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Beyond the hot springs the road follows the Liard River, settling into about 135km of unexceptional scenery before WATSON LAKE , just over the Yukon border (though the road trips back and forth across the border seven times before hitting the town). Created by the coming of the highway and air base, it's neither attractive nor terribly big, but shops, motels and garages have sprung up here to service the traffic congregating off the Cassiar and Campbell highways to the north and south. In the past the region was the preserve of the Kaska, a people whose centuries-old way of life was altered in the 1870s by the Cassiar gold rush. Another gold rush, the Klondike, gave the settlement its present name, when Frank Watson, an English prospector gave up on his attempts to reach the northern gold fields and stopped here instead. Even if you're just passing through it's well worth pulling off to look at the Alaska Highway Interpretive Centre (May-Sept daily 8am-8pm; tel 536-7469), which as well as providing information on the Yukon also describes the highway's construction through archive photos and audiovisual displays. It's situated on the highway next to the Chevron garage, close to the famous Sign Post Forest . This last bit of gimmickry was started by homesick GI Carl K. Lindley in 1942, who erected a sign pointing the way and stating the mileage to his home in Danville, Illinois. Since then the signs have just kept on coming, and at last count numbered around thirty thousand. You might also want to dip briefly into the Northern Lights Centre (June-Aug daily 2-10pm; $6-12; tel 536-7827, www.yukon.net/northernlights ), a planetarium and science centre that explores the myths, folklore and science behind phenomena such as the aurora borealis . It's still 441km from Watson Lake to Whitehorse and, after the long haul on the Alaska Hwy, a lot of people wisely stop overnight here to recuperate. If you're camping there are no problems, for countless small Yukon government-run campsites are dotted along the length of the highway beyond the village; the closest is a rustic site 4km west of the Sign Forest ($8; May-Oct). If you decide to stay in town the cheapest options are the Gateway Motor Inn (tel 536-7744; $60-80), open 24 hours a day, and the Cedar Lodge Motel (tel 536-7406, www.cedarlodge.yk.net ; $60-80). If these are full you may have to plump for one of the smarter hotels, all of which have rooms for around $95 - the best is the Belvedere Hotel (tel 536-7712; $100-125), followed by the Watson Lake Hotel (tel 536-7781; $100-125). Both have dining rooms if you're after food, though the Watson Lake Hotel and Gateway Motor Inn have some rooms with kitchenettes if you're cooking for yourself. West of Watson Lake the road picks up more fine mountain scenery, running for hour after hour past apparently identical combinations of snowcapped peaks and thick forest. About 10km before unlovely TESLIN , 263km to the west of Watson, look out for the Dawson Peaks Northern Resort (tel 390-2310; $60-80), which not only has cabins and a campsite, but also boasts one of the highway's better restaurants; fishing and boat rentals are also available. Teslin itself was founded as a trading post in 1903 and now has one of the region's largest aboriginal populations, many of whom still live by hunting and fishing. The George Johnston Museum (mid-May to Sept daily 9am-7pm; $2.50; tel 390-2550) is on the right on the way into the village and has a good collection of local Tlingit artefacts as well as the photos of Johnston, a Tlingit who recorded his culture on film between 1910 and 1940.
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