2026 Northern Canada Ep. 5 – The Kindness of Scotts
From Watson Lake (lower right) we are heading up Highway 4, eventually to Dawson City, with a bunch of side quests. The first sign reads “Next Gas – 363km”
The fleets of German-plated Sprinters and F150s pulling travel trailers disappear.
Our first side trip is to the ghost town of Tungsten. 183km one-way, so now 363+183*2 km to the next gas station
We are now deep in the MacKenzie mountains. Marta remembers the Yukon as “infinite trees” – just driving down a tunnel of green. As we climb, the trees are finally giving up.An abandoned mining exploration camp. Lots of rock samples – presumably they didn’t hit the mother lode.
The last 50km gets real pretty
Unfortunately, the Cantung tungsten mine is closed, but has security keeping an eye on it. It’s not Mexico, where we’d bring out a 6-pack and get a personal tour from the security guard!
Tungsten is another mineral like the rare-earths. Mining and processing is dominated by China, and this was used as a geopolitical weapon during Trump’s latest trade war. For all the blah blah about these minerals, there doesn’t seem to be much happening on the ground, where we’ve got lots of tungsten.
At this small lake, we meet Scott. His task is to push these barrels of diesel and jet fuel into a float plane, fly 40 minutes north to an exploration camp, unload them, fly back. For three days.Scott has a problem. After 55 days in the bush, he’s taking some days off, and he’s got leftover steaks, chicken, sandwiches, watermelon. We are happy to help out, it’s the least we can do.The road continues northward, and we see some orange iron. Did you know that all Caterpillar equipment use the same key? I learned this when I bought a CAT tractor with only one key. Got 4 more keys from AliExpress for $8.
To our surprise and horror, we discover the road goes another 100km. There is a project (Selwyn Chihong) to develop a massive deposit of zinc-lead, run by a Chinese state owned company.
I’m a bit sceptical you can profitably mine for zinc at the end of the world, where we are. Even if there is a kilo of zinc for every person on the planet. I hope they talk to us.
Bill Wilcox is one of the few “overlanders” we’ve seen. He’s good natured about the mandatory Land Rover joke.
What do you do when your Land Rover stops leaking oil? Add more oil.
Enough about machines and mining, Marta wants a mountain. The problem with hiking here is the hardest bit – the bushwhack – is first thing in the morning. Very easy to talk yourself out of climbing a mountain.We finally find proper conditions to have a fire – which means no mosquitos. A wet year, look at how much wood we’ve piled up in the hopes of getting something to burn.Finally, we can get out the grill and cook up a free steak. Never cooked a steak on a campfire before.And it’s the best steak I’ve ever had. Pure luck – will never happen again.
We found time to make a video showing off our little mobile cottageWe’ve hit the end of the road, 259km from asphalt. Actually, the road keeps going, but a gate stops us. It says “Authorized Exploration Personnel Only”. We are explorers, and persons, so 2 out of 3?One minute you are happily pollinating…It’s great to get into the Alpine, but there is more and more lichen. Walking on this feels like I’m destroying something fragile and ancient – like stomping on dead Sea scrolls all day.Bears are weirdly successful herbivores, but when I look at the ferocious energy they put into getting a gopher, I’m pretty sure they would choose a steak over the salad anyday
Very pleased with the Howard Pass area. Hiking in BC and the Yukon is like gliding – altitude is king. Get high and stay high. Marta is doing well scrambling – careful. The problem is – you give her 20 hours of light and she’ll want to use it all.As we are hiking, I keep looking at the camp below. I know we aren’t “authorized” – but how hostile can they possibly be?
We’ve learned from talking to trucks on the road that the camp has had problems with arson and vandalism. That’s why the road is gated.
We also talked to some geologists, who were surprised that we met Scott, their boss. Seems unlikely their boss moonlights loading fuel barrels, so we have a multiple Scott situation.
We decide to walk in anyways. There was clearly ambitions to do underground mining at some point.
It’s a 5km walk back to our car, and Marta figures the worst case is they will drive us back to our van to get rid of us.
And here is Scott (middle). This Scott is a geologist for Rackla Metals, who are looking for tungsten. Scott answered our questions, until he had to get on a helicopter.
Finally we get to see this helicopter that’s been buzzing back and forth for the last two days.
Yes, Scott wanted to get rid of us so bad that he flew us back to our car! They were going that way, and we would have been totally soaked walking back. Thanks sir, and happy tungsten hunting!
Marta just shrugged. “It’s the Arctic, these things happen.”
George was our pilot, but he was Scott-ish, so I’ll keep beating that joke for everything it’s worth.
We learned that the Chinese mining company almost pulled the pin and started mining zinc. Price collapsed 12 years ago, and now they are renting out their roads and camp, waiting. And yes, Canadians are out looking for tungsten.
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 