV Park

(60 CAD ~40 €); Site 54 (Full Hookup)

Distance driven: 215 km

Distance walked: 2.7 km

Photos: 160

Weather: Cloudy with showers, +23 degrees