Jul
23
2009
by Mr Cubes
Hidden Valley to Marsh Lake (37.6 miles)
Marsh Lake to Squanga Lake (42.7 miles)
Total Miles: 1,356.6
After having spent a few nights sleeping on a bed; a sofa; a futon and in the back of a Hyundai, it was quite nice to be back in the relative comfort of my own tent. But it had started to get cold at night and I woke up in no mood to jump out of my sleeping bag and back onto the bike. Once I did get up and was ready to leave the place was strangely quiet. Phill and Margaret had headed north for a few days with Phill's parents and Erik was at work. Only Lynne and daughter Eva seemed to be awake so I said my goodbyes, with the sincere hope to see them again soon.
For the first time on the trip so far, I was greeted with a heavy headwind as I cycled out of Hidden Valley and all through Whitehorse - though I kept telling myself it was a geographical feature, caused by the position of the city in the mountains. But once I got around Whitehorse it hadn't died down and my legs were burning from the effort. I hadn't yet completed ten miles and I started to worry how out of shape I had managed to get after just a few days off the bike. I made it to Wolf Creek campsite which was twenty miles from my start and had a long lunch there to decide if I should, or even could, carry on. My original plan had been a sixty mile day, but that was certainly not going to happen. The other option was just twenty miles more to Marsh Lake and hoping that the wind might have died down I set off again. It hadn't. Even though the route was flat or downhill I was struggling to average 8mph and it was becoming rather depressing. Just at this point, I was overtaken by a road cyclist, Peter, who pulled alongside for a bit of a chat and when he found out my proposed destination offered to let me camp on his own private beach, also on Marsh Lake. I said I would see him there and so he flew off into the distance to shower and get changed whilst I was left to slowly complete the remaining eight miles. When I finally got to his turn off, Peter was waiting and gave instructions on the 2kms remaining to his house. And it was stunning. Set right on the beach, he had restored most of it himself and as a keen cycle tourist was always happy to let other cyclists visit and stay the night. We chatted for some time and then Peter even made a barbeque which was fantastic. A surprisingly uplifting end to a frustrating and hard day meant I slept well as I listened to the waves on the beach.
The wind died down overnight and I slept well, but in the morning it was starting to gust around again and I was keen to make a start for what could be another long day. Like many people in the Yukon, Peter still has an outhouse despite having a modern bathroom, so I decided to use this rather than just wander into his house. It was still strange though as the outhouse had a glass door! No privacy for some people. After breakfast I said my goodbyes, though wasn't sure whether I should have offered money or not. So I didn't. Sorry Peter! The first few miles were tough as I rode into the wind again and I was grateful for the chance to stop at Jake's Corner 
which had a little cafe and motel. A quick can of Coke did the trick and after this I was now flying along at 16mph....the wind had finally changed direction (well, the road had). For the rest of the day I had strong tailwinds and got to Squanga Lake much earlier than expected. This was another beautifully kept Government Campground where anyone who stays the night is required to pay a fixed fee of $12. They are generally very well maintained but only offer outhouses and sometimes firewood and/or well water (not drinkable). There also is an absence of hosts collecting the money so it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people who stayed there didn't pay the fee....
As it turned out at this campsite, not only did a host not show up, neither did any other campers so I had the entire place to myself. Wonderfully quiet and with a beautiful view over the lake it was an easy decision for me to call time on the day's riding and have the rest of it off. I was almost tempted into going for a swim in the warm looking waters, but quickly thought better of it. That can wait till Costa Rica...