Leaves littered our gravel drive on the chilly September morning when we began the long drive back to Vermont. Traveling east through Canada's western provinces is always enjoyable with 577 miles of Alaska Highway within the Yukon being the most spectacular.
Yukon's slogan, “larger than life” is no exaggeration. Traveling south on the Alaska Highway, we arrive in the Yukon shortly after leaving Alaska, near the town of Beaver Creek. This fall, the aspen, birches and tamaracks were particularly bright and painted the roadsides and mountains in a palette of yellows and golds.
A favorite stretch of road is from Haines Junction to Kluane Lake. Here, the St Elias Mountains tower on the west side of the highway. Present, but not seen from the road, is Canada’s highest peak, Mt Logan at 19,520 feet. We travel a ribbon of road lodged between glacial rivers and snow covered rock peaks. The mountain crevices hold glaciers, forced downward by gravity into rugged valleys below.
The Kluane National Park and Reserve of Canada, in conjunction with the Wrangell-St Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks and Preserves in Alaska and the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, combine to form the earth’s largest non-polar ice field. I find each new vista to be more beautiful that the one just photographed. I keep my camera on my lap, continually lifting it to find another mountain peak and glacier in my view finder. I never tire of the scenery as it varies with time of day, weather and season. This year snow came early and already the hillsides are white. The ponds and streams we pass are ice covered and migrating swans congregate in remaining pockets of open water.
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| Looking toward the southern end of Kluane Lake. I often include vehicles in my photos as they provide a known object by which to make a size comparison in this enormous landscape. |
Kluane Lake is the largest lake entirely in the Yukon. It has water depths exceeding 200 feet, lake shore that is mostly inaccessible by road and is known to have excellent fishing. During the past decade, we have seen the lake's water level drop. Water once passed under the bridge at the lake's south end, but this is now an area of dry sand. Glacial water which fed Kluane Lake, is no longer flowing.
Glacial melt from the Kaskawulsh Glacier no longer enters the Slims River, but instead is taking an alternate route into the Kaskawulsh River. This river takes water away from Kluane Lake. Without water from the Slims River, Kluane is slowly drying up. No one knows if this change is permanent. However, where water once was is now dry silt, When the wind blows hard enough, which seems to be quite often, this powdery sand is lifted up creating a dust storm in front of travelers.
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In the spring, it's not unusual to see bears on this stretch of highway, but in the fall we're more likely to see caribou. We were really excited to see the Takhini elk herd just north of Whitehorse. We have only seen these elk a few times and it's been cows. This time a nice bull herded cows and young animals close to the road so we had a good look.
After leaving the Yukon, we planned an evening spent camping in British Columbia at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park. I looked forward to relaxing in the warm water after a long day of riding. However, after settling into our campsite, we both felt more like a cocktail in our recliners than battling the wind and cool rain. So, the following morning after coffee, we walked the quarter mile or so from our campsite to the springs. It's such a a well maintained area. We immediately noticed the addition of a high electric fence around the campground. There has always been a lot of signage warning of bears, but evidently the need to discourage had escalated. There were also signs saying loud noise, probably air horns, would be used to discourage bears.
Caribou aren't quite as common so I raised my camera for them. I view them as a very odd looking animal. I think the caribou cows somewhat resemble a dairy cow and unlike deer, caribou often seem clueless. However, I've witness the speed at which a caribou herd can cover the hummocks and tussocks of the tundra, heads to the ground, eating while maintaining a steady pace.
Approximately, half of our drive from Vermont to Alaska is within Canada. As much as we enjoy the Canadian people, towns, landscape and animals I feel a sense of relief when we re-enter the US. Perhaps it's the unusual times we're experiencing, but I felt particularly proud when the US border agent, after asking the customary questions of,"How long were you in Canada? Did you purchase anything in Canada?", handed back our passports and said,
"Welcome home".
