Back to the Dempster 2011 – Part 13

Today would be the day we would travel as far north as we intended to go this trip…

We got up to sunshine….and Shantz alerted us to what Ernie is photographing…

a Grizzly bear out on the tundra beside where we were camped….how close had it been to us?  Not sure i want to know!

there was one other sign of life before we left – a young White Crowned Sparrow…

We got packed up and pulled out and headed north…hadn’t gone very far when another Grizzly was spotted up on the hillside….

We are now heading towards the Richardson Mountains…

Pulled over at the side of the road…we’d seen lots of birds flying up out of the tundra in this area…

a Richardson, or Arctic Ground Squirrel co-operated for a picture….

alas the birds did not….obviously they were grouping ready to migrate and were very ‘spooky’.  The scenery stayed still – very ‘golden’ and very different looking than in the spring or early summer.

further along we pulled into another large parking area where another ground squirrel was even more co-operative.

Won’t hurt to throw in another picture – this particular type of ground squirrel is only found in these northern climes.

and here is another look at the golden and red tundra…

Finally one of those elusive birds – an American Pipit I think….I really don’t know what else was there

and now the Yukon/N.W.T. border – this would be our turn around point this trip.  After coming all this way we probably should have continued on but the dog was still having eye issues….

at this point there were numbers of persons out picking berries.  The entire First Nations people from Fort McPherson had taken the day off to pick cloud berries.  The women were picking and the men were patrolling with rifles….the reason – Grizzlies…like I’ve said many times, Grizzlies can appear out of now where on the tundra.  Also, Caribou had started moving through this area and the grizzlies follow the caribou.

So at 11:30 am on August 25 (gee 5 months exactly from today), we turned around and started the long trek back towards home.  This is Wright Pass….just opposite the parking area at the border…

there is the highway….

that hill out on the tundra is a ‘Pingo’ a structure formed by ice heaving up…

We hadn’t gone very far when movement on the tundra caught my eye – a Wolf!  It was far off and moving quickly but did manage to get a picture of it…only the second time I’ve ever seen a wolf in the wild and the first time up here along the Dempster.

and now, back at the Arctic Circle….we’ll be back – one way or another!

a few more shots are called for….

August 25, 2011 at the Arctic Circle.

and now back at Ogilvie Ridge…we’ll be down there in those mountains soon…

and into the Ogilvie's – notice the aspens have changed colour in just the last day…

a stop at the Blackstone River….

and there, notice the rock formation – we missed this our first trip, and on our trip north – if it hadn’t been for having lunch at Eagle Plains with our 14 time visitors from California…we might never have noticed ‘Elephant’ or as I prefer “mammoth’ rock….

some of the other rock formations along the highway are harder to miss…

a different perspective….

ended the day back at Engineer’s Creek Territorial Campground….oh yuck!  We have to get in that?

Now, even though we have started back, there is still a very long way to go…with lots left to see…tomorrow we’ll be traveling back to Tombstone….

Back to the Dempster 2011 – Part 8a

Am going to have to break this one into two parts due to the sheer volume of pictures I have!  Mind you we spent 2 days at this next spot so guess that accounts for all the pictures…. Woke up at Twin Lakes to find the day pretty much like it had been…cloudy…our neighbour (the campground had filled up in the evening) informed us a black bear had been in our campsite in the morning….we were totally oblivious – some nature watchers we are!

Set out, headed north on the Klondike Highway, and as we got further north the weather improved.  First stop was at Five Finger Rapids…

We’ve been here before, but this time we elected to go down the steps…..

Ernie and Shantz continued on the trail…getting closer to the river…

but even they didn’t go all the way to the viewing platform…

the problem with going down…is you have to go back up…fortunately there wasn’t anyone else there to see me crawl my way back up…

and these signs, located at various landings…gave an excuse to pause for breath..

here is another one…one thing you have to say about the Yukon is they have excellent signage at tourist attractions…

by the time Ernie and Shantz made their way back, a bus full of tourists from B.C.’s Okanagan had arrived…Shantz proved to be the main attraction!

That is what you are supposed to be admiring!

Took this picture while I was waiting for them to get back…those are the ‘bluest’ Blue Flax I have ever seen!

continuing one we reached the edge of the Beringa…the area of the continent that wasn’t covered in ice during the last ice age….reached Stewart Crossing in the afternoon and decided to take a side trip to Mayo…

it was drizzling a bit again…but we stopped at this area that is a moose calving ground in spring.  There is apparently quite an extensive trail system here but it didn’t appear to be very well kept up and besides, it was getting late…

further yet there was a pull out with this view of the Stewart River…

and accompanying signage…when we reached the intersection where we had a choice of going to the town site, or the campsite, we elected on the campsite…

and found Five Mile Lake Territorial Park, on Five Mile Lake…there was a day use area at one end and at the other, an absolutely lovely little campground…

we quickly chose a lovely site that backed onto the lake.  Several other sites were occupied and more people came in for the night, but for the rest of the afternoon and most of the next day, we pretty much had the place to ourselves…and what a place!

there is the lake….

here are some of the Ground Dogwood in full ‘berry’…

there is another one …

a mushroom of some sort and more of that Bastard Toadflax – notice how it is getting redder as we get further north?

and Bog Cranberry….

 out on the lake, a couple of young Red-necked Grebes….no sign of the parents…they have no doubt headed south.

think these little guys are Bleeding Mycena

and Red Squirrels….

this interesting looking Birch Tree trunk was in our campsite…I figure it is nature’s modern art!

and I’ll close for now with this one I have to call ‘the last rose of summer’…tomorrow we’ll continue on exploring this wonderful little place!