Week ending June 28, 2012

We headed north-west from Haines Junction on Friday mid-morning, along the edge of Kluane Park. We stopped close to the south end of Kluane Lake, the Yukon's largest lake, for a short hike along the old Alaska Highway, which went over a shoulder of the hill, to Soldier's Summit. This was the location where the official ceremony was held to open the Alaska Highway. We chatted with a couple from Seattle, who had come up the Inside Passage on the ferry from Prince Rupert. We drove the rest of the way along the lake to Burwash Landing, one of the oldest settlements in the Yukon. We toured the very nice Kluane Museum of Natural History. They have excellent displays of the native animals and birds, and of the clothing and tools used by the native people. On the way back, near Congdon Creek campground, a grizzly was coming along the highway toward us. Before we got near it, it went off the edge of the road down toward the creek. We were able to turn around at the campground and come back to get some pictures of the bear as it went down along the creek. 

Carrying on, at the south end of Kluane Lake, we noticed a vehicle down by the shore with a woman waving frantically at us. We pulled onto the turn-off by the lake and saw that they had gone down into the sandy area by the shore in their SUV and had their rear tires deep in the sand. They had a tow rope, but it only reached about halfway to an area of solid gravel. Shortly after, a Yukon government employee stopped to help. He had another tow rope, so we were able to back close enough to the suv to attach, and have the front tires on the solid gravel slope. After digging out the back tires of the suv, and some pushing, we were able to use the 4-wheel drive (for the first time) to pull them up to solid ground. When we got back to Haines Junction, we stopped at the bakery where we had a nice bison cheese dog and bumbleberry scone, and picked up a loaf of bread.

We had been watching the weather forecast for a good day to do an airplane flight over Kluane, and Saturday was predicted to be clear. We took the Grand Mountain Tour, a 75 minute flight in a Sifton Air 5 passenger Cessna 206. This tour flies up the Kaskawulsh Glacier which flows off the Hubbard Glacier, one of 4 main glaciers starting from the icefields around Mount Logan, Canada's tallest mountain. 

The Hubbard Glacier goes 76 km down to the coast in Alaska. Since it such a clear day, we got beautiful views of Mount Logan. 

We got some pictures of the beautiful sapphire (?) colored glacial pools. 

On the loop back towards the airport, we came down to Lowell Lake, filled with little icebergs that calve off the Lowell Glacier. These icebergs float around in the lake all summer, as the drainage is too shallow for them to move into the Alsek River. 

Sunday was a very quiet day. We drained the trailer and refilled the water tank. Then we watched the NASCAR race.

We moved to Whitehorse on Monday, back to Pioneer RV Park where we stayed before.

We went to visit a friend here on Tuesday. Jackie is visiting her daughter and family on their acreage at the edge of Whitehorse. We spent a very nice afternoon with them. On our way back to the RV Park, we checked a few places looking for a spring to replace one that broke in the recliner chair. We found one at Home Hardware that was an exact match. Now we just need to figure out where to install it in the recliner.

Wednesday morning was laundry time. After laundry, we installed the spring in the recliner. We had looked at it before to see if we could figure out where to install it, without any luck. Today, we were able to find a picture of a similar recliner mechanism that showed roughly where the springs needed to be connected.

After lunch, we went to the Berengia Interpretive Center on the highway beside Whitehorse. This was well worth the $10 (for two seniors). Berengia was a dry area with extensive grasslands that covered both sides of the Bering Strait, from Siberia across Alaska and the Yukon. It was created during the ice ages, because the seas dropped about 100 meters due to the amount of water that was trapped in the glaciers. The center has some excellent skeletal reconstructions of mammoths, short-faced bears, sloths, scimitar cats, giant beavers (the size of a black bear) and other large animals that lived in this area during the ice age. There were also displays of human habitation from this era. They had several short films that provided explanations of the phenomenon. 

After we were done there, we went to the local Honda dealer to buy an inverter/generator for the trailer. This will give us more flexibility in campgrounds, as we won't be as dependent on having a powered site.

We packed up again on Thursday morning, and headed down the road to Atlin, BC. Although not a long drive, it was a little more challenging than most. About 60 km of this road is gravel, including a rough section of about 10 km that was under construction. By the time we got to Atlin the lower parts of the truck and trailer were covered in a slimy coating of mud. The campground here is a little more primitive than most, with only 6 water and power sites (no sewer). However, we were fortunate to get the 'Penthouse' spot, which is on a strip of gravel built between the marina and the houseboat moorings. The houseboats used to be short term rentals, but now appear to have full-time tenants. We also have wi-fi, and were able to get the satellite working.

The views are fantastic, with mountains rising along the west side of the lake. As we were relaxing in the trailer in late afternoon, a bald eagle landed on a platform behind the trailer, and proceeded to eat the animal or fish that it had caught.