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Today we stopped backtracking. We had an early breakfast at Watson Lake and then started down Highway 37 toward Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park, which would be our next stop.

I know Highway 37 as the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, but I guess the name has changed, probably owing to the fact that the community of Cassiar no longer exists, what with the shutting down of the mine and all. My GPS calls 37 the Alaska-Stewart Highway. Anyway, the northern section of the road, from the junction with Yukon Highway 1 down to Dease Lake, is a highway in name only. The speed limit is a paltry 80 kilometers per hour, and most of the road surface is gravel. As we went through, sections of the road were being sealcoted, which meant driving long stretches through extremely dusty conditions, following a pilot car at 60 or 70 kilometers per hour. Outside the construction zone, we were repeatedly overtaken by crazy stupid drivers with US licence plates, kids hanging out the windows of their RVs as they flew down the narrow windy roads with reckless abandon.

The construction delays meant that we were near Boya Lake Provincial Park around lunchtime, so we stopped in for a bite to eat. If I ever go back up Highway 37, I'm going to stop here and camp for a day, with a canoe. The lake is absolutely stunning, with bright green water over a white sandy bottom. The lake is small, and perfect for canoeing or kayaking.

We stopped in Dease Lake for fuel, and after that the road got better. The road was wider, there were shoulders, the brush had been cleared beside the road, and without warning, road lines appeared. Almost like a real highway. Eventually we got to Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park. Kinaskan Lake is much larger than Boya Lake, but it is convoluted enough that it should be possible to canoe this lake without too much trouble. After we settled in at the campground, we were treated to a pair of float planes transporting workers to and from a camp across the highway. I managed to get a few photos of a DeHavilland Beaver and what I thought might be a single Otter landing and taking off from the lake.