Day 33, Thursday July 07, 2011 Into the Yukon!
Today was a better driving day that yesterday, when there were many curves, hills, bumpy roads and frost heaves. The section of road from Liard Hot Springs (River) to Teslin in the Yukon was much better. There were long level stretches so we could travel at 55 mph with ease for the most part. There were stops for gas and we did finally have to pay $100.00 for a fill up . It was around 59 liters at $1.74/L The next station had it for $1.34. Go Figure, but when you have to fill up , in this area, you fill up. There may not be a station for another 80-90 miles.
The morning was filled with good animal viewing as the Black bears were out , especially the mothers and their cubs, with both black and brown bears visible. Then came the Buffalo. There are a number of Buffalo herds on this road and this was the first. They were laying around and the little ones were nuzzling their mothers and learning to ”charge” if even they were only a couple of feet tall. Never did see a Moose YET! They are there but daytime is not the best to view them. At one point Ruth glanced over to see some birds at a carcass of some sort. Then in a rush, the three birds flew up . One was a young Bald Eagle evidently being interrupted at breakfast. Quite a sight just 10 feet from the car. In the afternoon we did not see any mammals of size . Good advice to get out early (or late) to see them.
This stretch of road has the longest bridges on the Alaska Highway, especially the one we last crossed the Nusitlin , here at Teslin. It is 1,957 feet long with seven truss sections. Tomorrow we will see another that is over 1700 feet long. We finally crossed the Liard River on it’s journey to the Arctic Ocean.
FACT: the Yukon River once emptied into the south portion of Alaska (near Skakway) before the ice age. It did not carry much water. After the glaciers blocked the water exit it began to reverse it’s flow and cut it’s channel north to the Bering Sea. The former journey was only a few hundred miles, and today (depending on the source) it travels some 2,000 miles to the Ocean.
We are now in the area where the Klondike Gold Rush prospectors went through from Chilkoot Pass (Skagway) over the mountains to these lakes that connect to the Yukon River. Once they got over the mountains they could float (rafts) from that point down the Yukon to the Klondike (Dawson City) area for the gold rush, Over 100,000 of them were reputed to have made that journey coming over the Pass with 1 ton of equipment each. (The RCMP checked them out!).
This area , especially Teslin, is the center of the Tlingkit Nation and many run businesses here and in nearby towns and villages. There is a lot of subsistence hunting and fishing as well. With all the lakes the fishing is terrific.
We crossed the Continental Divide at Swift River, had a piece of Donna’s apple pie at Toad River, noted countless bridges, creeks and rivers and camped on the shores of what is called the Nusitlin Bay on the river of the same name by Teslin Lake. Tomorrow we will tell you how “Jake’s Crossing “ got its name, putting Whitehorse behind us and staying at Destruction Bay YT.
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