June 10, Teslin, Whitehorse and Alaska Highway

Monday, June 10, 2013

Woke to the call of loons again and they took off in perfectly synchronized style when I walked by.  Beautiful in the early morning sun and temperature already 47 degrees.

We are back on the Alaska highway, heading towards Teslin and Whitehorse.  Spotted this lovely caribou just after a stop at Rancheria Falls.

Several spots of road construction made for slow going at times.  We crossed the continental divide which separates two watersheds: the Yukon, which will flow eventually to the Pacific and the MacKenzie, which will flow to the Arctic.  The Yukon system, some 2800 miles from the Pacific, supports salmon and a larger population.

Stopped at Teslin Lake, a huge and beautiful 78-mile long lake which averages 2 miles wide.  Everywhere you look here, there are lakes, rivers and streams.  With snow still on the high mountains, the waterways are flush.  The Yukon Hotel had a nice display of Yukon animals.

Stopped at  a First Nations Tinglit Heritage Center as well, which had a nice display of history and culture, then watched a lady who was tanning a moose hide.  Arduous work.  After she has it scraped and softened it will get smoked.  Takes nearly a year to go through all the processes, and she said the finished hide will sell for about $3000.

 On to Whitehorse.  Drove along the Yukon River and saw many float planes as well as this riverboat.

The Visitor’s center was nice but only allowed 40 minutes of wi-fi and cut off when I was in the midst of loading pictures, so lost everything.  Greg got the oil changed, tires checked and such.  We looked around town, had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho, which was a nice change.. 

Spent the night in Walmart with about 45 other RVers!  Greg has lost his watch, so we bought a replacement at Walmart – hopefully it will last the trip!  Met up with Bill, from our group,  who is heading for Anchorage early to visit a friend and have some repairs done.   Used the McDonalds wi-fi to send a few emails.