Got up at 5:00 am since we have to have our bags in the hall before 7:00 and we leave at 8:00 for Whitehorse, still in Yukon Territory. It will be a 9 hour bus ride. Looking forward to seeing more of the beautiful scenery. We had breakfast at the hotel buffet. We loaded the bus once again and our first stop was just a few miles out of town at Tintina Trench, a large valley extending through Yukon, Canada. It is the northern extension of the Northern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia and it has its origin from the Tintina Fault. This valley is so big it can even been seen from space!
Tintina Trench
The Yukon Territory is the size of California and Nevada together and has a total population of 36,000. Of those, 32,000 live in Whitehorse, the capital of The Yukon, and 2,000 live in Dawson City. The other 2,000 are scattered around the territory! Our driver, Vanessa, had all kinds of trivia for us and she needed it since it was a 9 hour drive. She told a lot of stories about the gold rush and knew a lot about the animals of the area. We saw a large black bear and just past that was a road so she turned that big bus around and we went back to watch the bear for awhile. She said the black bears usually don't get that big. Also, she said the bears love to eat dandelions (some of the other guides called them loco weeds) and they'll eat so many that it makes them high and they act drunk. It also helps them clear out their system after hibernating all winter. We saw another black bear along the highway too. It wasn't fireweed time (July) but they are beautiful flowers. They are tall and kind of purple. Many of them grow after a forest fire and they help bring back nutrients to the soil.
Our bus
Our first rest stop was at Moose Creek. It was an interesting place, to say the least. There just isn't much outside the "big" towns! Until just a few years ago, the only phone at this place was in this tree! They had to climb the ladder to use the phone. It kind of reminds you of Green Acres, huh?! There were tons of mosquitos here so we didn't linger!
Notice the red phone sign and the phone is
at the top of the ladder.
They also had lots of moose stuff around. Conrad couldn't resist!
The sign
The bear - I have a better video of it.
We stopped at the town of Minto for lunch. Well, it wasn't a town - it was just a building and there was a campground there. Vanessa and Rosemary served us bison chili, some kind of bread, a salad and a dessert. We all posed for a group picture here.
The river at Minto
Those of you who know Conrad, know that he's always looking at
nature stuff. He found a bunch of these leaves that a tiny yellow worm
was eating his way through. You can see the worm on the far left side.
This was a photo stop at Five Finger Rapid - beautiful spot.
This was one of the checkpoints for the stampeders and the
Canadian Mounted Police helped them through the rapids.
Another photo stop at Braeburn Lodge. You could purchase snacks here and
also giant cinnamon buns for $10. They were the size of a dinner plate!
Some scenery along the way
We came close to the town of Mayo. It has only one restaurant and it's a Chinese restaurant. Since there is a law that you can't drink without food on the table, they run a special all day. You can buy a beer and 2 pieces of toast!
We crossed the Stewart River to a settlement called Stewart Crossing. It is home to those who work on the roads in the area. All day we were on the Klondike Highway and only took two turns. The Klondike Highway exists because of mining. It's done year round and the area is mined for silver, zinc and lead. It took 30 years to build the Klondike Highway.
Finally made our second turn on to the Alaska Highway and in a few minutes, we were in Whitehorse. It is the capital of the Yukon. It got its name because the river rapids in the area looked like the mane of a white horse. We went to our room to drop off our backpacks and went straight to dinner.
Halibut fish and chips
This was our last pre-planned excursion and we had signed up for a bicycle tour here. There were just 4 in our group and our guide took us along the river on the bike path. They were pretty good bikes but mine was too big and then the guy had to raise the seat so I could get my knee to go around. I was surprised I could actually do it. My knee hurt some when we got back but I was real pleased I could even do that much.
Conrad is ready to go!
We saw this huge eagle nest along the way.
We saw a huge beaver dam along the way and also a beaver swimming in the river. There was a really nice campground on one side of the river. We also rode through a few blocks downtown. The building code allows for nothing taller than a 4 story building. We passed one building that got around that by building 6 stories and having very low ceilings!
By the time we got back to the hotel we were whipped! This is the only hotel we were not happy with and they only had double beds and they were so hard. I told Conrad I wanted the bed by the window and he could have the other one! We looked at the pictures we took today and then went to bed. Have to have bags out by 6:45 tomorrow.
A couple things I forgot to tell you about Dawson City.....the residents just got cell phone service about 5 years ago, and 3G just last year. The internet is not very reliable and doesn't always work so when it's down, everything is cash and no credit!
That about winds that up. Tomorrow we get back to Alaska. But, you'll have to wait for that!!
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