July 16, 2011 WHITEHORSE TO DESTRUCTION BAY Shortly after leaving Whitehorse we began seeing the majesty and grandeur of the highest mountains in Yukon. They rose on our left and became more magnificent as we approached Haines Junction and the Visitors Centre for Kluane National Park. In the Centre we learned about the highest peak in Canada, Mt. Logan, which towers up to 19,550 ft. It is in such an isolated section of the park only the hardiest adventurers will ever see it. There are massive icefields and glaciers in the park, the smaller of which can be seen from the highway. Several of our fellow-travelers saw grizzlies today, but all we saw were little ground-squirrels. Destruction Bay is on the west side of Kluane Lake where it was originally a construction camp for the building ... read more

July 14, 2011 – LEISURE DAY IN SKAGWAY Three things happened today. First we went up on Dyea Way to get an overview of Skagway and some pictures of the layout of the city. It is long and narrow with the waterfront being only five blocks wide. The Skagway River valley is very narrow and hemmed in by almost vertical rock walls. The view from up on the hill gave great perspective to the town. Second, we visited the Gold Rush Cemetery which was used for only a few years from 1897 until just after the turn of the century. By then it was full! Most of the grave markers are for adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and a number of children. Most interesting are the graves for the two most famous (or infamous) ... read more

July 12, 2011 SKAGWAY – WHITE PASS AND YUKON RAILROAD. Against all odds, this iron trail was born of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush and built through some of the North’s most ruggedly beautiful terrain. The building of the White Pass and Yukon Route was the engineering marvel of its time. Completed in 1900 with British financing, Canadian contracting and American engineering, it hauled miners and supplies over the 3,000 foot pass between Skagway and the Yukon. Today’s train was pulled by 3 diesel engines and was 15 cars long taking us over the most scenic portion of the line, viewing spectacular panoramas of the Sawtooth Mountains and the Lynn Canal, passing cascading waterfalls, craggy mountainsides and steep cliffs. Interesting sights included several trestle bridges, two tunnels carved out of solid rock, remnants of the original ... read more

July 10, 2011 – WATSON LAKE, YT TO TESLIN, YT When we woke up this morning the rain had passed and we were fortunate to have another beautiful day with sunshine and interesting cloud formations in the sky which adds so much to the pictures. It was a lovely drive today with many interesting stops along the way. We pulled off the road at Rancheria Falls where we enjoyed a walk through the woods to the falls. Actually, coming from BC, we were not too impressed with what they called “falls”!! However, it was a good place to stop for a bite of lunch in our rigs. At another pull out we met up with a young couple who are biking from Alaska to the tip of Argentina, taking a year and a half to do ... read more

July 9, 2011 – LIARD HOTSPRINGS, BC TO WATSON LAKE, YT. This morning before we left Liard Hotsprings we stopped in at the Lodge and took a few interesting pictures of the Elk Head, the Moose Head and an Albino Bear Cub. As you will see from the pictures, we also had a bit of fun as well!! Our drive today was most interesting. The further north we go the landscape becomes more interesting and spectacular, but the thing that was the highlight of today was the number of animals we saw along the side of the highway. I believe we saw about 6 Black Bears and many Wood Bison. The Bison are calving and one pair we came across was a mother with her newborn calf. The calf was very unstable on his legs, so ... read more