Whitehorse, Day 3

Our third full day in Whitehorse was filled with a wide variety of experiences.  We started out slow and easy.  Once we got started, things seemed to move along rather rapidly for the rest of the day.

The morning was devoted to errands downtown.  The post office was first on the list.  We studied our small city map and thought we had come to the right place, but there was no Post Office in sight.  Where the Post Office should have been was a drug store.  As I was staring at the drug store trying to figure out what happened to the Post Office, I noticed a small sign by the door that read, “Canada Post”.  We went in the drug store, through another door, down a flight of stairs and into the Post Office.  We discovered as we left that we could have come in a different entrance from the street and not gone through the drug store, but who knew?

The bank was next on our list.  The government campgrounds have iron rangers that take cash only.  Since the fees are $12 we needed lots of $10s and $1s.  We were able to find a bank easily.   It seems like every other building is a financial establishment of some sort.  Gene pulled on the door and it was locked tighter than Dick’s hat band.  The sign on the door said they opened at 9:30.  Since that was still twenty minutes away, we decided to walk around town to make pictures of some of the murals.

Without much time on the internet I haven’t been able to research the story behind the murals, but there are many, many around town.  For the most part, the murals depict some aspect of Whitehorse and/or Yukon history.  Perhaps the most interesting was the large mural painted on the backs of some of the stores on Main Street.  Painted on the back of 5 or 6 stores in a row is a mural of early 1900 store fronts.  When I first saw it, I thought it was stores.

On our walk about town we found a different bank that was open.  It was very busy (no wonder since the other banks were still closed) so while Gene stood in line I sat in a chair and watched the people.  One lady had on a jacket I really liked; now I’m gonna have to go searching for something similar.  A man’s hat caught my attention.  In large letters--MONEY TALKS.  In smaller letters--”mine just says goodbye”.

With the money business taken are of, we set out to find internet.  We had the name of a small cafe which we wanted to try, but it was overrun with customers.  Too noisy and too many people for what we wanted to do so we walked back a couple blocks to Starbucks.  An hour or so on the internet and it was time to head home for lunch.

To aid our digestive process, we decided to do a lap around the campground.  Mostly, we were just being nosey about who had left and who had come in.  On he way around the loop, we passed the Wolf Creek trailhead.  We read the sign and decided to do the 3K Yukon River hike.  The trail was very well maintained and had some great views of the river.  Along the trail we found a geocache.  We weren’t even looking for it and didn’t even know there was one in the area.

Gene didn’t quite finish cleaning the bugs off the motor home yesterday.  While he was rubbing on the cab over, one of our neighbors invited us over for happy hour and a little chitchat.  Mike, originally from Great Britain, has lived in the Yukon since the 60s.  I think he was just lonely for someone to talk to.  He certainly entertained us with some wild stories.

So, a very busy day and most of it totally unplanned.  That’s it.  Thanks for tagging along.

Whitehorse, Day 2

Our first order of business this morning was to move to Wolf Creek Territorial Campground.  We stayed at Hi Country RV Park for two nights.  It was good to have electricity, laundry, WiFi in our rig, and TV, but everything is now recharged, our tanks are empty and the clothes are clean.  Time to move somewhere cheaper.

Hi Country is one of two or three full-service campgrounds in Whitehorse.  It is the one we hear referred to most often in blogs of Alaska travelers.  The owners are definitely friendly, maintain a nice campground, and cater to all of us overnighters making our way along the Alaska Highway.  They are located right on the Alaska Highway and only three miles from downtown Whitehorse--pretty doggone convenient.

 All interior roads are gravel as are the parking pads.  Most sites are pull-thrus, but there are back-ins around the perimeter and a small cluster of back-ins in the center of the campground.  The laundry and showers are clean and everything works.  They seem to have an adequate number of washers and dryers (6 each).  I didn’t have to wait when I went, however, there have been no caravans here this weekend.  That could make all the difference in the world in availability of showers and laundry facilities.  Laundry is $3 per wash and $1 for 16 minutes of drying time.  The washers are the new front-loading type and the dryers are the large commercial type.  I got one load of clothes dry in 16 minutes.  I credit that to our wearing mostly quick-drying performance fabrics.

Nice as Hi Country is, we are on a mission to save on campground fees.  Gotta have that extra money for the gas tank.  So we’re leaving the $36 per night (even with a Good Sam discount) to move over to Wolf Creek for $12 per night.

Wolf Creek is like the other government campgrounds.  This one, however, is a little larger with about 38 sites, a very large day use area in front with picnic tables, a cooking shelter, and a playground.  There are even a few pull-thru sites; one of which we are parked in.

Wolf Creek runs through the campground.  In the late 1990s Yukon Fish and Game built a fish “ladder” to assist the spawning Chinook salmon.  I think what is called a fish ladder is just where the creek or river bed has been built up into something like stair steps.  There is so much rushing water in Wolf Creek today that it is difficult to see the steps of the “ladder”.

After we got settled into our new home base, we drove back to town to visit the Yukon Beringia Interpretative Centre.  We enjoyed our visit and learned a lot about the theories regarding the last ice age, the land bridge connecting Siberia and North America, and the animals that may have populated the area.  We watched two very well done films and wandered through the exhibit halls.  I think there was only one other couple there this afternoon, so the staff gave us lots of attention.  Gene even got to learn how to throw a spear using an atlatl.  That was a hoot.  He was very good at hitting the shrubbery.

The Beringia Centre isn’t a world class museum, but it was very well done.  We enjoyed our visit and would recommend it for anyone interested in prehistory.  For a museum, it was very inexpensive.  We got the senior rate (over 55) of $5.00 each.

What's left of a steppe bison

Next door to the Beringia Centre is the Transportation Museum.  We didn’t go in there, but did walk over to take a picture of the DC-3 on a post.  It actually swivels; probably the world’s largest weathervane.

That was our day.  Thanks for tagging along.

Whitehorse, Yukon

We arrived in Whitehorse yesterday late morning and got set up in Hi Country RV Park with full hookups. There is something to be said for electricity.  We had been off the grid for five days and we were having serious withdrawal symptoms.  It’s amazing how attached we get to our electronics.  I think I turned my computer on before I turned the refrigerator on.

Whitehorse is the largest city in the Yukon and our stop for all kinds of chores.  Yesterday, our goal was to get settled, get showers, and get to the grocery.  We wouldn’t have starved, but dinner would have been interesting, to say the least, if we hadn’t gotten in some grub.  The lady at the desk in the office suggested three groceries.  We chose the one she said was the cheapest.  I suppose it was, because it seemed like most of the town was in there.  It turned out to be a frustrating experience.  We had a huge list, didn’t know where anything was, the selection was limited compared to what we find in the megamarkets in the states, and half the labels were in French.  We were both exhausted by the time we walked out of the door.

Today, has been devoted to the long list of chores.  At the top of the list was gathering all the information we could for a trip up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. We have, over the years, heard horror stories about this 450 mile gravel road from Dawson City to Inuvik on the Arctic Ocean.  However, talking with the folks at the Visitor Center, other travelers, and one guy who had driven a similar road to Prudhoe Bay recently, apparently the road is much improved from days gone by.  We have decided to drive the road with our own car.  Today, Gene went to a tire company and bought a full size spare on a rim.

We also got two 2.5 gal gas cans to take extra fuel.  Our little Honda only has a 10.5 gal gas tank.  The 225 miles to the first fuel stop on the Dempster Highway is a stretch for that car even on a good road.

Since we’ll make that trip in the car without the motor home, we have long lists of stuff we need to pack for what we expect to be a week-long journey.  Peanut gets to go, also, but I’m not looking forward to riding with the litter box at my back for a week.  We’ll stay at the campgrounds along the way, so will need everything we would need for a backpacking trip.  This will be a real adventure.

Another top priority item on our “to do” list for today was to find out why our phone hasn’t been working in the Yukon.  The lady at the Visitor Centre was also able to answer that question.  Apparently, the local phone service provider has a monopoly for the entire territory for a set number of years--a deal worked out with the government for setting up the network to provide service.  She was amazed we had service even here in Whitehorse. At least we know what to expect now.  I’m a little irritated that Verizon didn’t tell us before hand.  We might have opted not to purchase Canadian service had we known.

We have had our first road incident--a chip in our windshield on the truck.  George, the owner of Glass Magnum, came right out to our site and worked his magic.  We are good to go--you can’t even tell there was a chip.  Thanks, George.

Cinnamon roll from Johnson's Crossing

We going to be playing the waiting game again.  The ice is running in the rivers we have to cross along the Dempster.  The ice bridges are gone, but the ferries have not yet started running.  When the ferries start depends on the ice, so we’re waiting.  We’ve decided to stay in Whitehorse for three more days then start the drive north to Dawson City.  That will take two days.  There are several things we want to do in Dawson City, so finishing out our wait there promises to be a fun time.

Tomorrow, we’re going to move to the government campground just south of town for a couple nights before coming back here for a night.  It’ll be good to have several days in a row without travel and we’ll get to see a bit of Whitehorse, as well.

We're seeing this more often than we'd like

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.