the Yukon
We’ve crossed over into the Yukon Territory and now we're talking wilderness! I have to confess, I was slightly locationally challenged, although we were in the Yukon … we are to cross back into British Columbia and then have our first stop in Alaska, before we travel back and spend another week in the Yukon. 🤔 But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me just say that there aren't a lot of roads up here to choose from, and you go where they go. Case in point, I bought a Rand McNally's atlas on which to trace our trip, making sure to get one that included Canada, and it didn't even have a page or a map for the Yukon Territory! Anyway, this blog is about traveling through the Yukon Territory to Whitehorse, which is the capital of the Territory.
We camped at Marsh Lake for a few days to explore Whitehorse and give ourselves a slight break from all the driving. We were up on a bluff overlooking the lake but had a set of stairs which brought us down to the beach and the lake. As per usual for this area, the lake was surrounded by mountains. ❤️. It was also a very active birding area, so, except for the mosquitos, I was happy to just hang out there. But, of course, we didn't just stay there because there were lots of interesting museums, other sights to be seen and perhaps a brew pub or two to explore.
On to pics:
Views from our campsite mountains surrounding the lake
As I was standing at the top of the stairs, I glanced down toward the beach and there was this big guy right next to the dock. Hello.
Next thing I knew, as I was scanning about to see if there was anything else I should be seeing, there was a bit of a commotion down at the dock. A raven, the eagle and maybe a fish had been involved … but I wasn't sure, because … I hadn't been looking.🙄 And now the eagle was flying away. sigh
I thought I'd blown it, but I did get some shots of the eagle flying off and I wondered if maybe, just maybe it had a fish. I was super excited when I saw the pics and right there, in his talons was a fish.
flying off with the prize
Oops, almost dropped it
there, firmly in both talons again
Whitehorse Whitehorse is on the Yukon River and is a little smaller than Burlington. In 2021, the greater Whitehorse population was approx. 31,000 which was 79% of the population of the Yukon Territory. Have I mentioned it's pretty “remote” up here?
Kwanlin Dun cultural center The Kwanlin Dun are the first nation peoples of this area, Kwanlin Dun means “people of the water running through canyon” . They consist of two clans, the crow and the wolf. We were there at high school graduation time and they were setting up for a dinner to honor their graduating students, six of them. While cultural centers are open to the public, and public education is an important mission, their primary purpose is to support the First Nation peoples themselves.
I thought it was interesting that the decoration on regalia, banners and hangings had changed from being all beading to many pieces including white buttons, and some were exclusively white buttons. This was the first time I had noticed that type of decoration.
Whitehorse had a well used bike path along the river. spring is a beautiful time anywhere with emerging life and blooming flowers
Red-breasted mergansers on the river
I love the male’s funky spiky “hair”
more views about town. Murals on building walls.
Museums
Museum of Beringia. One of the museums we went to was the Museum of Beringia. For those of you (like me) who are wondering… Beringia, is the name given to the land from the Siberian peninsula in Russia through Alaska and the Yukon in Canada, the "land bridge" plus the area around it, from “long ago”. But, Beringia was also a part of the Mammoth Steppe Biome which stretched even further, from the British Isles to the Yukon. It occurred during the upper paleolithic period and the museum covered how the different ice ages affected the whole area both landwise and climatewise. It also had an interesting section on the fauna that roamed about this high steppe which included; mammoths, horses, bison, caribou and saiga antelope.
Saiga Antelope
(I'm pretty sure they modeled the alien Alf from the TV show from these guys heads. Haha. I know a lot of you are too young to know what I'm talking about, but if you google it...) But seriously, there is apparently a purpose for that schnozzer, it contains multiple compartment for air to flow through before going down the “wind pipe” and into the lungs. This “filtering system” warms the arctic air in the winter and filters the dust and dirt from the windy steppes in the summer. Purposeful or not, I still think these guys are pretty funny looking. Teehee
An aside as we explore Whitehorse. Most of the public buildings had these signs posted a little ways off. I presume it's where the employees and visitors are supposed to go if there is an emergency, which is actually a great idea. But I thought they were kind of funny, especially since the first one I noticed was at an old fort. Teehee.
MacBride Museum of Yukon History This was a really interesting museum with multiple rooms and buildings strung together making the whole experience a discovery of the eclectic character of the yukon, past and present. It had everything from modern artists to gold panning workshops to movie memorabilia (remember those old Klondike Gold Rush movies) to First Nation clothing.
a very tall, very skinny mountie
Despite being this far north, our trip, as planned, will still have us a long way from the arctic circle. I tried to convince Martin that we should go up to the Arctic circle, but all he could envision was several more days of driving on dirt roads … and for what? So … this is likely it for polar bear sightings for me, sigh. But, at least I'm nice and warm and safe!
These blown glass icicles, created by a local artist, were hanging from the ceiling in a large, bright, open room. It was the artist's interpretation of the arorura borealis. (Except of course, that it was upside down, artistic license). It was really gorgeous with undulating colors and various lengths of glass. I tried, but I found it difficult to capture the essence in pics.
birchbark baskets
beaded moosehide mittens
beaded moccasins
art by Ted Harrison I love the bright vibrant colors
an old victrola
an early washing machine
it wasn't all rough and tumble on the gold mining camps…
a wall hanging made by a First Nation artist from seal skin
The Alcan (Alaska-Canada) highway
They had a large exhibit on the Alcan highway, which instead of breezing by, which is my want when it comes to things like that, I really looked at one of the photos they had and it made me ponder. How did they build this road? And Why? Why did they build it? And I started looking at the exhibit, reading the signs and studying the pics.
Why did they build it? Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the threat of a Japanese invasion on the Pacific Coast became a real possibility that needed to be defended against. Alaska was particularly vulnerable as the US had little to no ability to reach it with provisions and reinforcements by land. The attack on Pearl Harbor was in December 1941 and by March 1942, with FDR's authorization, troops had begun arriving in Dawson City, Yukon to build the Alcan Highway.
This brought the most significant changes to the Yukon Territory since the days of the Klondike Gold R byush.
How did they built it ? Isn't that the question. How do you build a 1,523 mile long road spanning two countries in a sub-artic region in the middle of the wilderness as quickly as possible . That was the task. They split it up into sections with a different group responsible for each section, each section being built at the same time. It took 11,000 american servicemen and 16,000 civilians, 7,000 pieces of machinery, 8,000 culverts and133 major bridges to complete it. They built in mud, on permafrost, in soaring and freezing temperatures, they dealt with mudslides, washouts, mosquitos, black flies and a blistering schedule. And they completed it in 8 months and 12 days. It opened Nov 1942.
These are a few of the pics that were included in the exhibit. I know they are a little hard to see, but if you can, blow them up to actually see just what they were dealing with... they're pretty impressive. My hat's off to all involved.
more pics from Whitehorse. One night we got pizza at a little brew pub. The owner was in the process of starting his own distillery. I was fascinated by the structure of the partially assembled still. I thought it looked like a giant bass sax or a bassoon.
Then we looked across and saw two more on a branch! It takes bald eagles about four years to get their full adult plumage of the white head and tail. These two were close, but still had some dark feathers. They were probably three or maybe four year olds, likely related since they were sharing the branch.
Miles Canyon
Just south of Whitehorse, between the town and our campground, was a canyon where the Yukon River carved through a vent of basaltic rock. So, of course, we explored that one afternoon.
And back at our campsite one more time, because the views there were the best.
Not sure exactly what this is …maybe a widgeon?
Trumpeter swans
another eagle (ho, hum … just another eagle in flight… I felt like I had to keep pinching myself to be sure I wasn't dreaming.) We were seeing so much wildlife and so many birds. I was in heaven ❤️
the view down the beach
Sunset pics. (FYI - these pics were taken between 11:04 and 11:15 pm!)
last rays on the mountain
pretty pastel apricot colors
Next stop: Skagway, Alaska! It's pretty much on the bend where the arm of Alaska that runs down the side of British Columbia joins up with the main body of the state (or as Alaskans describe it, where the thumb meets the hand) . It was one of the major ports of entry to the “Klondike” for the Gold Rush.
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