We knew we had about 8 hours of driving to do over a day and a half to get to Whitehorse and a site a reserved tomorrow night there. So we aimed to go over half way today.

It was a lovely day of driving on an incredible shitty, frost heaved, gravel patched, permafrost sunken Alaskan Highway east of Tok.

We had an okay night last night. Cathy didn’t sleep as much as I did. And this morning everything was super soaked still. The rain dripped off the spruces above us all night.

But we got up and packed up pretty well, keeping the really wet fly separate from the rest of the tent.

We stopped at several rest areas and viewpoints along our drive. And the border was super quick and easy to get back into Canada from Alaska.

This really is a beautiful scenic area. If you can look away from the road ahead for a second and not lose a wheel.

I don’t know how RVs make it through here.

There was a long stretch with no campgrounds but we pushed through it and aimed for Pine Lake territorial Campground, just east of Haines Junction.

It was really busy but we found a reservable site that had no slip indicating it was reserved tonight, so I filled out the form and paid the $20 with my form into the drop box.

We set up the tent and had the fly drying. We haven’t really had much to eat since our big lunch in Chicken yesterday so we check out our supplies and decided on some sort of chili and cheese filled quesadillas. I toasted them up on the camp stove and we were feeling much more alive with dinner in our bellies.

We watched all the vehicles and RVs and truck campers circling. Then a big rig pulls up, honks, then walks over and says he has our site reserved, get out.

I said there was no indication it was taken, I’ve paid, and we were quite comfortable. He said that isn’t how this works, that these ones are reservable only and he had it reserved for 3pm.

He leaves and then comes back. I walk to meet him and I said, “Listen, I don’t want to be a dick here, but do you have some sort of proof before I start packing this all up?

He showed me his phone and indeed he had reserved it back in April.

I said the park is full so we are in a bad spot now. He said “Not my problem.”

So it looks like Yukon Parks kinda screwed us over. If we had went online to pay we would have seen it wasn’t available but I used the envelope form instead.

So we started dismantling everything and just shoving it into the truck. Cathy even had our mattresses blown up and our beds set up.

The guy came again and said the site next door is empty maybe you can go online and reserve it.

I wanted to mutter something about why didn’t he just park there instead but it wasn’t his fault. And I wasn’t hangry anymore because fortunately we had just finished eating.

So we shoved it all in, dirty forks and knives on the floor, and headed on our way.

I checked the site beside it on the website and it said it wasn’t available but it said another one was. We went to that one instead and it had a reserved red tag on it, for the 4-8th, with a name.

So there are tags.

And now we are out $20 and homeless tonight.

I tried calling ahead to a Whitehorse hotel because we were now within 2 hr drive but it was full.

Then I got on Expedia to look for last minute deals for tonight. But they were $350+.

There was one more campground to try on the way to Whitehorse. But it is nicer. So probably full up already. And 24km up a really washboarded road off the main highway.

Then I had an idea. I had a spot booked in an RV campground in Whitehorse tomorrow night because I’ve booked some touristy tours to do. What if they let us do two nights? What are the chances of it being full? Usually the tent sites at an RV park are not used as much.

I had just enough signal to call them and made the arrangements! They moved us to a different site than I had booked, so we could do two nights on the same site. They billed my card on file and said they’d leave information for us on the bulletin board. Thank-you Hi Country!!

So we have set up this enormous tent again. No rain fly yet. It may not rain? And it isn’t quite dry.

Everything worked out! And now we are set up for a better tomorrow anyway.

Good night!