Very early Thursday,
18JUN, we got on the road to Whitehorse, YT.
On our way we stopped at the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre in Teslin,
YT. Teslin means “long narrow water”,
& Lake Teslin is 78 miles long. The centre
is small, but very nice. As their website
states:
“The Heritage Centre opened in 2001 and is an award-winning
building designed by Yukon architects Kobayashi & Zedda. The main building
is comprised of the Great Hall, Elders’ Room, Gallery, and gift shop. The
Gallery provides a showcase for modern and traditional Tlingit arts and
culture. The gift shop offers arts and crafts made by local Tlingit artisans
and other unique gift items. On site at the water’s edge are the canoe shed, a
traditional fish camp and kitchen cache that are used throughout the year for
open-air programming.”
On the drive we
passed:
-the British
Columbia/Yukon Territory border several more times
-continental divide,
water on one side goes to the Arctic, the other side goes to the Pacific
-a big bull moose
standing in a small pond; unfortunately no way to stop safely for photo
-Nisutlin Bay Bridge
longest water span on the AlCan
-Johnson’s Crossing
Camp one of the original lodges on the AlCan
Parking our RV at
the RV park outside Whitehorse was probably one of worst in some time. First the spots are very narrow (if you have
slides on both sides of your RV, you need to be perfectly parked in your
spot). Then the lady told us back-ins
only available, so we disconnected & drove to our site. We immediately noticed that the sites were
actually pull thru; not long enough to keep car connected, but no need to back-in? Then we found the person next to us had
parked his 5th wheel crooked making it difficult to park ours. And since we had parked the way instructed,
all our hooks-up were on the wrong side.
So back to the front office to get another site.
After this circus it
was off to the Visitor Centre. Next stop
was the only major grocery store in town (Dan had to buy some 7 Layer Halva?). Last stop was the Thursday “Fireweed
Community Market” at Shipyards Park. There
Dan discovered a Dutch lady making authentic Dutch Poffertjes (we would show
you a picture, but we ate them before thinking of the camera). We also witnessed the safety requirements
required to make kettle corn in Canada.
Two notes on RV
parks in British Columbia & Yukon Territory: Wifi – every RV park says they have wifi; but
once the park starts to fill, the wifi is useless! Cable – we try to use the parks that
advertise cable; because over-the-air TV might be one, or no stations, in most
towns. The interesting thing is that no
matter how few cable channels they have, they all seem to have ABC, CBS, NBC,
Fox & PBS from SeattleJ!!!
Friday morning
started with a tour of the largest wooden fish ladder in the world. Where we learned that the salmon that migrate
from the Bering Sea to Whitehorse & beyond, make the longest salmon
migration in the world. Then it was
walkabout on Main Street. Followed by a
tour of the last remaining Yukon paddle wheeler – the KLONDIKE II.
 |
As part of the KLONDIKE tour
they had an excellent movie showing what was required to operate the vessel
back in the late 30s. Because Whitehorse
was still basically a wilderness when the archival footage was taken, the film
depicted what one would have seen on any Mississippi steamboat in the late
1800s. Since Dan has actually inspected
two paddle wheeled vessels, propelled by fire tube boilers, he probably knew
more about the engineering plant than the volunteers.   |
After a coffee &
lunch break on Main St it was back to the RV to check on Gumbo. Next destination was the Kwanlin Dun Cultural
Centre. Like the Teslin Tlingit Heritage
Centre we visited yesterday, this is a Centre devoted to the Kwanlin Dun First
Nature history/culture. While also serving
as their community centre, a place for preserving & teaching their culture,
& for their ceremonies. They are
preparing for a National Aboriginal Day this Sunday, too bad we won’t be here.
Last stop of the day
was the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.
Located right next to the centre, is a complete DC3 mounted on a
pedestal & balanced so well, that it acts as a wind vane. We observed it easily rotating in a very
light breeze!
So what is
Beringia? As their website says:
“Between two
continents on the edge of the Arctic lay the ancient place called Beringia. It
was a land of ice, giant mammals and the First People of North America. We live
in unusual times. We may think that our climate today is typical but over the
past 2 million years, the climate of the northern hemisphere has been dominated
by huge ice sheets. During each Ice Age, vast glaciers formed in the Northern
Hemisphere, locking up much of the world's water as ice. Global sea levels
dropped as much as 100 - 150 metres as a result, revealing the floor of the
Bering Sea and creating a land connection between Alaska and Siberia . . . This
land bridge was part of a larger unglaciated area called Beringia.”
This was an excellent, educational centre explaining how while almost all
of Siberia, Alaska & the Yukon was under hundreds of feet of ice during the
last ice age; that due to some unique circumstances Beringia was a vast
grassland. Beringia was populated with herds
of mastodons, yaks, elk, caribou, even camels & other grazing animals. Because of this, carnivores such has extinct
lions, extinct tigers, extinct bears, & others flourished. Lastly because of plentiful game, hunters
from Siberia crossed the Bering Sea land bridge into the Americas.
In fact, the world’s oldest horse bones were found in the Yukon. The theory now is that the earliest horses
were in Beringia & migrated across the Bering Sea land bridge to Siberia,
Mongolia & eventually Europe. Then
for an unknown reason(s) these ancient horses became extinct in Beringia/North
America, & the horse was re-introduced to the Americas by European
explorers. Unfortunately Dan’s camera
became “stuck” in the opened position; luckily, we have a working older one in
the RV.
Saturday morning, 20JUN, we are back on the road again to our next campground
in Destruction Bay, YT. On the drive we
saw two 1920s era vehicles returning from Alaska, one a sedan, the other a
pick-up truck. Around lunch time we stop
at the Haines Junction, YT, information centre.
This is an excellent centre where someone “got smart” & combined it
with the First Nation Da Ku Cultural Centre, & the Kluane National Park
Visitor Centre. If you ever travel this
road, we recommend allowing a minimum of 1-1/2 hours to view the three
different exhibits & the National Park video.
More AlCan facts –
--when the AlCan was completed the First Nations lost access to all
traditional lands on west side of the AlCan north of Haines Junction because
the Kluane Game Sanctuary was created in 1943.
Although Ottawa had no idea if a sanctuary was really needed (remember
this was still wilderness, consisting of trading posts not towns). The First Nations were still hunter/gathers
& moved across the entire Yukon as the game moved, as the salmon migrated,
& as edible plants ripened. This
change immediately stopped their traditional way of life, & almost their
cultural. It took decades of
negotiations to allow First Nations access & rights to these lands.
--in 1977 USA paid for rebuilding of AlCan from Haines Junction to the
USA/Canada border, because 85% of traffic was Americans tourists.
Kluane National Park joins together with Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park
in BC, & Wrangell-St Elias National Park & Glacier Bay National Park in
the USA to create the largest UNESCO World Heritage site in the world. Also, the Kluane Icefield Ranges are the
largest nonpolar alpine icefields in the world.
In less than 50 miles we stopped at the very small Tachal Dhal Visitor
Centre, also part of the Kluane National Park.
This centre is at the base of Sheep Mountain, where Slims River empties
into Kluane Lake. On their deck they
have several high power scopes for viewing Dall Sheep that frequent the
mountain (none seen by us).
Another 20 miles down the road was our RV park, Cottonwood RV. This park was a very pleasant place, located
on the shore of Kluane Lake just outside the National Park. Very well maintained, but limited to 15amp
only; & grizzly bears are so common here that you must take all garbage
with you? By late afternoon the wind
shifts & brings smoke/haze from Alaskan wild fires over the entire lake.
Again because there are no milepost markers or
signs to indicate historical sites, we missed another we would have stopped at
– Soldier’s Summit where the AlCan was officially opened on 20 November 1942.
