Yukon Trip 2009 - Day 14 Part 1 - Dempster Highway

Our original thought for this day, the 5th of June 2009, had been to spend another day at Tombstone and partake of the birding event that was going to happen, starting that evening, but it had been evident as birders started to arrive at the campground that they all knew each other and that we would be the outsiders.....that coupled with the fact that a wind had come up the evening before, cooling everything down so that we got a good nights sleep for a change, and the fact that 2 weeks of our trip had already gone by.....we decided to fore go the birding event and continue on our way.....a decision, that based on the following, must have definitely been the right one!

We'd only just climbed the hill from the campsite and started on our way, when we spotted a Willow Ptarmigan at the side of the road. It happened so quickly I didn't yet have my cameras organized into traveling mode, so no picture.....but within feet of that spot, on the other side of the road, I noticed something furry.......

A Hoary Marmot!!! As is my usual practise, I started taking pictures the moment I spotted it, then got out and gradually worked my way closer.....

He seemed completely unconcerned about my presence and continued working away at some roots.......

Upon reading about this species later, I gather we were extremely lucky to have seen one. They are apparently often heard in mountainous areas but are usually quite wary, although one article did say that if you are not threatening you can approach them quite closely. I think the fact that it was a cooler, overcast morning helped as apparently they can't handle heat well, partly due to their heavy fur coats and partly due to the fact they have no capability to sweat, as most animals do.

My Hoary Marmot!

back on the road and a couple of kilometers further on, another Willow Ptarmigan, this one on Ernie's side of the road, so he managed a quick snap........

and then, almost at once....a Red Fox crossed in front of us and trotted into the bushes! Remember we'd driven this road the day before and hadn't seen a single Ptarmigan or animal of any type, not even a Snow-shoe Hare that were busy bounding across the road this day as well.

Next Willow Ptarmigan we came to was on my side of the road and I was fortunate to get some really great pictures of him......

Male Willow Ptarmigan.........

There are all kinds of little ponds all along the route and we slowed or stopped to check out each one........this pair of Harlequin Ducks were on one such pond.

It took us a couple of hours to make the 35 or so kilometers to Two Moose Lake, thanks to all the wildlife we were encountering....now take a good look at the lake behind the sign...not a speck of ice in sight! All that ice that had been on the lake the previous afternoon, was now, about 14 hours later, completely gone. We had a coffee break here and then continued on into new territory!

well before we continued on....I'd mentioned Wilson Warblers in the bushes at Two Moose Lake, well here is one of them.....

and then....not too much further down the road....our first Grizzly Bear!

another view of the Grizzly Bear.....

Now, not quite 50 km from the starting point at the campground, we came to Chapman Lake. This lake still had some ice on it. We stopped here for some lunch and to wander on the Tundra a little bit....keeping in mind that furry fellow not that far back down the road!

This is a view from the tundra by Chapman lake, looking back the way we had come. The massive Porcupine Caribou herd is known to cross the tundra at that point during their annual migration.

This sign, posted at Chapman Lake, commemorates the sled dog patrols, done in this area, by the North West Mounted Police.

a close up view of some of the tundra vegetation.......

You've seen it before, but another close up of this spectacular flower can't hurt - it is that 'Wooly Lousewort' again.

more wet knees to get this 'ground level' shot of the tundra. There is some of that Cotton Grass in the foreground as well as some of the full grown Willows. There are apparently something like 40 different species of willows growing along this highway....some you'll see later are only a inch or two high....these were about a foot in height.

On we go...you'll note now the terrain is changing a bit with some trees showing up. The white dot in the top of one of those trees is one of a pair of Mew Gulls. They were not happy that we had stopped the truck to take a look at the lake where we also spotted a Pacific Loon sitting on a nest (too far for even a poor picture) and also a Red-neck Phalarope.

The reason for the Mew Gull's distress, was the fact that they had a nest in this little grass lump in the lake.

a little further on we pulled into a graveled area to see if we could spot any more nesting Plovers....well we didn't see a Plover, but this Red Fox was there and ran up a gravel mound......

where it stood it's ground.........

and proceeded to bark (if that is what you call the rather un-earthly sound they make).....we suspect there must have been a den in the vicinity.....

an over view of the area where the fox was....you can just make it out standing on top of one of those large white rocks.....

About this point we came upon a southbound SUV, stopped on the highway with what was it's 5th flat tire! They were attempting to inflate the tire with a compressor that wasn't working. We pulled over and Ernie got out our own compressor and inflated their tire, however he said he could hear the air coming out almost as fast as it was going in. The SUV had traveled down from Inuvik and I am now beginning to wonder what on earth we were getting ourselves into. The driver said the road, further on, was terrible. Everything we had read recommended carrying 2 spare tires when driving this highway....we only had one....mainly because we couldn't figure out how to carry another one (we've now figured out that a brush bow on the front can double as a tire mount so that will be a truck accessory we'll be adding at some point). We had outfitted the truck with 4 of the strongest 10 ply tires we could buy so crossed our fingers. Meanwhile, another southbound vehicle had arrived on the scene, this one a big Mercedes army style truck camper. That driver had also come down from Inuvik and said he didn't have any problem and he said he would follow the SUV and make sure they reached the service station at the junction...a hundred or so kilometers back. So our good deed done we continued on.........

see part two.