Yukon June 11 - 15, 2018

June 11

We connected up with the Alaska Highway just west of Watson Lake. In short order, Emma spotted a brown bear that I missed. As we sailed past I asked if it had a hump on its back.

Yes, was Emma's quick reply.

I hit the brakes and spun a u-turn on the Alaska Highway. This was no mean feat with a 28 ft. RV on the two-lane Alaska Highway. Circling back we clearly saw a grizzly bear grazing on the side of the road about 80 metres from our RV.

Grizzly Grazing

Grizzly Picking Up our Scent

Grizzly Locating Us

Grizzly About to Charge Us

GRIZZLY CHARGING US!!!

So where is the picture of the charging Grizzly Bear you ask?

Well, just how crazy do you think I am?
Calmly snapping pictures while a grizzly bear is charging you is not a good survival strategy.

As soon as the grizzly charged through the grass I dropped my camera and focused on getting my window up. Unfortunately, I had turned off the RV engine to reduce camera vibration while I took pictures.

My electric window button would not work while the engine was off.
Immediately, I dove for the key to turn on the engine. Unfortunately, I left the automatic transmission in drive when I turned off the engine so the key would not turn.

Franticly, I threw the transmission into park and turned the key. The engine roared as I threw the transmission into drive.

At full charge, the grizzly would cover 80 metres in about 6 seconds and my frantic efforts to escape had taken longer than that.

As the RV lurched forward my eyes snapped back to the bear expecting to see his gaping jaws in my face.

No, it was a false charge and the bear had stopped after covering about 30 metres. He was still about 50 metres away and I swear that bear had a smile on his face.  After half scaring us to death that bear was laughing at us.

The only attack I had to weather was the verbal barrage I got from my wife. This was followed by an extended critique on my wildlife photographing technique. To placate the situation, I had to practice my RV get-away several times until Emma was satisfied.

All's well that ends well!

Teslin Lake

We continued through a sea of black spruce trees interspersed with stands of lodgepole pine. At the Dawson Peaks RV Park, we stopped for the night. It was a very basic campsite on the shores of scenic Teslin Lake. A campground sign summed it up.
"What you see is what you get. Put $20 for the night in the box."

10)Violet-green Swallow  11) Common Raven

June 12
Loved this Alaska Highway sign. Great way to get traffic to slow down at a minimal cost.
Emma really got into the spirit of the occasion.

Book'em Emma

The George Johnson Museum was a great little museum that really displays the life and times of early Tlingit entrepreneur and photographer George Johnson. From 1920 through 1940, his photographs documented the life and times of the Tlingit People.

George was equally adept as an entrepreneur. He shipped in a car by steamboat, built a three mile road through the bush and provided taxi service for the locals.

George Johnson Museum

When the Alaska highway came through it brought progress and disease to the Klingit People. George lived on but became disillusioned by the white man's progress.
Residential schools made it worse: children were traumatized, families were torn apart and scars were left for generations.

Whitehorse

At Whitehorse, we booked into the Hi Country RV Park. It was crowded but conveniently close to town.    12) Tree Swallow

July 13

Today we explored downtown Whitehorse.

S. S. Klondike National Historic Site

The S.S. Klondike was the real deal and gave a good idea of what life on the Yukon River was like during the steamship era. Despite its large size it only drew 1.3 metres which made it ideal for traveling up this shallow river.   13) Mew Gull

Robert W. Service and Emma

Downtown Whitehorse was a treat to walk. Emma took the occasion to pull up a chair beside the Robert Service Statue.

Feet Don't Fail Me Now!

The Beringia Museum was a special place and well worth a visit.  From giant beavers to Sabre-toothed Tigers, this museum sheds light on the mild northern climate that enabled large animals to flourish while the more southern parts of North America were locked in a glacial ice age.

Giant Beaver

Prehistoric Beringia Lion

We finished our tour of Whitehorse at the Kwanlin cultural Centre.

Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre

Wolf and Raven

By nightfall we were back at our "cheek by jowl" campground.

June 14

It was a cool overcast day as we packed up and headed south to historic Skagway.
Half way to Skagway we stopped at the colourful little tourist town of Carcross. This town really conveyed the history of the early Klondike Gold Rush and what it must have been like to hike the Chilkoot Trail in 1898.

Carcross Learning Centre

In a matter of  hours, we were headed up and over White Pass. What we did in a few hours took the 18th century gold prospectors weeks of back-breaking effort to achieve.

White Pass

The low clouds and mist that shrouded White Pass gave the landscape an otherworldly feel. It was quite windy today and apparently it is quite typical for the wind to howl through this pass.
During the 1898 gold rush, the RCMP had  their customs depot at the top of the pass. These days both the US and Canada have their respective border stations well down in the valley on either side  of this inhospitable pass.

Skagway and the train from White Pass

The descent into Skagway was rapid. We ended up in a small compressed port town with two massive ocean liners docked in the narrow harbour.
The train over White Pass was pulling into Skagway as we arrived.

Skagway Main Street

The main street was preserved as a national historic site and looked just like it did during the 1898 gold rush.

Welcome to Skagway

The locals were very friendly and one young lady even invited me in for tea. Before I was able to reply, Emma declined her kind offer on my behalf.

Dyea Estuary

After an enjoyable tour of historic Skagway we drove ten miles down a bumpy gravel road to nearby Dyea. Back in 1898, this ghost town was a competitor to Skagway for miners wishing to get to the Klondike goldfields.  The shorter and steeper Chilkoot Trail started here and most miners preferred it to the lower and longer White Pass. When the railway was finally built, it took the White Pass route and the town of Dyea faded back into the surrounding forest.

We camped for the night at a forested campground nestled next to the Taiya River.


June 15

We drove the short distance to the start of the Chilkoot Pass. Fortunately, the trail started before this rusty bridge as I was not keen on driving the RV over it.

Taiya River Bridge

Old Bridge and Rust

The start to the Chilkoot trail takes you through a green wonderland of tall trees, serpentine roots and slippery mosses. It was a rough winding trail and Sonaa with her four paws on the ground had much the best of it.

Emma and Sonaa on the Chilcott Trail

It was interesting to reflect that each miner had to carry 800 pounds of supplies up this trail in order for the RCMP at the top of the pass to allow them into Canada. In 1898, it would have taken the 30,000 prospectors many return trips to haul their required 800 pounds each to the top of the pass.

Chilcott Trail

I must admit that we played out after a few kilometres and didn't even get to the hard part of the trail.
Our respect for the stamina, optimism and stupidity of participants of the Klondike Goldrush was greatly increased.   14) Red-breasted Sapsucker

Climbing Up to White Pass

We reversed our course out of Dyea then past Skagway and back up through White Pass.

White Pass

Today the fog over White Pass had lifted and we were treated to a gorgeous landscape. There was a unique austere quality to this inhospitable environment. Like photographs of the Grand Canyon it was not possible to convey the overwhelming beauty of this place.

Tutshi Lake

The road back to Whitehorse actually takes you through a small corner of British Columbia.

Black Bear

I'm usually trying to get closer to wildlife to get a good picture but in this case the bear practically came through the side window.  I didn't feel threatened by the bear, however, I was sprawled fully over Emma while taking this shot and that was a bit dangerous.

Bove Island on Tagish Lake

Emerald Lake

By late afternoon, we were back at the Hi Country RV Park in Whitehorse.

North to Alask - June 6 - 12, 2018

June 6
We have driven to all of the United States National Parks except for the ones in Alaska so this trip we packed up and headed north. However, first we drove the RV to my son's house as we had babysitting responsibilities in the morning. The children call our RV "the House Truck" and the name stuck.

Granddaughter Cecily and Dog Baby in the "House Truck"

Cecily spent a pleasant afternoon playing house and exploring the house truck.
By 4:00 p.m., we were headed north out of Vancouver and up Highway 99 to Squamish.

Emma and Sonaa at Nairn Falls

We continued on past Pemberton. As the sun set we pulled into the campground at Nairn Falls Provincial Park.

June 7
We took a morning walk along the banks of the Green River to scenic Nairn Falls. It was a very pleasant three kilometre hike through a spruce tree forest.
 

Nairn Falls

It was a long way north to the Yukon so we motored through Pemberton and up to Lillooet.
We considered this the back door out of Vancouver as the primary route north would be east then north along the TransCanada highway.

The route we took was quieter and windier and took you into the outback quicker.

Fraser Canyon North of Lillooet

Lillooet was a neat little town with frontier character. We stopped for lunch then continued up the scenic Fraser Canyon.
   1) American Robin    2)American Crow  3) Eurasian-collared Dove.

Fraser River and Canyon

This section of the Fraser River north of Lillooet looked pleasant and tranquil. Simon Fraser was in for a big surprise further south when he first navigated this river.

Traveling up highway 97, we stopped at Clinton for an afternoon walk.  Clinton was a cute, one-street, small town with a few vintage 1800s buildings. Once a thriving boom town on the gold rush trail it was now a much quieter hub for the local ranching community.
  4) Western Meadowlark   5) Starling    6) House Sparrow

Clinton Council Chambers

By nightfall, we were at the Walmart in Quesnel.

June 8
I was up at 5:30 a.m. and on the road while Emma slept soundly in the back of the RV.
When I arrived at the Prince George Walmart I woke her up with our time honoured ritual.
It required a steady hand to awaken a hibernating bear.

First, I gently coaxed her into a sitting position in bed, handed her a fresh Starbucks coffee followed by her lap top and cell phone. I exited the RV bedroom, checked the status of the morning porridge then departed with the dog for a short walk.

Undue noise in the morning has been known to provoke a charge. Stealth was required. After sufficient time had passed for Emma to finish her coffee and complete a couple of on-line sudoku games I returned to find a playful panda.

We drove west along Highway 16 to an RV Park at Telkwa..

June 9
Emma had a Red Fox newsletter to send out so we spent the morning at Fort Telkwa RV Park.
In the early afternoon, we headed west through New Hazelton then turned north up Highway 37. 
  7) Dark-eyed Junco

Starting Up Highway 37 to Alaska

Battle Hill

A few miles north on Highway 37 brought us to Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site.
It was interesting to walk in the footsteps of fearsome Gitwangak War Chief Neht. Given the warring times of the 1700s, he wisely built his home atop Battle Hill. Twice his hilltop fortress withstood attacks from neighbouring tribes.

With miles to go, we headed north then west along Highway 37a to Stewart. The road into this small community was one of the most spectacular scenic drives we have taken.

Drive into Stewart

Bear Glacier flows right down to the edge of the highway.

Bear Glacier

Bear Glacier

Stewart was a quaint small town at the  end of the long Portland Channel.

Welcome to Stewart BC

Stewart BC

We stopped to walk the main street and take the long boardwalk into the expansive estuary.

Stewart Boardwalk

Stewart Estuary

Stewart Estuary and Mountains

We camped for the night at the local RV park where the proprietor warned us that all the electricity for 20 miles would be shut off from 7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m for maintenance.

Good to know, so we immediately went to the nearest gas station to fill up. Without that warning we would have tried to gas up the next morning and been out of luck.

June 10

To start the day, we drove across the  US border and through Hyder Alaska. This isolated ghost town was only accessible through Canada or up the long Portland Canal.

Hyder, Alaska

We drove a short distance along the Salmon River then continued up Fish Creek to a popular bear fishing area.

Salmon River Alaska

When the salmon arrive in July and August the local bears swarm down to this location to jostle for fishing rights at the creek.

Self-Explanatory Sign

A long board walk separates the bears from the people so that only salmon are on the menu.

Bear Observation Boardwalk over Fish Creek

Sad to say it was too early in the season so neither salmon nor bears were about on this warm June day.

It is a long way to the Yukon  so we drove steadily up Highway 37. We were on the east side of the Coastal Range with a continuous line of tall mountains springing up toward the sky. It was a beautifully quiet and wild part of the world.

As we approached the tiny community of Deas Lake the flora changed with the stands of deciduous trees being replaced by a continuous forest of black spruce.

Highway 37 South of Jade City

We stayed the night at the Diaz Lake RV Park

June 11

At Jade City, we stopped to admire the rough jade boulders surrounding the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store.

Cassiar Mountain Jade Store

Quarried Blocks of Jade

Mountie Moose

There were lots of beautiful jade jewelry and statues throughout the store. It was interesting to see the transformation of a rough cut piece of jade into a polished piece of jewelry

Example of Jade Polishing Process

We were intrigued to find out that the jade was mined here but shipped to China for sculpting and polishing then shipped back to the store.

Boreal Forest North of Jade City

70 Bald Eagle   8) Barn Swallow  9) Cliff Swallow

Black Bear

This bear was one of several that was quietly munching on the spring grass at the side of the road.

On our occasional stops, we encountered a range of northern gentlemen. Most had a taciturn demeaner. They were up north for a reason - to avoid crowds and be alone in nature.  It was refreshing to experience the pauses and economy of words when they spoke.

After the Forest Fire

By mid day, we arrived at the 60th parallel that marked the beginning of the Yukon Territories.

Crossing the 60 Parallel into the Yukon Territories

Yukon Flag