Four and five

Ok. Time for a little catch up due to lack of wifi and charging abilities yesterday.

Day 4:
We left hyder (where we had to stop at the canadian border crossing to present our passports. Which we didnt do going into hyder, usa. She wanted to know if I had bought anything in the US. I wanted to say "have you been to hyder?" .) Hyder seemed to be a grouping of delapitated buildings, mostly closed/shut down and one hotel and one place to eat! Stewart, on the other hand had several cafes, stores, and even a toaster museum. Yup. I know you're jealous.
Moving on....
We left the valley under a blanket of clouds and some rain but after about an hour, the skies cleared and we ride thru stunning mountains and along lake after lake!
After lunch in dease lake, the road started going to pot. Literally.  Pot holes galore! Pretty brutal on the back, but then we met a young korean from vancouver doing the ride on a crotch rocket loaded down. I felt the need to stop complaining and buck up a bit. ;)
We made it to watson lake by supper time and had a wander thru the expansive sign post forest where del added our hesston college touch.
We camped just outside the town and had our first taste of northern mosquitoes! Del s attempt at using citronella generally failed but he did give it a valiant effort . I, on the other hand, moved on to 30% deet and toques.
Somehow we both managed a decent nights sleep in our tents, undisturbed by animals. Speaking of which, at this point we have a dismal count of sighting.
Bears (black): 2
Beavers: 1
Caribou, elk, moose: warning signs
Actual Caribou, elk or moose: none.
I am mildly miffed and irked at the seeming lack of roadside wildlife. Or even roadkill! Maybe all our animals are finally learning to use the wildlife walkways!

Day 5:
We were blessed with a dry night and clear sunny skies in the morning. This was the first day on the official alaskan hwy. We wound our way across the yukon/BC border thru snow dusted mtns and across the continental divide. (We stopped for petrol and coffee and managed to catch the crazy shoot out between chile and brazil today! )
Just before whitehorse we turned south and made our way thru the most scenic drive yet I would say. To skaguay, ak. turns out we missed the one vehicle ferry to haines by 15 mins! ! And next sailing being 3pm tom! Unfortunately, our schedule does not allow for that delay, so we turned around and went back to the yukon....towards Whitehorse again to go around instead.  What kills me is that both times going into the US has been a cake:
"Where are you going?"
"Prudhoe bay eventually"
"Great!  Have a great trip"

Coming back into canada:
"And how do you know this guy?"
"He is a friend thru my brother who also lives in kansas"
"And did you buy anything in the US?"
"No...we actually just missed the ferry so I was only there for less than an hour"
With reluctant suspicion..."oookkkkk....go ahead"

Today we crossed between yukon and BC three times and then of course across and back from alaska!!
We have now foubd ourselves at the spirit lake resort, where the water smells like sulfur but at least we can charge all our electronics (which I now realize is a bit much) and post this on wifi we can get outside our room door. Ahhhhh. Yukon.
(Two new places I've never been...alaska and yukon! Whoop!)