June 10, 2012 - Nugget City Campground, west of Watson Lake, Yukon Ter. Canada

Karen here: A few people from here have gone back to Watson Lake for a few groceries and propane. Larry had got a short Wi-Fi connection this morning, enough to get an e-mail from my brother-in-law, Burnell, that my other sister, Betty, had been in the hospital. We decided to go up the road to a little store to see if we could get a phone signal. I was able to get a good phone signal and called both Betty and Velma. Betty is home now, but she had cellulitis in her leg and has been pretty sick.
We saw a barricade up at the bridge just beyond the store and restaurant so while I was on the phone Larry walked down to the bridge to talk to the guy at the barricade. He told him they are not allowing anyone to come out of Watson Lake. If you are parked on this side, they’ll let you cross to go in for groceries and then you can come back out to your camper, they just don’t want any more people coming out who could possibly be stranded. The river looked very high and was running really fast. This time of year, they always have a lot melt from the snowfall, but this time there had also been a lot of rain as well. / Larry: The water is running thru the trees next to the river and the line up against the trees is the fiber optic cable that has floated out of the ground. There is also a house under water that I could not get a good picture of from the bridge. The local people I talked to here say that they cannot remember the water being this high. Oh Well, it is an adventure!!

I went into the little convenience store up there to see if they had milk, they did, and I paid $5.00 for a liter of milk. A liter is a little more than a quart, so that would run a little about $17-$18 for a gallon. Oh well, we’re not using any gas these days. /Larry: Prices are a little higher when you are out in the middle of no where. I remember seeing a order of French fries at the restaurant in Fort Nelson for $5.

When we went out today, there were still 4 campers sitting along side the road, just dry camping. This is just outside the campground. There were even a few (4 or 5) cars and pickups plus two motorcycles still there. The motorcycles had small bed-roll tents. I guess the people in the cars are just sleeping in their cars and using the restrooms at the campgrounds. We saw one person outside her car brushing her teeth. I guess they may have planned that kind of accommodations to begin with.