It rained for most of the night but luckily we had hung the tarp up to keep Michael's tent and our tent dry since we don't have official rain flies. By the time we got going this morning, the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to come out. We were on the road late again, but had a nice relaxing morning. After about 15 miles, we stopped at a little river to fill up the water filter with water. We ended up staying there for a half hour or more. Papa Mike tried a little fishing and Joe and Michael had fun throwing rocks into the river below. They tried to hit targets and had their usual competition to see who could throw the rocks further. We had a nice rest in the sunshine. When we got back on the road, we didn't go too far until we found the Champaign cutoff that the Ritchie's had told us about. There was a vault toilet close by and when Joe went in there we heard "Ahh there is an animal in here!" I went in with my light and we saw this little animal trapped inside the vault. He was wet and shivering; I was so sad because there wasn't really a way to get him out, and I knew he was probably going to die in there. What a horrible way to go. For the rest of the day all I could think about was that poor little animal. The Champaign cuttoff was so wonderful. We were actually riding on a section of the old original Alaska Highway. This is what I had pictured the Alcan to be like: an old desolate road that had holes and weeds growing in the road,with the trees and wilderness close to the road and virtually no cars. The entire time we were on that stretch of road only one car passed us. We had only gone about 18 miles today before we found a campground. A couple of dogs came running out to see us and then we heard a man saying that we could come in and look around. His name was Harold and he and his family ran this area. There was an old First Nation Village site that he let us look around without charging us. He also said we could eat our lunch at the picnic table that was there too! I was definitely not expecting to see any picnic tables in a while. Harold had already had a fire going, so we were able to have some roasted marshmallows too! We had a good time talking with Harold and hearing a little about how his family has lived in this same area for hundreds of years. He showed us some spears and Atlia's that are things the First Nations used for hunting and in war against the Spanish. He let us try throwing them and it was amazing how much the Atlia (hook shaped stick that you stuck in the end of the spear) actually helped propel it. Michael and Joey had fun having a competition to see who could throw it further. They were pretty close, but in the end I think Joe won. Our lunch break ended up being about 2 hours long again, but that is ok, because that's what this is all about- taking time to have fun when the opportunity arrives. The terrain had less hills today, but we still had a bit of a head wind. Joe had ridden ahead a ways and Papa Mike, Michael and I stopped at a creek to fill up on water. We ended up being there a lot longer than I thought we would be, but it was fun watching Papa Mike try a little gold panning. After about a half hour or so, we were back riding. We met a couple girls, Corey and Porscha, who were riding a loop from Haines, AK to Stewart, AK and were going to take the ferry back to their car afterwards. They live in Fairbanks. Not too long after that, we found Joe waiting at a gas station for us. He said he had been waiting for almost an hour and was starting to get worried about us. Just down the hill from there was a rest area in an area called Canyon Creek where we made camp. There was an old historic bridge over the Aishihik River that was fun to explore. We made some rice for dinner and were still hungry so we had some oatmeal too. It was already really late by the time we were done eating and had everything set up so we didn't have a fire tonight. We rode 38.65 miles today. I am excited to get to Haines Junction tomorrow and see the Ritchie family again.
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