South to Alaska
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2008
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Trip End
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Whitehorse,
Yukon,
Canada
Friday, September 28, 2007
After two days in the Whitehorse area waiting for the weather to improve, I was finally driving on the South Klondike Highway towards the Alaskan panhandle.
It proved to be a beautiful sunny day designed to invoke that "good to be alive" feeling.
The first part of the trip was a 52 kilometer gentle descent from Whitehorse to historic Carcross, situated on the north end of Lake Bennett. Just before the town the road passed through the Carcross Desert which is described as the smallest desert in the world.
http://www.yukonalaska.com/communities/carcrosshist.html
The drive south to Alaska is highlighted by beautiful lake and mountain scenery. At times the road undulates precariously between the edge of the lakes and the steep mountain sides. Frequent wire meshing covering the steep mountain walls along the side of the road give a false sense of security.
At the confluence of Nares Lake and Windy Arm which are both parts of Tagish Lake, I lingered to savour a classical post card view of Bove Island.
Tagish Lake was made famous on January 18, 2000 as a result of a fireball produced in the area by a meteorite. It was spectacular for its length, brilliance, visibility through parts of the Yukon and Alaska, and for its large field of strewn meteorites.
http://aquarid.physics.uwo.ca/~pbrown/tagish/#intr
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During my drive, it continued to be a day of resplendent sunshine which permitted the full spectrum of colours to radiate from the fall foliage so amply sprinkled among the stunted dark green spruce trees.
The autumn season had been a great choice in which to tour Alaska and the Yukon.
Whitehorse to Skagway
All the beautiful fall colours that I had been enjoying over the last couple of weeks would all have been reduced to several shades of green during the summer. It just would not have been the same.I also did not miss the crowds of tourists or the thick clouds of mosquitoes which make summer outdoor ventures an experience not to be enjoyed without heavy doses of mosquito spray.
I had an unpleasant exposure to mosquitoes in the Northwest Territories in July and I can just imagine what Alaska would be like in the summer.
Near the southern end of Windy Arm, I came upon an unexpected sign that made me smile. It said "Welcome to British Columbia". I had no idea that my home province extended to this corner of Canada. I still find it strange to write or to say "my home province is British Columbia". After living in BC for 16 months, it is still hard to break the ties with Ontario, a province in which I lived most of my life.
In the remaining part of the drive to the Alaska border, British Columbia again lives up to its name - "Beautiful British Columbia". This is the license plate slogan for the province. I can live with that but the provincial welcome sign slogan of - "The Best Place on Earth"- I find bordering on hyperbole.
What about Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, Austria or France to mention a few? (I can't think of any more!).
I realize this is a dicey question much dependent on personal preference
If I had the proverbial "million dollars" I would head for Switzerland.
Well, I won't have to worry about that as I am not in that position.
- on the road again!
On the other hand, not all is lost, as I find myself overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery while driving towards historic White Pass and the Alaskan border.Just half an hour from the border is the location of the "Yukon Bridge" which is a suspension bridge over fast flowing waters of the Tutshi River.
http://www.yukonsuspensionbridge.com/
There I was welcomed by a beautiful golden lab that sniffed at my shoes. Ironically, it was not until the writing of this blog that I realized why he was sniffing at my shoes.
About 45 minutes earlier I had stopped to take a photo of some flowering shrubs. When I got back into the car, I was overtaken by a most unusual pungent smell that I thought must have come from the bushes.
It was not till later that I examined my shoe soles to discover the abundant evidence of animal scat well embedded in the contours of my sole. I have no idea what animal it was but its scat has a powerful and yet atypical odour.
Following that discovery, I stopped at the next stream, removed my shoes and did a thorough cleaning job.
Obviously, the keen nose of the beautiful golden lab could not be deceived by merely washing something in water.
To my surprise, this was not the end of the golden lab. As I examined the website of the Yukon Bridge, the first thing that I saw was a photo of the same golden labrador.
If your first view is not the golden lab, it is because the intro page of the website has four alternating photos, one of which is the lab.
Just one more thing about the Yukon Bridge, I had to double check but it is squarely in British Columbia.
If you would like to see an excellent map of the area between Whitehorse and Skagway which shows
- how this area is interlaced with lakes and rivers
- the location of the Yukon Bridge
- the location of the Log Cabin (see below)
- the historical Chilkoot Trail from Dyea, near Skagway, to Bennet on Bennet Lake
- the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway (from Skagway to Whitehorse over White Pass)
- the road that I drove, Highway 2 (a thick white line)
click on the Yukon Bridge website link:
http://www.yukonsuspensionbridge.com/gettinghere.html
(click on "How to Get Here")
Shortly after the Yukon Bridge a Parks Canada Sign announces the location of a Log Cabin on the Chilkoot Trail.
- beautifull sunny day
It would appear that the Yukon portion of the Chilkoot Trail is under the jurisdiction of Parks Canada.This is the only access I saw along the route to the legendary Chilkoot Trail. Because I was the only person there and because of several signs warning about bears, I was overcome by my timidity and chose not to take the half kilometer walk through dense forest to the actual Chilkoot Trail.
It was a beautiful wooden sign at the top of White Pass that welcomed me back to Alaska. The state of Alaska makes no claim of greatness on its welcome sign despite the fact that on this day every resident of the state received their "state dividend" of $1,600 as their share of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in the Arctic. Maybe Alaska is the "Best Place on Earth" to live?
From here it was all downhill to the Skagway.
Coming Soon: Paying Homage to the Chilkoot Trail.
