June 29th - July 1st

After leaving Watson Lake on the 29th, we drove to Whitehorse (about 6 hours) where we spent a couple of days. The drive to WH was uneventful as in no animals seen. It was a dry day and we stopped several times to enjoy the scenery… it was beautiful. What is becoming apparent is the vastness of this area (northern BC, northern AB, and the Yukon… we haven't even made it to Alaska yet!). We thought it would be vast but it is better than we ever imagined.

We crossed the Continental Divide at it lowest point in N.A.  It wasn't much, just a roadside plaque...

It is hard to say, "Morning dawned" when it never really gets dark. From about midnight to 5:00 AM outside looks something like it does just before the sun comes up. It is light but there is no sun. The sun "sets" about 11:00 PM so when we go to bed, it is like going to bed about 7:00 PM. It is very hard to explain - weird. On the 30th BA went for what else, a bike ride while WD went to the local GM dealer to have the oil changed in the truck. After WD was finished, we met in town and then went to the Information Center so BA could change out of her biker clothes.  We also stopped at Wally-Mart where there were more RV's than some campgrounds we've been in.

 Next, we walked through town and ate an excellent lunch of BBQ salmon on a Caesar Salad… the salmon was fresh and the BBQ taste not very strong making it an excellent meal. Of course washing it down with a Yukon Red, a local beer didn't hurt either.

After lunch, we needed another stroll so we went to the fish ladder. It is the longest wooden one in the north rising up 60'. The salmon travel over 2000 miles to the ocean when they are about 2 and then return to spawn in August when they are around 5 – 6. It really is amazing how far they travel and that they can find their way back to the same place… must have a good GPS!

We also took a tour of the Klondike of Dawson ship. This ship was retired in 1955 when the road between Whitehorse and Dawson was opened. Prior to that, it was the main means of transportation to take goods to and from Dawson. The ship ran 4 – 5 months a year as this was the window of time between the thaw and freeze-up so what you didn't get in that time period you waited another year. It took 1.5 days to go to Dawson and 4 – 5 days (up-river) on the return trip.

We were enjoying the area so much we decided to stay an extra day and celebrate Canada Day here. We are glad we did, as it was very interesting to see how this small corner of the world celebrated this occasion. They had a parade starting at 11:00 AM which ended at a local park where there were lots of activities… swearing in of new Canadian Citizens, pancake breakfast, Vietnamese food, your normal junk food, rubber duck races, belly flop contests, local entertainment, etc.. It was really cool to see and participate in this - especially the beer tent!

Tomorrow (2nd) we are off to Dawson City. We will only drive a couple of hours and dry camp for the night and then the next day go on to Dawson City. I will update my Tally when we have internet again.

Now for my feature article… Did you know? There are ~32,000 people living in the Yukon with ~24,000 of them in Whitehorse. There are also approximately 50,000 moose, 10,000 black bears, and 4,500 wolves in the Yukon.

Take care and keep the loops open!