Thursday, July 23, 2009

Skagway to Atlin to Watson Lake

07-21 Skagway to Atlin








Exhaling Alaska

Every blissful breath I take,
however sweet the wind,
must sadly be expended,
if to ever breathe again

Goodbye

Just sayin

It is becoming apparent that the further out in the boonies I get the tougher it will be to get online...
also I had this idea that I could like write a travel-blog but it takes too much time.
Instead I am taking lots of photos and taking written notes and voice recordings and will try to combine them all with images where I can.


In Carcross, YT. looked like a good place to stop for lunch.
I almost didn't stop because there were three bus loads of Holland America tourists but they were just loading up to leave.
This town has a lot of history not the least important being it was a significant place on the Yukon-Klondike gold rush trail.
Mathew Watson general store is the oldest operating store in the Yukon territory.



The white pass railroad goes much further inland than the the tourist ride from skagway.
If you noticed there was an ore ship picture in Skagway.
They are usually loading copper ore (actually a thick heavy copper sand) into the ship there for export.
Right now the copper sands are trucked down the highyway I just took from the mines in the nothern Yukon districts.
However there was someone saying they may use the white pass railroad to do that in the future... which would make it a real working narrow gauge railroad instead of just a tourist attraction.




Really nice boondocking campground about 12 miles south of Atlin

This was a great place to stay and do nothing but I did take the time to drive back up to Atlin this afternoon to for a guided walking history tour around town. It is extremely well done.
Just find the little visitors museum and ask when they are having the next one.

Atlin is another one of the "Gold-Rush" towns in BC. There were dozens of gold discoveries in the provence. Many of the miners who got shut out on the Klondike moved down here to try again.



07-22 Atlin Lake



Here is a view of the Juneau Ice Field from the east side
It feeds the Mendenhall where the tourists are on the west side (Juneau) and feeds a few more glaciers on this side

Spent most of this day hunting Dahl Sheep. Didn't see anything! Oh well.
Nice drive though back towards the Yukon border.

When I got back to camp I had a neighbor, Dan.
Quite a unique fella, he.
He is on his way to driving to the tip of South America. Not like in a hurry though.
Check out his web site, its an interesting story!
http://www.dangrec.com




Where are you now Dan?
Where is Marion from Whitehorse?


07-23 Atlin Lake to Watson Lake



Audio notes and photos to input here later