This had been Ernie's primary goal.......
There is a large rest area here, so we decided to make some lunch and explore the location a bit more. Just before reaching the Arctic Circle we had passed a landing strip and on both occasions that we were here, planes buzzed over head.....so even though you feel like you are the only people for miles and miles and miles - you really aren't. The sun, at this spot, does not set for 3 weeks prior to, and 3 weeks following, June 21st.
Obviously people had been here before us and celebrated the occasion in a little more style than just having lunch! This Champagne bottle had been carefully placed under this rock cairn....in fact it wasn't until I was preparing to write this that I wondered if there might not have been a note tucked inside! When we go back - and we WILL be back - we must do something a little more in keeping with the occasion!
another cairn caught my attention so I peeked inside and found.........
this jar that was full of little Japanese 'origami' folded notes. We looked at a few but being in what we assume was Japanese, couldn't understand them. There was also a folded photograph of a couple in the jar. We carefully sealed it back up and replaced the cairn as it had been.
Ernie got this picture of a Savannah Sparrow, there were also White-crowned Sparrows and Slate colored Dark-eyed Junco.....very common birds for such a special spot!
I found the fact that the 'out houses' were cabled together and bolted to the ground rather amusing. Me thinks it must get just a tad windy here at times!
The vegetation in the area was very colourful and interesting...and very low....
There were some more of those White Mountain Avens here as well......
and even a few of those Wooly Lousewort!
I've mentioned the variety of Willows along the highway. Here is one of the more interesting ones, these guys are only about 3 inches tall.
This is real Arctic Tundra....looking towards the Richardson Mountains towards the north west.
Looking more directly northward......
and another general view....In part three we'll travel from here, over the tundra, to the North West Territories border.
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