Month: June 2017

This morning we decided to head out for the small town of Atlin, a historic gold rush town and the most northwesterly town of BC. We debated between Atlin and Skagway and decided we’d cover Skagway when we return to Whitehorse in August if we don’t make the trip via boat. We have that option later in the summer when we drive to Haines with the trailer. We could catch the marine ferry and hop over to Skagway and then go north, but with the trailer length we are towing, it will likely be quite costly and we don’t know if there will even be availability when we are there.

Along the road to Atlin we found many lakes – the prettiest of all was Emerald Lake. It lived up to it’s name!

The colour comes when the sunlight reflects off a layer of white calcium carbonate clay that forms on the bottom of the lake, It forms when calcium carbonate from dissolving limestone reacts with calcium found in the water. We also saw a number of small lakes with the most unusual of names: there was SNAFU – Situation Normal All Fouled Up and then there was TARFU – Things Are Really Fouled Up.

We also drove through a desert! Carcross Desert is not really a desert, but it has the name of one. They have what we know as sand dunes, but these are unusual in this area so are called a desert.

Finally we arrived at Atlin, a tiny town of just 350 people, at the end of a 60 mile, recently paved road.

While there, we dropped into the visitors centre and had a conversation with one of the residents. She has lived there for 23 years, arriving from California. She loves her life there. I asked her when she had last been to “town” for supplies. She said she was out to Whitehorse in May, for the first time in 2017. They have a couple of grocery stores in Atlin that will bring in just about anything they request. She also talked about the annual arts and music festival in July where their tiny town swells to 2500. In a town without running water or septic system, it taxes them, yet, they continue to do it year after year. She said people camp everywhere – if it isn’t blocked off, then someone will drive in and use it.

Tomorrow, we start the trek for Dawson City, or Dawson as it is often called. We’ll have one night on the road and then arrive for an extended time in Dawson.

Today was a day to review years’ past. First up was a visit on the Riverboat S.S. Klondike. It was a sternwheeler that came into use in 1937 to replace it’s predecessor that sank. It was the largest riverboat to cruise the waters of the Yukon River until it’s retirement in the 1950’s. We were able to walk through parts of the boat and see some historical films on the use of riverboats during the golden years.

Our next stop was the MacBride Museum of Yukon history. Here we had opportunity to learn more about the early settlers. We read more on the people involved in building the Alcan Highway and those who followed the trails of Klondike gold! The hardships they endured, all in hopes of striking it rich! Of course, those who did were few and far between. The museum also had an amazing display of preserved animals, from birds to the largest of animals, the grizzly bear, they were an educational display that gave you great perspective into the size of some of the animals of the Yukon.

We finished the day off at a chance discovery of a dinner theatre in town every Thursday night. A wonderful meal of arctic char surrounded by many locally-grown items, it included a duo playing jazz on pianos, while telling the story of the Klondike gold rush of the late 1800’s. We enjoyed the company of two couples from Newmarket and Aurora, north of Toronto who were on the bus portion of an Alaskan cruise.

Tomorrow, we take a side trip to Atlin, BC.