Jul
24
2009
by Mr Cubes
Squanga Lake to Teslin (45.9 miles)
Total Miles: 1,402.6
Early to bed, early to rise and I was packed, porridged and pedalling by 8:45am - my earliest start yet. One of the cyclists I met had mentioned that Johnsons Crossing had good free wi-fi, which always excites the geek in me, so I make that my first objective and complete the twelve mile trip in just under an hour. After uploading the blogs I had written, I got chatting to Kerry who was online and she told me there was a First Nation Gathering taking place in Teslin for the next week. Sounded like a nice piece of Canadian culture and with no other plan in mind, I make that my goal for the day.
After lunching at a beautiful little private campground, that offered everything the government ones do and for only $10, I meet up with Scott, a Floridian cyclist who is spending his redundancy money on cycling across and then down the Americas. One of the few non-European cyclists I had met and he had some good stories and advice to share. I always feel revived after a chat with a fellow cyclist and start to fly along again, making it to Teslin fairly early in the afternoon. The bad news is that my stomach has started to turn over and I'm in fairly desperate need for a 'comfort break'. This is not a good sign when cycle touring!
Teslin is a fairly big community for the Yukon (population of around 480!) and I stop by the George Johnston museum on the way into town where I get advice on the best camping options. There are two people on hand at the museum, which considering they average only 20 visitors a day seems a bit like overkill. By about two people. I asked them a few questions about the area but when it became apparent that neither seemed to know particularly much I gave up. Teslin Lake didn't need any commentary though and was another stunning landscape in this area. Just before leaving the town is the Yukon Motel which offers camping, showers and wi-fi all for $15 so I pay up and choose my spot.
Plenty of choice here as well and all with more terrific views. Maybe it's not such a bad time to be having stomach troubles. I treat myself to dinner in the restaurant and then head up to the Gathering where I'd been told stick gambling was the main event of the day. When I got to the Heritage Centre that was hosting the event I was a bit overawed by it all. The banging coming from the main marquee was intense and all because of the stick gambling which as far as I could make out was a guessing game between two teams of which hand they are holding their stones in. Was all being taken very seriously though and the constant drumming and dancing of the participants was fairly hypnotic. I left them 
to it and continued to look around the site which had all sorts of Native Indian information and monuments. Impressed, but out of place, I head back to the campground and visit the bar for a drink. A few locals are watching a game of Canadian Football which I had never seen before, though I couldn't really see any major differences between it and the American version. Still seemed better somehow...
The next morning I was still feeling uneasy down below, so didn't want to risk being stranded on the bike somewhere. The mosquitoes have no mercy when you are exposed to nature. Instead I spend the day around Teslin, stocking up on food from their fairly decent grocery store and then heading back to the Gathering in the evening to listen to an elder tell the story of how the raven turned black. Absolute nonsense, but I wasn't going to argue with her. Next door there was a three piece band playing Jimi Hendrix covers, though I'm not sure he was First Nation. Still, they were pretty good. I cycled back to the campsite and to the bar where tonight I was in the company of Carla, a widower from Texas who tried to sell me a RIFE machine. Have no idea of it's actual authenticity but she assures me it can cure all ills and is the new miracle machine soon to take over the world. She was totally barmy, so it may or may not exist - either way it was an interesting end to my time in Teslin. Tomorrow I needed to start upping the mileage as was beginning to fall behind schedule - and that is easy to do in Canada.