Wild Places and Open Spaces

Hello everyone. Going to try to update our blog to the present.

We are currently in Carcross, Yukon – originally called “Caribou Crossing” where the alleged smallest desert in the world is located. We’re not sure what the criteria for a desert is, but if it’s a giant sand dune in the middle of nowhere I guess it would qualify.

We arrived in Whitehorse on June 24th. We stayed overnight and re-stocked our supplies, bought some fishing licenses – which we haven’t put to use yet (did dip a fly rod in a stream for 10 minutes though) – and treated ourselves to some fine northern entertainment. We took in the famous “Frantic Follies” which is typical of the entertainment during the goldrush era. We found it fairly entertaining but what we discovered being around the hordes of dressed up, fruitily fragranced audience was that we had a “fragrance” unique to ourselves, and trust me when I say “eau de trois jours camping” doesn’t work well in a civilzed city environment. As the show continued it got hotter than we’re used to being outside all the time, and we began to get a little sweaty. That’s when  things really got a tad odiferous! I’d just like to note that the place was practically filled to capacity – except the two seats beside us. We enjoyed the show but were happy to get back outside not to mention showered and a change of clothes. Enough said about that.

On June 25th we arrived once again to the friendly U.S. border near Haines. I don’t know if we disturbed this guy from his favorite movie – Bridge Over the River Kwai – but he was in a foul mood. Talk about militant! We got across unceremoniously sans our fruits and veggies once again – border patrols must never have to shop for fresh produce!

On our way to Haines, Alaska, we saw our first grizzly and saw another just outside of town. They are skinny beasts this time of year with huge heads and paws – just to remind you how powerful they are while they innocently munch away on grasses and frolic carefree in the fields.

Just outside of Haines there is a bald eagle reserve and in the late fall/early winter there will be up to 3500 baldies feasting on spawned out salmon. A spectacle to behold I’m sure.

In the morning we toured around some of the old military buildings in Haines before boarding our car ferry or our side trip to Juneau.

Our trip down Lynn Canal was rather uneventful and the weather was a little damp and chilly once again. It’s hard to believe sitting here in sunny warm weather, how long we had such crappy weather. We hadn’t had a completely sunny day since arriiving at Half Moon Bay near San Francisco on May 30th! 32 straight days – Do you think we’re enjoying our 4th day of sun in a row?!

We docked in Juneau at around 12:30am without any accomodations reserved. That turned out rather short sighted as we spent the night in our car at the end of the road – literally – but on the plus side we “camped” for free and I saw a sea otter sleeping on the rocks near shore.

Next morning we found a government campground near the spectacular mendenhall glacier of the same namesake which cost $10/night, which included free showers and firewood, not to mention a terrific view of the glacier. Needless to say, we camped there for 5 nights in a row!

Juneau – the capital city of Alaska, population around 35,000 and can only be reached by boat or by plane. A unique fishing/mining city where gold was discovered by Joe Juneau – not the hockey player – in 1897. A bustling, friendly small city where the cars – which never get body damage repaired – always give pedestrians the right of way. The downtown core where up to 6 cruise ships and 20,000 visitors a day arrive is separate from the locals Juneau. The houses are almost all unique, the groceries and gas are very reasonable and Walmart got booted out of town! The city  still has small town friendliness and nearly everyone says hello and the grocery boy or girl still carry your groceries out to your car for you. They have a wonderful university and the library in it allowed us unlimited free internet access which was extremely helpful! It’s rather curious how a city, where it’s nearly impossible for locals to get away from, where 58F is shorts weather, 64F is balmy and any day it doesn’t rain is a good day can be so cheery?! Juneau truly is a city who acts like smallville USA and we enjoyed ourselves fully – even in the rain and cold.

During our stay in Juneau we hiked some of the over 100 miles of trails, actually touched a glacier, and hardly met a soul! We picked up the movie “Click” at the theatre and ate two fabulous fish fries at the Thane Ore House.

We were sad to leave Juneau, but looked forward to our sunny passage to Skagway, where chechacko (newbies) prospectors collected and amassed the 1000lbs of gear necessary for the 600 mile journey to Dawson where the Klondike Goldrush took place in 1897/98.

Skagway is pretty much a busy tourist town of 850 or so year round residents. We toured around town a bit but were mostly interested in the history aspect of the town and the now defunct town of Dyea – pronounced Dye-e – which was the starting point of the gruelling 33 mile hike along and over the notoriously steep (45 degree) Chilkoot Pass. We hiked the first five miles of the trail just to check it out. Ironically, the first 5 miles to Finnegans Camp is almost completely flat! We hope to hike the entire 33 miles to Bennett Lake and return via the White Pass Railway in August on our way home.

So that brings us to July 5th in Carcross where it’s still sunny and warm, camping for free – with free firewood. Last night we had a grouse walk right through our campsite with 10 chicks in tow! This morning a couple of Gray Jays visited our site to check in on us.

In the next few days we will wend our way northward to Dawson City and learn about life in the city of gold!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.