It was nice to be back on decent roads, at least by Alaska standards. We traveled 255 miles on Highway-1 East toward Watson Lake to Nugget City, Yukon. Most of this part of the road, we had traveled before, but with the beautiful fall colors, it was a whole new experience. We stopped at Rancheria Falls for our scavenger hunt photo. I was glad we were one of the first to make this stop, as the parking lot was small. The falls were a quick 10 to 15-minute walk from the parking lot. Jim and Jane also stopped at the falls and joined us (and Ty) on the quick walk. It felt good to get out and stretch our legs; and the view was worth the short hike.
Continue reading “Nugget City 09/01/2019”Whitehorse and the Northern Lights 08/31/2019
The ride out of Haines was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. After crossing the border without any issues we made the long climb to Chilkat Pass, elevation 3,510 feet, to stop and take our scavenger hunt photo. The last few days we really noticed the difference in the foliage that was now showing her beautiful autumn colors. The Haines Highway was tiring to drive with all of the frost heaves and potholes but absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was so different from our last stop in Whitehorse which was only slightly more than a month previous.
Continue reading “Whitehorse and the Northern Lights 08/31/2019”Destruction Bay and Tetlin Wildlife Center 08/26/2019
This section of the Alaska Highway to Destruction Bay was probably as bad or worse than the Tok Cut-Off. There were limited construction delays, but the roadway was full of potholes, unlevel areas and frost heaves. This road needs construction. I even posted on Facebook that an Alaska dance could be invented based on all the movement from the road; repeat hops for all the bumps in the road, sways to the left and right for the frost heaves, dips for all of the low areas in the road, slides to the left or right for all of the swerves to avoid potholes and a shimmy to finish the dance for the rough areas.
Continue reading “Destruction Bay and Tetlin Wildlife Center 08/26/2019”Dawson City: Diamond Tooth Gerties, Dredge No. 4, Five Fingers Rapids and Klondike Spirit 07/28 – 07/30/2019
By the time we left Whitehorse at about 6:15, there were already several other RVs out ahead of us. All we cared about was getting out early enough that we could make the sharp turn out of our spot. We may not have been able to do that if anyone had already connected their toad. Fortunately, we didn’t have any issues. We stopped at Braeburn Lodge for a photo. This stop was only a little over an hour after we departed, but it was still good to stretch our leg and let Ty have a walk. While Randy was waiting for his cinnamon bun, Steve (either the owner or manager) asked who owned the big black rig. Randy thought at first that he had done something wrong, but Steve was just admiring our RV. I ended up getting a picture of all of us while Randy was wearing his birthday hat.
Continue reading “Dawson City: Diamond Tooth Gerties, Dredge No. 4, Five Fingers Rapids and Klondike Spirit 07/28 – 07/30/2019”Whitehorse 07/25 – 07/27/2019
We got another early start heading to Whitehorse. We like leaving early so that we can take our time sightseeing, and looking for wildlife. I appreciate going slower so we don’t bounce around as much! And there are always some that catch us before we arrive at the campground. We did stop for another photo op at the Continental Divide. This one is different that previous ones as the routes are to the Pacific Ocean or the Arctic Ocean (not Pacific or Atlantic). We saw a bald eagle, brown bear and moose on this part of the trip, but were unable to get any photos. I did hear there were quite a few more broken windshields so the mobile repair unit was scheduled for at least 8 more rigs.
Whitehorse is the capital and only city of the Yukon territory. It was incorporated in 1950 and located at kilometer 1426 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse’s downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in Alaska. The city was named for the White Horse Rapids for their resemblance to the mane of a white horse near Miles Canyon. The rapids disappeared after thee river was dammed. Miles Canyon’s basalt cliffs are to the south, site of a former gold rush town.
We had time once we arrived to explore some of downtown Whitehorse. We easily found the White Pass & Yukon Route station where we could recreate one of Randy’s 1966 pictures. We visited several RV, tire and truck shops looking for a center cap to replace the one we lost a few days ago. And Randy picked up more DEF just in case. So far it has only been available at a few of the stations where we have stopped. Most of the truck fuel stations require a specific pass that is only available for commercial vehicles.
We had a good dinner at Klondike Rib & Salmon with Mitch and Kate. They did not have any Bloody Mary’s on the menu but instead had Caesar’s which are similar except they are made with Clamato juice instead of tomato juice. Their Caesar salad was great. The salmon and rib dinner Randy had was good. He said the salmon was the best ever, the ribs were OK. I was very disappointed in the halibut that I got. It was dry and did not have a lot of flavor. The brownie we had for an early celebration of Randy’s birthday was great!
I tried to make Randy a good breakfast for his birthday but we again had electric issues. The surge protector keeps shutting off our electric when we have spikes in the voltage. I was able to get the sausage and 3 pancakes made that we shared before our bus tour of downtown Whitehorse. Our first stop was at the SS Klondike, a national historic site in Whitehorse. The Klondike sternwheeler ran freight between Whitehorse and Dawson City along the Yukon River. The first between 1929 to 1936 until it ran aground in June 1936 north of the Thirty Mile section of the Yukon River. The company salvaged the ship’s boiler, engines and upper sections to build the Klondike II. The Klondike II continued to carry freight between 1937 – 1950. Once the highway connecting Dawson City and Whitehorse was completed, trucks replaced the sternwheelers for the most economical way to ship freight. The Klondike II had a short life as a cruise ship but was eventually shut down in 1955 when it could not generate enough interest to remain solvent. The Klondike remained in the Whitehorse shipyards until it was donated to Parks Canada. It was restored and in 1966 the city authorities moved the ship to its present location. At the time, the new location was part of a squatters’ area. Three bulldozers, eight tons of Palmolive soap to create greased log rollers, and a crew of twelve men and three weeks were needed to move the Klondike. Randy was excited to hear this story during the tour since he had pictures of the sternwheeler being moved when he was here in 1966, but he was not sure of the history. We sent the photos to Parks Canada for their use.
Our next stop on our tour was the Whitehorse Fishladder and Hatchery that opened in 1984 to provide a way around the dam for the migrating chinook salmon that have returned to spawn. Some of the returning chinook salmon are removed from the fishway where eggs and sperm are collected and mixed. The fertilized eggs are incubated over the winter and the fry are released in the spring into steams in the Yukon River system. You can determine the wild fish from the raised fish because the adipose fins are clipped and a tiny coded wire is inserted on the raised fish.
After the tour of the Fishladder we toured downtown Whitehorse with a stop at the Visitor Center and a quick stop at an overlook at Miles Canyon. By that time, it was raining so no one wanted to get out
Based on Larry’s recommendation we went to 98 Hotel for Randy’s birthday drink. It is a local bar that I am not sure I would not have gone into without Randy, but everyone was very nice. Randy got his free Caesar and another couple there that were also traveling bought the next round. Of course, we had to buy the next round so Randy was very happy by that time. We went back to Klondike Rib & Salmon which was only a short block away where we had another great dinner. Their halibut chowder was one of the best soups, ever! We both ordered salmon skewers so we were not disappointed. And we had to have dessert so we tried their sourdough bread pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream which was also great.
We spent the last morning in Whitehorse at the MukTuk Sled Dog Kennel with a Taste of the Yukon Lunch. Muktuk Adventures provide various experiences based on time allowed and season. Since it was summer time, they do not do any dog sledding but we did hear about how the dogs are used in their business, dog sledding history and background on the Iditarod and Yukon dog sledding races. Many of the 140 dogs at the kennel were rescue dogs. While they are not used in dog sledding racing at this time, they are used in camping and dog sledding excursions. During our lecture one dog in particular took a liking to me and spent quite a bit of time laying across my feet. We got a chance to interact with the dogs and most were very friendly; however, a few were very shy. I was amazed that they all know their individual names! While I am not a fan of any dog being chained to their doghouse, the dogs seemed very well cared for and in good physical condition. The owner did say that chaining dogs to their kennels has been outlawed in other countries but he believes the use of kennels with outdoor runs has led to more dog fights and more aggressive dogs. The tour ended with a Yukon style lunch of blueberry and elk sausage and candied salmon appetizers, bison burgers with salad and fixings, and ended with brownie and ice cream. Yum!
On our way back from the MukTuk kennel, we stopped at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. We are glad we took the bus tour, because the guided tour was very informative. The 5 km walk would have taken quite a bit of time, especially because of all of the hills. We were lucky that our tour coincided with the once a day feeding so many of the wildlife actually approached the fence for their food. I am sure we may not have seen as much of the wildlife as we did without following the staff as they fed the animals. We were told the feeding occurs at slightly different times every day and that it may or may not coincide with any of the tours.
We still had enough time in the day that Randy could do a quick walk over the swinging bridge at the Miles Canyon. We knew we had a long drive the next day so Randy dumped and disconnected as much as we could so that we could get out early. At our travel meeting, Randy was surprised with a small chocolate cake to celebrate his birthday. I had told Carol and Debbie that it was OK to do this late as there was not any caravan meetings on his birthday and since we had plans for the evenings, this would be the best time to celebrate
Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest 07/24/2019
We had a short drive to our next stop at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. We made stops at 2 different “Welcome to Yukon” signs for more photo ops. The first one was barely recognizable but the second one was a nice sign. During our travels on the Alaska Highway we cross back and forth about 7 times between British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. We noticed that British Columbia keeps a large area (about 600’) on each side of the road mowed that allows us to keep an eye out for wildlife. Once we crossed over to the highway maintained by the Yukon, we noticed this berm is allowed to grow up, which does make it more difficult to spot any wildlife. After the incident with the deer a few days ago, we are constantly looking for anything that will wonder out into the road. In the last couple of days, we have spotted several bears, bison, rabbits, deer and some type of wolf/coyote/dog that were not close enough to identify.
Continue reading “Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest 07/24/2019”