July 16 and 17

I first came to Whitehorse in the 1960’s in my dreams, it took to 2008 to get the rest of me here. The place is even more wild and wonderful than my active imagination allowed for. Whitehorse looks to be a little further north than Anchorage AK, it is the capital of the Yukon Territories and has about 30,000 people maybe half the population of the Yukon Territories which has more land area than California. In other words it is big, open, far north and wild in its character. One of the interesting things about these big, open spaces is that it actually brings people closer together. The Robert Service campground in Whitehorse is on my short list of great sites. People from all over the earth, a view of the river complete with people fly fishing, and within walking distance to downtown. The people get quiet at night (but there was still enough light to read at 11:30 at night) but the animals & critters scamper and scream in the few hours of darkness. We knew it was 7 AM when the first jet took off from the airport. Shortly after that a couple pontoon aircraft took of for even more remote fishing camps that cannot be reached by road.
Whereas in Los Angeles ‘nobody knows your name’, here after you meet fellow travelers once or twice there develops real camaraderie. For instance, we crossed paths with an Australian couple, Robin and Brenden who are working in Manitoba, Canada for a year and now we ended up sharing a campsite with them in Whitehorse.
Seaplanes lumbering to get off the water. They move so slow I wonder what their stall speed is they move about as fast as I run. And their appearance is so unaerodynamic its amazing they can fly at all.
I love this place. While the modern world is here in the form of a Tim Horton’s and some chain stores still the trash cans even in the city center are not only covered but have the recessed handle to keep out critters small and large. You can actually take a boat (see the book “Yukon Summer”) all the way from Skagway, through Whitehorse, north of Fairbanks AK and come out near Nome AK. I love the road sign going out of town showing SOUTH to Alaska. And don’t ask for decaf coffee or you will get a sympathetic smile for the poor city kid whose GPS must not be working.
We interrupt this blog for a restaurant recommendation: If you ever find yourself in Whitehorse do not miss the Klondike Rib And Salmon restaurant no matter how long the line is, its worth it. The food is so good I’m not sure I want to leave town.
The Alaska Highway is pretty far north but 8 miles out of Whitehorse we take a road north off the Alaska Highway, its called the Top Of The World Highway and it takes us to Dawson City YT. we cover over 300 miles today so we are up around 5 AM, break camp and off on the road out of Whitehorse by 7 AM.