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August 21, 2013 Wednesday
Day 45
We left Haines (love this place) about 9am, driving on the Haines Highway, going 150 miles through the Chilkat Valley and into Canada through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory until we connected with the Alaska Highway at Haines Junction. We are blessed with a sunny bright day for this gorgeous, scenic byway - binoculars and cameras required!
Some highlights:
Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, rivers, forests, mountains, glaciers, little mountaintop lakes, creeks and ponds with ice along their edges and numerous pull-offs with incredible views.
We stopped for gas at the only place on Haines Highway before getting onto a long section of road with no services. We have learned to fill up once we are down to half a tank, because service stations are limited. This gas station charged $5 gallon, geez! We can expect even higher prices once we are in Canada the next 2 days.
After driving for an hour or so, we crossed the border into British Columbia Canada and now we are on BC Highway 3. In the high country, above the timberline and it is so spectacular. Vast wilderness driving on this road, through this little ribbon of civilization. 150 plus miles of sheer wilderness, no service stations, no structures, only vastness. Our ears popped as we ascended high up to the tops of the Elias Mountains. We were literally on the tops of the mountains and felt like we were on top of the world.
It is fun to follow along with The Milepost, reading about all the things we are seeing, but it is hard to take your eyes off the scenery long enough to read.
Fireweed, which is everywhere up here was so brilliantly hot pink just a few weeks ago. Now it is turning white-ish pink-ish, some of the leaves are turning yellow. In fact, fall colors of all shades of rust, yellow, orange and brown are showing up. There is a definite fall chill in the air.
From Haines, the road was extremely smooth for the first 80 miles or so. Leaving BC, onto Yukon Highway 7 we entered Yukon Canada. The road was still pretty smooth, but not as smooth as in BC. At Haines Junction, we got on the Alaska Highway, though we were still in the Yukon. The road here was doable, but not smooth to say the least. Michael had to watch the road closely for big dips, frost heaving, bumps, road damage and gravel breaks so as not to hit them going too fast. We averaged about 45 mph on this part of the trip to be able to accommodate these dips which give no warning.
We stopped to take a picture at a viewpoint of the Kluane Range. This area of the Yukon has the largest number of grizzlies in The Yukon. We are on the lookout for them as we drive. The scenery is so beautiful and awe-inspiring, it is hard to take your eyes off it. We have now descended a bit to the subalpine meadows. We saw swans swimming on Dezadeash Lake. Kathleen Lake, nearly 400 feet deep was another beautiful lake we viewed along the road today. Turquoise Kluane Lake, is framed by mountains of red, rust, purple, green, browns and grays. Among the mountains we saw today are the Icefields Ranges in the St.Elias Mountains, including Canada's highest peaks, Mt. Logan at 19,545 feet and six other peaks over 16,000 feet.
Michael saw his first moose, of the trip, a big buck, standing right by the side of the road in some bushes. At Pickhandle Lake we stopped to admire the lake and ducks, when across the lake we spotted a female moose (cow).
We stopped for the night to camp at White River Discovery Yukon Lodgings and RV Park near Beaver Creek, Yukon. This place has nice pull through sites with full hookup and lots of trees between sites. Very pretty. Weirdly, it has quite the hodgepodge of various things - a collection of old military trucks and other vehicles, in the back woods area. Cabins and tents for rent, a grassy airstrip for small planes and helicopters (we didn't see any air activity, though). The office has a sign out front that says, "if you are being chased by a grizzly bear, don't come in here". The office also sells antiques, food and drinks and some other random items. It looks like a taxidermy shop with all manner of stuffed bears, wolves, musk ox, etc and tons of moose antlers everywhere, including on their roof. Interesting . . .
The lady is very nice and we really enjoyed our brief stay here.
The weather was so nice we cooked dinner on the grill outside - stir-fried chard, hot dogs, potatoes with onions, spices and butter, wrapped in foil. As soon as we sat down at our picnic table to eat, a couple of Canada grey jays or "camp robbers" swooped down and literally tried to take the food off our table and out of the pan on the grill. It was hysterical! We were able to shoo them away, but they were brazen little things.
Mileage today-300
Total mileage-5,577 miles
Wildlife Sightings
Swans
Ducks
Moose
Canada grey jays
Bald Eagles
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