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.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Today we are driving into the Yukon Territory and leaving Alaska. We are starting our journey home. However we do plan to go see both Skagway and Hyder Alaska on our way.
Along the way, we stopped at the viewpoint to see Yager Lake. I saw a trumpeter swan and zoomed in on it. Below you can see the little white dot that is the swan I zoomed in on.
Beautiful lake, isn't it?
Wow the reflection of the mountain in Highway Lake is stunning! Both above and below are Highway Lake. Highway Lake, isn't that an original name?
Notice the smaller peak even shows in the reflection.
Shortly after this, we crossed the border from Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. The wait at the border took about 40 minutes.
OUCH! Someone's Jayco trailer didn't make it. We saw this on the side of the road and had to stop to take a picture.
Just wanted everyone to see the fantastic Al-Can Highway. We came upon construction in many areas that lasted for long distances. Water trucks would water the dirt so it was muddy instead of dusty. Good and bad.
This was the second time we had to stop for construction. The first time we waited 20 minutes before we got to proceed. This time there was no flagman. Instead there was a signal light that had a sign at the bottom that said "Wait for the pilot car". We sat about 15 minutes and a pilot car finally showed up. We ended up following that pilot car for 20 minutes on more muddy road.
By the time we got to the campground this is what the Jeep looked like. The blue covers are to protect against rock chips in both the windshield and the headlights. You can hardly tell the covers are a beautiful sky blue color.
We found a beautiful site at Congdon Creek Campground. This is what the front of the coach looked like after I washed the bugs and mud off it.
OMG! This fireweed flower is telling us there is only 2 more weeks of summer left. The flowers are all at the top and some are already starting to die.
We had a lovely evening. The temps were very comfortable. We ate dinner outside and enjoyed the skies. The cloud formations were captivating! After 5 hours on the road, this was a wonderfully blessed way to end the day! Thank you Lord!!
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Today we head to Chicken, Alaska via the Top of the World Highway. This drive is supposed to take us 4 hours to go 174 miles to Chicken because it is all gravel/dirt road and bad in many places. Because of that, we decided to stop at Walker Forks Campground (BLM) which is only 150 miles.
We started our morning riding the ferry across the Yukon River to Dawson City West.
From the ferry we could see the Klondike Spirit again. It was about 9:30 am.
We found this Welcome to Dawson City facade. We are excited to start our drive via the Top of the World Highway to Walker Fork Campground.
We saw many of these flowers along the first part of the drive. Aren't they pretty?
More of the Yukon River. A little hazy but beautiful views.
A panorama from the Top of the World Highway. I was amazed at what looked like rolling green hillsides.
See the road we will be taking. See the road continue in the upper left corner also.
We made it to Alaska! Below is the building on the Alaska side of the border.
More rolling hills. Not what I expected to see when on the Top of the World Highway. Still gorgeous!
This is the "highway" not a forest service road. When it was dirt or gravel it was in the best condition.
We have arrived in the community of Chicken, AK. Above is their mascot. The population of Chicken is 23 in summer and 7 in winter. They are proud of the fact there is no city services of any kind i.e. electricity, water, sewer. Not even any cell service. Everyone must provide there own electricity either by solar or generator. Everyone has their own water well and outhouses . The RV park uses solar to produce electricity for visitors.
The next 3 pictures of the cafe, saloon and mercantile. They are actually all connected.
We ate lunch at the cafe. We both had buffalo chili. It was very good. It came with homemade bread that was delicious also.
How is this for the restroom...... an outhouse!
This metal artwork was outside the RV Park office.
This is Pedro Dredge No. 4 which operated from 1959 to 1967. Chicken is still an active gold mining town.
These are some of the original structures in this town. The tall structure was for food storage. Notice the sod roof. We learned that under the sod is birch bark making the roof waterproof. The weight of the sod helps compress the logs thereby reducing the draft between the logs. Sod is also a reasonably efficient insulator in cold climate.
We decided to stay at Walker Fork Campground (BLM). We had a nice big mostly level site. AND it was quiet. Nice!!
This is the Walker Fork of the Jack Wade Creek. Looks wide for a creek to me.
The water was stained by tannin, but was very clear.
There were a few wild poppies growing around the campground.
After a short rain, this beautiful rainbow came out.
Firewood was free so we ended our day with a wonderful campfire. Yes the mosquitoes were out so we did have to use repellent. We still enjoyed the fire.
