There is a general store here that sells a wide variety of things from some basic necessities to the usual “tourist trap gifts.”
And just in case you wondered if this truly is the wild and wooly frontier, I think this sign pretty much confirms it.
Our next stop was at Caribou Crossing for lunch. It is a stop for us as well as cruise ship tour buses. Fortunately, we arrived just ahead of the buses. They serve a really nice BBQ chicken lunch here.
Like every other place, there is a gift shop and in addition, this one had a wildlife museum.
There was a room full of extremely well done taxidermy animals of many different types.
I liked the baby between the parents here. I really don’t know if these are water buffalo or cape buffalo, they were just BIG!
We are seeing more signs of Fall colors here as we travel along the roads.
At the RV park in Whitehorse, Don and I were greeted by this little guy. I think he is some sort of a ground squirrel.
When the caravan pulled in they were greeted by “Whitehorse Winnie.” I’m not sure, but they may have preferred the greeting by the squirrel.
After everyone recovered from the shock provided by “Winnie,” it was time for a couple sight seeing tours.
Whitehorse has a huge power plant and it is the plumes of this water that resulted in the name, “Whitehorse,” because they thought it looked like the flying mane of a horse.
Just below the dam and power plant, is a fish ladder where the salmon move upstream to spawn.
The salmon are counted as they move up these ladders so they know how the salmon population is doing.
We passed a float plane “airport” on the lake above the dam.
A short distance outside of Whitehorse is the headwaters of the Yukon River.
Here the river is narrow, although deep and fast. If you look closely, there is a white bridge crossing the river.
This is a suspension walking bridge. Of course as we walked across, the guys made it sway to the consternation of the gals. (Now who would have thought that?!?)
The water in the Yukon at this point is an incredible deep blue-green. The color and the width of it will change as it flows North.
Just a little way upstream, is Devil’s Punchbowl. If you notice the small black spots in the water, those are whirlpools. The prospectors using the Yukon to get to the goldfields, would get caught in them, sometimes spinning for hours before getting free of them.
Back, closer to the town of Whitehorse, we saw a huge eagle’s nest with a immature eagle sitting on a branch next to it. He was spreading his wings, but all too fast for my camera.
The next day I found him and one of his parents sitting on a rocky bar out in the middle of the river. As you can see, he is as big as his parent, but doesn’t yet have his white feathers. I suspect he is getting fishing lessons.
Nearby is a city park. They have a log utility building with pansies covering the roof.
The Frantic Follies is a major attraction in Whitehorse. There is, of course a lot of song and fun and lots of reading and re-enacting of Robert Service poems. Many of his poems display his marvelous sense of humor, so lend themselves to this kind of activity.
This one involved drinking the Ice Worm Cocktail.
And embarrassing our own Silvia…
Richard, however, we fear may have enjoyed this a bit too much…
Richard, what is that on your forehead!?!
That evening was a steak dinner at the RV park.
The dinner was followed by a presentation and slide show by Iditirod musher, Michelle Phillips.
Michelle is a premier dog musher. She has run the Yukon Quest race as well as the Iditarod numerous times. Last year she finished the Iditarod at number 19, considered an excellent finish and one that is in the money.
Michelle is an amazing lady, running those 1000 mile races in the dead of winter at temperatures that are sometimes 50 below zero. Personally I can’t even imagine!
One thing that is interesting is the dogs. They are Alaskan Huskies, not the big beautiful blue-eyed and fluffy Siberian Huskies that most of us think of as sled dogs. Alaskan Huskies are not very pretty dogs, by comparison, but are born to run.
Michelle’s husband, Ed, is also a musher. He runs the Yukon Quest. Their 12-year son, Keegan, was with them as well. He likes the dogs, (they have 60 of them) but wants no part of mushing.
My kind of kid.
Next stop is Dawson City.
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