Jul
08
2009
by Mr Cubes
Moose Creek to Pelly Crossing (58.8 miles)
Total Miles: 1,102.7
My thirst had become such that I'd started dreaming of fountains, waterfalls, hoses and anything else which was a source of free-flowing, gushing water. The reality was a brown liquid coming out of the hand pump at Moose Creek and with no desire to spend an hour being bitten by mosquitoes whilst struggling to filter it, I set off down to Moose Creek Lodge at the bottom of the hill. An ordinary breakfast was improved no end by the inclusion of lots of iced water and feeling revived I set off on my way. I got to Stewart Crossing around lunchtime, so went to the cafe for a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, with a chocolate milkshake. I was starting to enjoy not being able to cook for myself, but needed to watch the pennies at the same time. The cafe at Stewart is a strange place - they gave me a bottle of mineral water when I asked for tap water and the bathroom was literally someone's bathroom. Deciding I didn't want to spend any longer there than necessary - the mosquitoes being particularly vicious - I went next door to the gas station hoping their shop would offer large bottles of water. It didn't as apparently they had sold out. The ever so helpful assistant then pointed me in the direction of pineapple juice as a tasty alternative, but with forty miles to go I needed something, well, wetter. I finally settled on two bottles of flavoured mineral water. Not too cheap, but needs must.
To keep my mind off the fact I was low on water, I was helped by my first bear sighting - a black one running across the road a couple of hundred metres ahead of me. Looked pretty cute to me, but I was glad it was a safe distance away. Shortly after, there were another two by the roadside which ran into the bush as soon as they heard me coming. I also met a touring cyclist coming the other way which was the 
first time that had happened; a girl from Switzerland called Anita who was heading up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik. Just before Pelly Crossing there was also a stretch of roadworks where the machinery was considered too dangerous, so I was escorted by the pilot car - with the bike in the back - over the couple of miles till the end. I thought about protesting that I had to cycle every inch of the way, but figured in the scheme of things it wasn't so important. Still felt strange though. At the top of the hill that descends into Pelly I had high hopes for the place which looked like quite a major community. Unfortunately it wasn't. There was a large grocery store where I asked for directions to the nearest restaurant and they, after some
thoughtful consideration, suggested Stewart Crossing. After mentioning that I had just cycled the forty miles from Stewart and wasn't so keen to return, they had another think. And then suggested I went to Carmacks which is even further away so I gave up and had a think about what I could cook over an open fire instead. Well, they had some sausages (cheddar smokies!) and a loaf of bread so it looked like being a barbeque of sorts. Turned out okay, even without onions or ketchup, so I went off to sleep happy - I'd managed to get hold of several litres of water from the grocery store and dreamt of being asked to try a new type of Diet Coke instead.