Why Have One Sign When You Can Have Over 77,000
The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, a sign we had almost made it to the Yukon
Last year, I moved to Canada for 7 months to complete my very first ski season. Work finished around the beginning of April and 5 of my friends and I had decided to road trip to the Yukon from Vancouver to see the Northern Lights.
I am going to be honest with you - I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
The 27-hour driving time from Vancouver to Whitehorse didn’t scare me as I had done a similar road trip along Australia’s West Coast. We were “prepared” with huge sleeping bags, sleeping pads and camping equipment. See, the plan was to sleep in our car the entire way up. There were two cars and one tent.
What I should have possibly done before starting the road trip is research when camping areas open in British Columbia. Or when most of the highways are free of snow. Or just when most people start these road trips.
However, the time for the Northern Lights was coming to an end for the year and we REALLY wanted to see them, so off we went. Without doing any of that research.
Our troubles started on the very first night when the bitter realization hit that most camping grounds in Canada don’t open until at least May or even June. We hit up 3 different areas before finding an open one, by then it was long dark. Setting up for the first time in the dark was far from ideal, but we made do.
Our car was actually just slightly too short for us to lie straight, but again, it was fine. We wanted to see the Northern Lights on a budget and so this was it for the next month. To say I was slightly worried about what was to come at this point would be an understatement.
It didn’t get much easier after that, except for the fact we knew to expect troubles. Camping areas were mostly still closed so finding a sleeping spot each night became a chore. Tension rose high at times, especially when everyone was tired after a long day of driving.
That’s not to say we didn’t have good times. Like when we found one of the coolest and kindest camping hosts:
The scenery was also stunning. Snow-decked mountains, crystal clear lakes and wildlife on the side of the road. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
On the other hand, it was possibly the most difficult month of my travels so far. At night, the car was usually freezing, it was impossible to find open gas stations for hours and hours and packing up all the gear in heavy snowfall made me rethink every single one of my life choices.
The journey seemed never-ending — until we hit Watson Lake. We had just completed 5 days of nothing. Roads with no service, no houses, no nothing. We were at the end of our capabilities. Watson Lake was the beacon of light that we needed so badly. From there, Whitehorse was only one day of driving away. The final stretch of the journey had begun.
Watson Lake is pretty much famous for one thing: the Sign Post Forest. There isn’t much else in the town — a camping area, a gas station and some (sorry) subpar Pizza restaurants.
The Sign Post Forest was started in 1942 and has collected over 77,000 signs from travellers from every corner of the world to date. It was reportedly started by U.S. soldier Carl K. Lindley who fixed some local signposts and added one of his hometown as well. It created a trend that is going on to this day.
For us, the many signs turned into a singular big one. The end of the road. The final sprint to the Northern Lights. We had made it through the worst of the driving and came out on top.
We did end up seeing the Northern Lights, by the way. It was absolutely magical:
Edith Bar took a similar trip to us and documented it, which is well worth a read:
Read Darren Weir’s account of a much warmer road trip in Tuscany here:
