From Whitehorse to K'san

After we left Whitehorse we lunched at Boya Lake. A sign that said fire camp pointed in the way we went, but then up to an administrative area.

We didn't smell smoke, but then William spotted the fire.

fire smoke over my head

We camped that night at Kinaskan Lake. Float planes were taking off from the lake.

Every once in a while there were delays on the Cassiar Highway, either for road repair or power line construction.

We were stopped as a helicopter picked up logs from the power line clearing and stacked them in giant teepees to be burnt in winter.

Lots of scenery along the road and we stopped to take pictures of Bear Glacier.

Bear Glacier

We checked in at Rainey Creek Campground in Stewart, British Columbia. We heard that last year it was rainy or cloudy all but nine days in the summer. This year has been much nicer.

We headed for lunch to the “Bus” in Hyder, Alaska. It was a long wait for lunch, but worth it.

At the "Bus" the kitchen is a bus

We came to Hyder to watch the bears eat fish. The park service has a fish viewing platform above Fish Creek. The fish are running but the bears prefer to eat in the early morning and in the evening. So we decided to take the road up to the top of Salmon Glacier. Many miles of incredibly bad road. Part of the road is being redone, but the rest has been beaten to death by heavy trucks hauling mining equipment. Hardly an inch between huge potholes. The summit is lovely and we hang out for a few hours to get unjoggled.

the toe of Salmon Glacier

Salmon Glacier

William at the Summit of Salmon Glacier

Back down the mountain rattlety bang to find a parking spot near Fish Creek.

mist over fish creek as we head to the observation platform

 Our Golden Ages passes get us on to the platform for free. But we wait and wait. There are lots of fish, coho I think.

 But where are the bears? Finally as dusk begins to settle a huge black bear, 8-900 pounds, shows up.

too dark for my camera to take a good picture of the bear

 He has been here earlier in the day and is not too hungry. He catches a few fish and takes a few bites then ambles up and down the creek. The fish swim madly out of his way.

Assessing damages later at the campground from the bad road to the glacier, we find the shoe hanger has broken, but next morning we find parts in Stewart and it is better than new.

On 8/17 we planned to get to Smithers. But events got in the way. We were on the Yellowknife Highway and had just passed Seeley Lake when there was a huge crash. We pulled over and find that we have joined the numerous ranks of people who lose tread on the highway. We creep up to a flat spot at North Boundary road. The tire was not flat, but by the time we read the manual to find the jack and tools, it has gone flat, complicating the job.

William jacking up the tire. You can see where the tread peeled off.

  I help as much as I can. Two girls Alissa and Cindy stop in separate vehicles to help. William gets the tire changed and Cindy who lives around the corner has a tire pump for the really low spare tire. We creep slowly into Hazelton, aware that our other tires are potential time bombs. Drat that bad road. Those tires only had 22K miles on them.

We find Mount N View tire shop. A tiny operation, but they assess the tires and sell us replacements for the rear tires, pump up the spare, replace it and rebalance the front tires which seem OK.

Pleasure Way at Mount N View tire shop

We are stopping in Hazelton overnight at K'san campground to recover from our trauma.

This is a First Nation campground. They were just finishing up a salmon BBQ. We went over after showering up and were served for free, since they were just finishing up. They said we must stay for the Cultural Days Celebration over the weekend. So we stay.

8/18

We begin the day at the Historical K'san Village. There is a museum, gift shop and replica long houses. These houses replicate their former winter homes. They escaped contact with the white man until 1870, so their culture was not so decimated as many. We go on the tour, that is very worthwhile. You can only take pictures outside.

Then on to the Cultural Celebration that takes place on a huge grassy field next to the campground. Lots of lovely costumes, heavy in this hot weather.

 William says it is not more than 80 degrees, but the sun is bright and we use the big umbrellas as sun shades. I run through the kids sprinkler at the side of the RV park office.

I always like to try different food, so I am thrilled to find a vendor selling herring eggs and seaweed on rice.

 William has a taste, but chooses a clam chowder from another vendor. Herring eggs are kind of crunchy, but I thought it was good. Not as strong as pickled herring I had in Munich. I liked that also.

A small drummer caught my eye. I thought he looked a bit like Ben.

littlest drummer

 They were having another Salmon BBQ. This time we paid for the BBQ. Good stuff.  

Whitehorse

8/13
We took a little trolley tour around the waterfront of Whitehorse.

We were going to stop at the new First Nation Cultural Center, but the trolley did not stop until the roundhouse, so we got off there and went to the MacBride Museum. Very worthwhile. We watched a gold panning demonstration.

I posed at an old bar.

Sam McGee's original cabin. Robert Service asked to use Sam's name in his poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

8/14
We went out to the fish ladder to see the salmon going around the hydro dam.

The rushing water from the spillway made a nice rainbow.

The local school children painted and decorated wooden fish as a mural for the approach to the fish ladder.

The fish ladder. Few fish yet, but we did see some hanging out at the bottom of the ladder.

The footbridge over the Yukon. The Yukon is clear here because the White River carrying glacial sediment comes in way   downriver from Whitehorse and upriver from Dawson City.

We then went over to the new Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, just dedicated in June.

There was an interesting display on recent archeological finds in nearby ice patches.

William wants a frontlet

Just one part of the many sad things that happened to these Tagish people

They are carving a totem about the family and the clans, wolf and crow. Each cedar chip represents a life hurt. When they are done with the totem all the chips will be burnt as a cleansing.

Leaving Dawson City Behind

8/11
On our way out of town we drove up to Midnight Dome.  The Solstice Celebration is held here. But they are too far south to see the real midnight sun effect.

Bill on the Midnight Dome

The Pleasure Way at the Midnight Dome

Then we drove out Bonanza Creek to take the tour of Dredge #4.

This huge piece of machinery was run by only 4 men.  There was a large support crew to prep the ground. It gobbled up the stream gravel and sucked up the gold.

This jeep was part of a caravan on the Alaska Highway celebrating the 70th anniversary of the highway's construction.

Our campsite for the night at Tatchun Creek had lots of berries. Most were a variety of baneberry/snakeberry. Highly poisonous

In times past this was a fish camp for the local Tutchone indians. The creek then ran red with sockeye salmon.

The camp and the fire were very nice

8/12 Sightseeing along the way.

Five Finger Rapids was a famous dangerous rapid on the Yukon

Lake Leberge made famous by Robert Service 

The gold seekers floated down Lake Laberge on their way to the Yukon and Dawson City

We spent the night at Takhini Hot Springs and enjoyed the waters.

The waters were fine, but the outhouses were not.  Most outhouses in Alaska in campgrounds and rest stops are the newer type that are well ventilated. Outhouses are understandable in areas where plumbing would easily freeze. But in the Yukon the outhouses are of the old unvented type.  With this type you used lime to keep the odor down. But not here.

More Dawson City

We finally got up early enough to take the town tour. Many restored buildings are only opened as a part of the tour.

Our Guide Marie in the Bank of North America.

In a restored saloon

Bill and I belly up to the bar.

Some of these buildings were built right on the permafrost and really lean. Some have been reinforced just enough to keep them from falling over.

Marie in the old post office. She started out in town as a dancer at Diamond Tooth Gerties.

After the town tour we went over to the old stern wheeler Keno for a tour.  Nice tour but both Bill and I were shocked by the movie "The Last Voyage of the Keno" about it's trip to Dawson City to be part of the historical displays here.  It wasn't the extoling of the wonders of DDT. "We just sprayed so there are no mosquitoes."  It was when the narrator referred to George Carmack, who discovered gold on Bonanza Creek. He was called a "squawman," because he was married to a native woman.  Just awful. And to think this documentary was made in 1960 and produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Bill at the Keno, a big freighter sternwheeler. Much bigger than the paddlewheeler, Klondike Spirit

Today we went to the huge town museum. The courthouse is upstairs. It is actually used once a month or so.

Hear ye, hear ye, all rise for Judge Bill

After skipping lunch so we could enjoy a full meal at the Drunken Goat we caught the early, 8:30, show at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall.  Fun place that is a benefit for the Visitors Bureau.  All money taken in here is spent on town projects.  We sat down front in places that guaranteed that Bill was a choice of the dancing girls.

Diamond Tooth Gertie can really belt out the old show tunes.

Up on stage, supposedly getting dancing lessons.

Bill had fun dancing.

Gertie, Bill and the girls.  Bill is wearing the garter he won as a headband.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Dawson City and move on to Takheni Hot Springs.

Friends in Dawson City

8/8
The day started ordinarily enough for us. We arose late and I managed to cook the eggs perfectly.  The first stop on our continuing tour of Dawson City was a film at the Visitor Center. Then we walked over for the guided tour of the Palace Grand Theatre.

The Palace Grand Theatre

We show up just before the daily tour at 11:30 and head to the bar (no drinks served). Bill was commenting on how the bar was made of oak when a tall gentleman leaning against the bar said, "Don't I know you?"  I looked over and threw myself at him saying, "Bryan!"  It was Bryan Willmon whom we had not seen since the early 70's. My next comment was,  "Where is Carol?" Then it was hugs for Carol.

The Bakers and the Willmons at the bar of the Palace Grand Theatre

They started their Alaska trip the third of July with 2 other couples and have been rving across Alaska practically right behind us.  After the theatre tour we went out to lunch for some catching up.  Both of their boys are married and living in the San Diego area.  Carol retired as a teacher from the Groveland school district where she took over the first grade from me after I had Valerie.
We wound up spending most of the day together.
After lunch we went to the Greatest Klondiker Contest back at the theatre.

We said our goodbyes and planned to meet again at their place in Groveland in October.
Bill and I walked along the riverside and I took a picture of the clear water of Bonanza Creek coming into the silty waters of the Yukon. The Yukon is silted up by the glacial waters of the White River.

The blue water next to the near shore is Bonanza Creek and the  muddy water  next to the far shore is the Yukon

We were headed to the Commissioner's Residence at the other end of town.  We got there prior to the docents and were among the first in. We went upstairs to look around and enjoyed an informative film about Martha Black "the first lady of the Yukon."  As the movie was ending we saw Bryan and Carol again.  They had planned to go out to Dredge #4 but had changed their mind and showed up here.

Bill in front of the Commissioner's House

Me up on the balcony

Bill in the Antler Chair

Bryan suggested we go out for a drink before we separate again.  So we head over to the Downtown Hotel Bar.

I see they have a special drink, the sourtoe special. So I ask to order it. But it is not served until 9 PM. Good thing as Carol explains to me what it is.  It is an actual pickled human toe that is served in the drink. You have to drink the drink and kiss the toe.  You are not allowed to eat the toe. Ugh!
Good safe travels to the Willmons as they are leaving tomorrow and we are staying a couple more days.