Sunday, May 22, 2011 – Left Skagway around 7:15 on our own. The drive north on the Klondike Highway was beautiful, looked like a winter wonderland. There was still a lot of snow on the ground up through the pass. We went back through the Canadian border with no problems getting back into Canada. We met back up with our group in Carcross, then we all caravanned to Caribou Crossing to have lunch and meet with Michelle Phillips (Iditarod and Yukon Quest well known musher), and see her training facility. We also got to see her dogs in action and the new puppies too. Joyce got to go on a dog-sled ride. It was cold and rainy, but she didn’t care because she was having such a great time. After our time at Caribou Crossing, we had an easy drive to Whitehorse, only about 40 min.
It’s been a rainy, drizzly day, but once we were settled into our campsite in Whitehorse, Spike took us for a quick tour of the town. Then we went on our own tour to check things out, as well. We’ll be here for three days, a good opportunity to give Kula a bath, get laundry done, and get the motorhome cleaned up.
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| Michelle Phillips training facility, Caribou Crossing, Yukon |
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| Going on a dog sled ride with Michelle Phillips |
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| This was soooo much fun |
Monday, May 23, 2011 – Met with Spike and all loaded up in the vans to go to see the Fish Ladder on the Yukon River, longest wooden fish ladder in the world. Salmon make their way to up the Yukon river to their spawning grounds. From there, we drove to Miles Canyon (on the trail of ’98, the stampeders had to circumvent the treacherous waters of Miles Canyon and Whitehorse Rapids, known as the greatest peril on the trail) and an area on the river called Devil’s Punch bowl (during the gold rush days, coming down the river they could get stuck in, possibly for hours). Miles Canyon is a very steep, sheer canyon. We walked across a suspension bridge that swayed pretty good as you were crossing.
We came back to our campsite, had lunch, then we all piled back in the vans and went to see the SS Klondike, built in 1929, early steam paddle-wheeler. It cruised the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City taking passengers, supplies and ore (for the silver) up and down the river to remote areas of the Yukon before the construction of highways. We were able to climb aboard and had a tour of the entire sternwheeler.
From there, we went to the Beringia Museum (life-size exhibits of animals of the last ice age that became extinct about 11,000 to 14,000 yrs. ago, including the Wooly Mammoth). We spent some time learning about the last ice age and how the animals crossed from one continent to the other (Siberia to Alaska). We also got to try our hand at Atlatl Throwing (the atlatl is an ancient spear-throwing weapon used in the Yukon for hunting more than 4,500 years ago). Because of all of the mining (digging) going on in this area, they are still uncovering and finding ancient animal bones, artifacts and ivory tusks from the Wooly Mammoth, Mastodon and other animals.
We came back, took Kula for a walk, got ready and went to dinner with a few from our group. After dinner, we walked over to the Whitehorse Inn theatre and watched an entertaining Vaudevillian show “Frantic Follies” and had a lot of laughs—another fun night!
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| Miles Canyon |
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| Suspension Bridge over Miles Canyon, Yukon River |
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| SS Klondike |
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| Trying my hand at the Atlatl (an ancient spear-throwing weapon used in the Yukon more than 4500 years ago. |
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| Our campsite in Whitehorse, Pioneer RV Park |
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 – Very leisure morning, doing laundry and straightening up the motorhome. We finally got ready and drove into town to wash Kula’s bed at the Laundromat and do some grocery shopping. When I went back to the Laundromat to put his bed in the dryer, it had started to fall apart (from Oscar biting holes in it), and all of the stuffing was coming out. So, we went to Walmart, yep there’s a Walmart in Whitehorse and got him a new one. We came back to the motorhome and Kenny gave Kula a bath and washed the “stink” off of him. At 6:00, we all met in the club house at the campground, and had a steak dinner hosted by Spike. He had invited Michelle Phillips (Yukon’s #1 female musher), her husband and son and one of her lead dogs, Wiley to join us. And, after dinner, she put on a slideshow and talked about her 2011 Iditarod experience and adventures as well as the Yukon Quests she’s participated in…a very inspiring and amazing woman. It was a great evening and fun to get together with the whole group.
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Emerald Lake
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