Drive to Carcross, YT

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Today we are headed 4 hours down the road to Carcross, YT. 

This mountain is so colorful. This picture does not do it justice.

Towards the end of Kluane Lake we start to see snow capped mountains again.

More views of Kluane Lake. This lake is the largest lake completely contained in Yukon. It is 50 miles long.

We are looking at the mouth of Kluane River flowing into Kluane Lake. The mountains are the start of the Kluane Range.

Look at the ruggedness of these mountains. Below is a closeup of one of the mountains.

We started on the west side of Kluane Lake and now we are on the east side. The reflection in the lake is so clear!

Now we are really getting to see the glaciers in Kluane Range. Below are closeup pictures of several of the glaciers in this picture.

On down the road out of the Kluane Mountains.

We are looking at Historic Canyon Creek Bridge originally built in 1903. It is being restored, but you can still walk on it.

This is taken from the bridge looking towards the highway and the bridge that is used now.

I was able to get down to the water so you can see the actual construction of the bridge. Interesting!

We are almost to Carcross now. WOW we had to stop!

Above and below are different parts of Emerald Lake. The green color is created by the sunlight reflecting off a white layer of "marl" off the lake bed. Marl is white calcium carbonate that forms in the water and often settles unevenly. resulting in the varying shades of green. It forms when enough carbonate from the dissolving limestone reacts with the calcium in the water.

Another interesting landscape feature here is the Carcross 
Desert complete with sand dunes as seen below.

The mountains are still close, adding to the beautiful views.

Many of these plants and animals are unique to this particular desert. I think you can click on the picture and it will enlarge. Hopefully anyway.

Spirit Lake is just across the Highway from Emerald Lake.

Below is a panoramic from across the highway of the RV park.

I really liked the ruggedness of this gray mountain. Below is a zoomed in shot. The terrain around here is stunning!

We made this turn and saw this bolder sitting there all by itself. Makes you wonder how it got there and where it came from.

Oh Look! We see mountain goats.  

Fooled us! When Tic zoomed in on them we could see they were fake. They were behind Caribou Crossing Trading Post. We figure they were getting people to stop.  They suckered us in.

Another interesting thing we learned about Carcross is that the water is very high in Arsenic.  So nearly every business here is on "haul", which means that trucks bring processed water daily which is transferred into tanks at each business.  Evidently,there is very limited plumbing in town.  Even septic waste is pumped and hauled frequently. That is why it costs $5.00 CDN to shower.

We are actually starting to have sunsets now. It is 10:30pm and here is our sunset for tonight.

We plan to stay 2 nights so we can spend a day in Skagway. We decided to leave the coach in Canada and not cross the border again with it. Crossing the border in the Jeep is much easier. Off to Skagway tomorrow.