Yukon Trip 2009 - Day 9 Part 2 - Atlin, B.C.

Thirty one years ago when we approached the town of Atlin, the first thing we saw was a rustic trading post store, with a veranda out front and two old husky dogs stretched out asleep on it. An absolutely perfect greeting, the picture of which, has lasted as long as the gold nugget earrings I bought there. Unfortunately, there is no such greeting there today. The building is still there, it is now covered in vinyl siding, the porch and dogs are gone....it is now a Christian Center or some such thing.

In the intervening years there has been a lot more growth, there were all kinds of ranches and resorts and things on the way before you actually come to the town. Within the town itself there has been some growth as well, but again, unfortunately, none of it designed to incorporate itself with the historic value of the original buildings....and those original buildings that had been preserved so nicely when we were last there, looked like nothing had been done to them since.

The setting of the town itself though, was as spectacular as ever! We headed immediately to the only RV park in town which happens to be right on the lake shore.
The above is a view, looking back towards the town from the RV park.

This shot shows it in a little more detail. Now I seem to have got a few photos mixed up so the next might be a bit confused. As soon as we had paid for a spot, we decided to head out Warm Springs Road, which runs south from the town, towards the 'Warm Springs'.

This is a view from Warm Springs road, taken not too far past the town it self, again, there were a lot more residences along this road than there had been.

Now we are suddenly back at the RV park. This was the 'Penthouse' suite....it turns out that the owner/operator actually lives across the Fraser River from us, just living in Atlin for the few summer months in order to run the park. This park had also, up until this year it sounds like, rented out house boats....hence the large dredged bay on the right side.

We're now back on Warm Bay road with another view of the scenery. Atlin Lake is a huge lake, only a small portion of it is visible from road ways. What looks like a mountain is actually a very large island within the lake itself.

and again, we're back at the RV park....(teach me to try and do two things at once while I'm uploading!)....I took this picture, mainly to show the Iceland Poppies that were growing in profusion right beside our 'penthouse'.

One thing that hadn't changed since the last time I was here, were the Warm Springs. There was still just a big open field with a couple of ancient picnic tables. This day there were a pair of American Kestral flying back and forth from the tree tops. I was a bit surprised to find them this far north but later found out that it is within their expected range, in fact they are found right up through the Yukon into Alaska and the N.W.T.

When I was last here I had a blue-eyed blond Siberian Husky by the name of Shady Lady....this little stream that is the over flow from the warm springs, is full of watercress, and Shady munched her way all along the stream. My blue-eyed redhead has some interesting tastes, but watercress wasn't among them.

and here are the warm springs themselves, still in their completely natural setting. The water isn't hot....tepid would be a better description and the bottom has quite a bit of stringy green algae growing on it...that didn't deter Ernie from wading in to test it out.

Just down the road from the warm springs, heading back towards town, this is Warm Bay. The overflow from the springs flows in here. This view is looking northwards, Atlin would be around that point of land.

same place, looking sort of south west.

Spotted this Greater Yellow-legs Sandpiper......

who was joined by a pair of Bonaparte Gulls.

A little further along the road on the east side, you come to Palmer Lake. There was a small recreation site here and this did look like a wonderful place to explore with a canoe or kayak.

Back at the RV park, there had been a constant flow of Cliff Swallows, to the mud around the dredged bay. Over all I would say that Cliff Swallows were the most prolific species, number wise, in the north. I bet, in Atlin, just about every building had Cliff Swallows building under it's eaves. There were also a few Violet Green Swallows.

Float planes are almost as common as cars in this country....Shantz was quite intrigued with this one that taxied over to the 'Float Plane terminal' that happened to be adjacent to the RV park. After the plane arrived, and at 10 pm a back hoe turned up and work proceeded....I guess if it is light all night...why not?

While I stayed at the camper, making use of the electricity so I could download this first batch of pictures, Ernie and Shantz wandered about the town. The above is the historic MV Tarahne that used to carry passengers and freight from Atlin to Scotia Bay where it connected with the White Pass and Yukon railroad. The ship went out of service in 1936. It has been somewhat restored and there are events held on it, every year.

This is just one of the historic buildings that appear to be in a state of disrepair and neglect.

This town clock looked in better shape - I forgot to ask Ernie if that was the correct time...it seems about right. I think my biggest disappointment in the town was the amount of garbage and litter laying around....it just looked like nobody cared. I can understand lack of funding to keep things in good shape, but it doesn't cost anything but time to do a litter blitz once the snow melts.

Campground fee: special rate of $18 - included power.

forgot to write to mileage that day.