Our Dempster Adventure
July 12th we headed up the Dempster Highway. We got as far as Tombstone Park, where we decided to camp for the night. No sooner did we get the tent up, did we have yet another torrential downpour – luckily this camp also had a terrific shelter where they asked people to cook in instead of at their campsites due to an increased # of bears in the area. The rangers called off the nightly walk they do (due to the lightning) so instead they showed a really good bear movie in the cook shelter. It discussed bear behaviour – aggressive vs defensive bear attacks and how to act accordingly. It was info we pretty much knew, but it did go into good detail. What it pretty much boils down to though, is once the bear comes at you, it doesn’t look good!! Bears can count too…less people in your group, the more potential that you will become lunch! I’m sure Jim and I have looked appetizing a couple of times, but so far, so good. We haven’t had to use our bear spray yet.
Jim had been talking with one of the rangers regarding the fishing up along the dempster road. No one had been catching any grayling. Many people had seen them, but were unable to catch ’em. Jim was discouraged, but the next morning we headed out anyways – he was determined, not to mention we had to get to the Arctic Circle!
First stream we saw we stopped at. Jim cast his spinner and caught a grayling right off the bat! So much for what other people had said. Next stream he again caught one on the fly. We also got to see a beautiful young bull moose just downstream of us. It seemed just as interested in us as we were in him. He stood there for ~15min or so, watching, as we watched him. He was tall and lanky, but will undoubtedly become a huge bull. So, we drove and fished, drove and fished for a couple of hours.
At one pullout we stopped at to read an interpretive sign, we heard our names being called – it was Jim and Bernie – a retired couple from Whitney Ontario that we have run into numerous times (while in Yukon area – there are not many roads) on our travels. They were beginning to feel like family, and in retrospect we really miss seeing them now that they have gone home. They invited us into their trailer for a wonderful coffee. Once done, we parted ways again, expecting to see them at the Arctic Circle.
The gravel road had been really good. Easy going and we were happy. That is, up until I heard the dreaded “hissssssss”. Jim had just stopped the car and was fishing just beside the road. I got out to relieve my bladder, and as I did, I realized the hiss was none other than a tire – quickly releasing air on its way to becoming flat. I called to Jim, who was pretty perturbed because I had interrupted a grayling chasing his line, to inform him of our predicament. We had just reached the beautiful tundra and Blackstone river area, but we knew we had to turn back – there would be no one to help us further up towards the Arctic Circle. So, we drove as far as we could on the tire that was hissing, then stopped to put the “donut” on. Unfortunately, this is when the clouds decided to “let go” again, and we got a tad wet once again. Now we had 130km to drive back on with our donut – all gravel. Not a good situation, but we went really slowly. Getting the flat actually worked in our benefit we decided, because on the way back to the campground (since we had to drive so slowly), we saw a ton of wildlife. Bears, moose, red foxes at their den, birds, and a young pipit. The pipit would not move from the middle of the road – it let me pick it up, check it out and put it off the road. It stood there for a couple of minutes, then flew away as if nothing happened. Strange!
Got to the campground where no one could help us with the tire, so we decided to spend the night and drive the rest of the way back to Dawson City in the AM. In the meantime, we joined the ranger’s nature walk and learned a couple new flowers along the way.
In the AM, we made it to a gas station just outside Dawson that had a “make shift” garage attached to it. Jim went in and explained our tire situation – a friendly gentleman said he’d help us out as soon as he finished his breakfast. (everything is on “Yukon time” here) He gave us the option of plugging the tire for $10 or patching it for $20. We opted for the plug, as that is what we are used to doing (neither of us had heard of the patch thing), and prepared to pay the cheaper $10. However, the friendly man came out of the garage after ~5min of fiddling with our tire, and said he couldn’t plug it – he’d have to patch it. We were pretty surprised, since it seemed like a really clean puncture (we had even circled it on the tire to make it easy for him) but we had no choice but to trust him. So, 10 minutes and 20 bucks later, we were on the road again.
Tags: Travel
Kristin
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