Today will be the day when we finally reach the Dempster highway, but not without a few trials and tribulations on the way! We left Five Mile Lake and headed back to the Klondike Highway and northwards once again. At Twin Lakes, our old dog, April, had developed an eye problem. I had medication with me, but wasn’t sure if it was the right medication or if I had enough of it to last for a while so the plan was to go past the turnoff for the Dempster, to Dawson City to see if we could find a vet (unlikely) or a pharmacist.
First we stopped at the rest area on Duck Lake…
This lake is noted for being a waterfowl staging area. We noticed way off in the distance, a pair of Trumpeter Swans with a young one…
zooming way in on them, that youngster seems awfully small for this late in the season – August 22 it was. I hope it got big enough in time to migrate south…they don’t arrive down home at their wintering grounds in the Fraser Valley until late October or early November, so hopefully he grew. In fact there is a pair with one youngster hanging about where we do our daily walks…could it possibly be the same one?
Back to reality…we headed to Dawson City where there was road work and the person behind us advised us that one of our rear tires was low…so not wanting to take chances we searched out a tire store that was very obliging and checked the tire which only needed more air…there was, of course, no vet and not even a pharmacy…so Ernie, ever the optimist, and me, concerned but hoping he is right and the dogs eyes will be ‘fine’…
headed back and turned onto the Dempster Highway. It had been raining so the road was a bit muddy but not a problem..
New, very impressive signs had been erected at the entrance to Tombstone Park since our last visit.
and finally we were approaching the start of the Tombstone Mountains…and look – fall colour!
Arrived at the campground and were surprised to find it almost full with only a couple of spots left! Fortunately, one of the spots was one I considered to be one of the best and we pulled in.
If you are a lover of the alpine don’t you just want to be there!!!
the view out of the back door of the camper…
and from the little hill behind the campsite looking at the camper and the campground itself..sites are well spaced in here so you never feel you are right on top of somebody else. There was, in fact a school class staying here which explained, at least some of the sites being taken. We learned that school, in the Yukon, lets out in May and resumes in August – this is due to the excessive day light which makes sleeping and therefore learning, difficult during June.
after settling in Ernie headed out with Shantz for a walk…that is the campground road leading to the entrance…
and the other way…this way leads to a trail head where you can walk about as far as you want to go…
and this is what happens when you are on that trail and a Snowshoe Hare runs right across the trail under a husky nose….
Her ladyship would spend the rest of the trip on a 6 foot lead.
I stayed around the campsite amusing myself with what I could find…this Fireweed – the territorial flower of Yukon…
and a Northern Bumblebee on the Fireweed…
fall colour! This is actually a type of Birch…possibly Scrub, Dwarf, or Alaska – take your pick!
only in the north do you find signs like this! This posted on the wood shed. Fire wood is available free of charge in all Yukon campgrounds …all campgrounds are self register and the fee is only $12.00. They also all have screened in kitchen shelters, complete with fire burning stoves…water, pit toilets and garbage pickup.
I had hoped to get pictures of Cloudberries this trip. This poor pitiful little guy is the only one I got and he is only one seed…they are normally in group like a Salmon berry. Cloud berries, when ripe are golden yellow, this one is only on it’s way to ripening…
and we’ll leave with this nice evening shot of the Tombstone Mountains in the distance….we will be spending tomorrow here too, so more pictures to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment