We both had Friday afternoon off, the truck and camper were all prepped and packed, so we were able to leave shortly after Jeff got home from work.

We grabbed sandwiches for lunch at Bonanza Market, filled up the diesel, and we were off!

We rolled into the Moose Creek territorial campground just after 3pm. And we were the first ones there!

We started setting up on site 8, until I went to drop our payment envelope in the deposit box and discovered on the campground map that it was designated a handicap-friendly spot and we didn’t want to keep someone else from using it who needed its accessibility. So we shifted over to site 10.

The spots are big in this campground, and separated with trees. There are 36 spots, and 4 are pull-through.

It is just off the Klondike Highway, a couple hours south of Dawson. We’ve never camped here before. I’ve never even driven in to explore it! No particular reason why. I was under the impression that it was a mosquito haven, and how often do you want to camp within a couple hours of home?

Originally we were going to go camping this weekend with friends over to a lake near Mayo (Five Mile Campground) so their youngster could swim but they had to back out, and we didn’t think we needed the lake and playground. (This is also an hour closer!)

By 4:30pm the stream of campers and vans coming in was steady. Glad we got there when we did! However the stream died quickly and only a couple of campers came in later in the evening. It didn’t end up being too busy at the park at all. Probably 10 or fewer sites were occupied?

We made a fire and kept the mosquito coils smoking, and added a Thermacell for even more defence. There were mosquitos, no-seem-ems, and blackflies at times, but it really wasn’t that terrible.

I threw in a trivia game that we hadn’t played before, called Terrifying Trivia. What a wacky set of questions, including categories about cemeteries, decapitations, mass murders, famous ghosts, and blood! It was a good camping game though.

We cooked up some smokies for supper on the fire pit grill, and had some macaroni salad and chips.

Saturday

Hank had a restless morning. His stomach was making crazy noises. Not uncommon. And he didn’t eat either meal the day before (huskies are weird). Jeff took him for a walk at 5am and then came back to bed. There was no traffic noise overnight. And really not until almost 10am. The campground isn’t far off the road and the highway has a big hill here. Southbound transport trucks use their noisy engine brakes while going down, but I didn’t hear it at all overnight. Didn’t hear anyone leaving early either. Not until 10. Maybe the midnight sun keeps people up later.

I had an oatmeal concoction for breakfast and a nice chai tea. It’s funny that we have a camper – since we are only in it to get cold drinks, food, sleep – oh and to tinkle when we don’t feel like walking to the outhouse. We’ve been eating all meals outside, even cooking outside on this weekend trip.

Lots of birds here. Robins, chipping sparrows, grey jays, yellow-rumped warblers, western warbling vireos, Swainson’s thrush, ruby-crowned kinglet, and a flycatcher (Merlin says it was both an alder and a Hammond’s flycatcher – I couldn’t find it with my binoculars).

The lupins are blooming too!

I don’t think Hank likes camping. He doesn’t like not having his routine. And I’m sure he isn’t crazy about being tethered to a tie-out cable.

It was the most perfect Saturday though. Warm, breezy, not too many bugs. Perfect opportunity to explore the park’s hiking trails!

The trails have all been maintained – looked like already this spring! I saw a bunch of freshly cut logs removed from the trail.

The trails start along Moose Creek, and we went out to the Stewart River and back.

Lots of bear and wolf poop along the way. And we met two groups of people, so we weren’t the only ones exploring!

There was a little cabin out by the Stewart River. Trappers cabin? No idea. We didn’t knock.

There was a fire pit and a picnic table where the trail ends and you have to turn around to head back to the campground. All of this is still within the park boundary.

It was a pretty easy hike. One set of stairs down, and one short steep spot here. Otherwise, other than some roots, it was easy hiking.

We did it all and back to our site in under 4 km. We took about an hour.

For supper Saturday night, Jeff barbecued steak and we had asparagus and macaroni salad on the side.

Delicious!

We had another fire too, because why not? It’s an important part of camping! (And the firewood is free when you pay to camp at a Yukon campground!)

Did you spot the bear in the wood though!?

I looked at this thing for two days before we decided to go check it out. Was it natural? Was it a stump? Was it a piece of wood someone put there?

It was not natural! And had been sitting there for 2 years with a note written on it that said, “Please don’t burn me <3 Smokey”.

Sunday

What a terrible night. Terrible! I had opened most of the camper windows for the night, and somehow, the screens obviously weren’t fully secured because we were eaten alive all night by loud buzzing mosquitos, and sweaty from trying to hide under all the heavy blankets. Jeff was swatting them with his electric bug zapper that looks like a tennis racket during the night. We had this problem at the end of our month-long trip last year too. We’ve got to solve it! Or we’d be better off in a tent!

There was a dark cloud looming and we (or just me) were a bit cranky, so we decided to just pack up and go home. We rolled out at 9am just as some rain drops were falling. That let us get home, dump the wastewater tanks, and get the truck and camper unpacked by noon though! Not much to unpack. We’ll keep the camper equipped so we can go again soon!