Last day in Whitehorse, then going to fish lake.

The Henderson clan took me with them to Gray mountain near Whitehorse for a sweet ass hike through the bush. Absolutely gorgeous views of the surrounding areas including Hidden lake, the Yukon river and the infamous Lake Laberge. Lots of natural plants we saw, not too many animals as it has many visitors from town. Got a bit of a sunburn and was a little pooped but nbd because after, I finally managed to acquire the sacred item I lusted for since arrival. I think you know what I mean.

Sooooo on this cool gray day I'm going to meet the lodge that will house me for a week. No power, running water or luxuries of any sort just a bed, gas stove and a chair (but does one need anything more?). Fortunately I went cray at the bookstore (and grocery store teehee) so I'll have stuff to do when I'm not power-canoeing and sickness-mountain biking like a diva. Expect a few pics next weekend if you are reading this before then.

The blister also finally popped yesterday, during a show put on by a local hotel. Great show with can can dancers, stories, music and other shizz all portraying life in the Klondike during the biggest gold rush the world has seen. Not just poor country folk but doctors , lawyers, priests & anyone who belonged to 'the race of men that don't fit in' went to the Yukon to find their fortune. Over 100,000 went, less arrived and even fewer made money. Even those that did, despite bathing in champagne, throwing gold nuggets at dancers winning and losing a hotel in a game of cards, they never were truly there for the gold. Because once you had it, it was gone before you knew it. The 'sourdoughs' they called them, the men who came here and made a reputation for lots of money and sins. The gold brought them but they all fell under the spell of the Yukon.

The North-West Mounted Police kept a tight watch on Dawson, a city of 30,000 in 1900, mostly American. No prospectors could come without $500 cash or $200 and supplies for winter. The winter sounds absolutely unforgiving. -40 temps, ice and snow so white it could literally blind you. People getting stuck in snow or in a pass during winter would go insane or dumb from the boredom. Some men would sit in cabins for months eating their dogs, boots , bugs and anything they could really. Some were found totally emaciated and unable to speak. They would confess their past sins to each other just To pass the time, read the same bible through and through and if they reached that climax of compete lack of stimulation, they would try to get to Dawson through the frozen tundra. They were of course were never seen again.

As Robert Service describes in 'The Law of the Yukon', only the toughest of the tough survived here, but when they did were they ever rewarded.