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Atlin LakeMay 27, 2007
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Teslin Lake the next morning; half the ice is gone
The west end was completely open
Snafu Lake
| The owner of the Jade City store had turned us onto visiting Atlin and Atlin Lake. The town is an old gold mining town situated on the largest natural lake in British Columbia. As the crow flies, it is less than 100 miles from Juno. We decided to made the diversion back into BC before going on to Skagway. The consensus was to leave early from Mukluk Annie's; pass on the pancake and egg breakfast there and head to Johnson's Crossing for one of those famous cinnamon buns. We almost had to wake the guy up at Johnson's when we arrived at 8:30 in the morning. Hey, it's Sunday so I guess he's entitled to a little extra sleep. Actually, he was in the back baking. He opened the shop for us and we each had a bun. They were OK but not "world class". He chatted with us about Atlin while we ate. We were most curious about the road conditions. The side road to Atlin is 60 miles long, 40 of which is dirt/gravel. He called the road "good". Off we went and when we got to the dirt road Corkie and I just unhooked the car and we each drove the 60 miles into Atlin. By BC standards, it was a good road that was posted at 80KMH. Most of the locals were setting speed records on it while we putted along about half that. We arrived to find a great little campground right on the lake in town called "Norseman Adventures". The owner came out to greet us and actually opened up the park for the season, just for us. He just arrived yesterday and we are the first paying customers of the season. The lake is still half full of ice and the water lines in the park do not function yet but he scampered around to open up the electrical boxes and turn power on and then proceeded to bring us each a picnic table and a fire ring along with some wood. The girls explored town for a market while I set up the satellite dish and then we had a great potluck. We BBQ'd some Costco flank steak for fajitas and we all sat around and froze our buns off enjoying good food and views. I'll have to say, the "toddys" helped keep us from freezing. There is a price to pay when you're sitting right on the water and even though the sun is shinning part of the time, the afternoon breeze is wafting over almost frozen water right into our faces. The next day we went looking for the museum in town. We found it and it was closed. We started to walk down the street and out of the blue, a volunteer showed up, opened the place and entertained us with local history for over an hour. We went from there to the one little cafe in town to have lunch and then ventured over to the old historic courthouse which has been turned into a loft for local artists. The gal from the museum had popped into the cafe to tell us that someone was there and waiting for us. We think she had scurried over to the lady and had her open the loft especially for us. All in all... a great little village! That afternoon the same scenario happened for the girls. They ventured into town to go to a Quilt shop/B&B. Again, the owner opened the place just for them. We have to return here some day! |
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