Sunny Day in Whitehorse

SCHWATKA LAKE, WHITEHORSE, YT
Things to do if you've got a bit of extra money to spend on a sunny day in Whitehorse

Correction

WHITEHORSE, YT, August 27
OOPS! The fine looking fellow in the photo above is named Hobbes - - from the (no longer published) "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip. Now since the Hobbes in the strip was a stuffed tiger the relationship must be more to the frenetic and deep thinking Calvin, who never met mischief he couldn't figure a way to get into.
Additionally, if you've followed Lydia's blog you'll know that the original posting showed up on her site as a feline named Hops..blame the mistake on too many years in motorsports to always hear and understand what others are saying although this can come in handy some times as an excuse

Friends along the trail

(Above) This Malmute / Samoyed mix greeted us at the Salmon Fish Ladder in Whitehorse. He had a Samoyed companion as a playmate. (Middle) This guy is named LocoBones and he's the companion of a couple of friends who work at Carribou Crossing which is an attraction on one of our tours. (Bottom) The ledgend goes that when the fireweed starts to get this white/cotten-ish cover - - after it's regular fushia-colored blooms have fallen off - - that winter is on the way. Since we've seen leaves turning color for the past two weeks we tend to believe in the forecast.

Foggy Days

On the Klondike Highway heading to White Pass, August 24
It's 1pm on another bright and sunny day in Skagway. Oops. Well the sun is probably shining somewhere but it sure isn't in Skagway. So what we have here is the view from the driver's seat in the tour bus I'm driving up the mountain at about 20mph. It's real quiet inside because in conditions like this nobody talks much....including me. Except to point out that we may be fools BUT the Cruise Ship Sheep in the van pulling that load of bicycles in front of us really have a few screws loose because they paid for an adventure and are going to ride down the mountain in this fog. This is not something avid cyclists who are knowlegable would do "for fun" but then we don't go on cruises either. And to make it more fun for all I have to dodge around these folks.
Unfortunately, this has been typical of weather near the top of the White Pass. South winds off the Lynn Canal blow the low cloud cover against the mountains and we ending up driving by braile.
Note the post hanging out over the side of the road. These are warning devices for the snowplow / snowblower drivers. The vehicles have spotlights on top of the cab and the lighter portion of the bar reflects light telling the driver he is at least still on the road. If the light hits the red portion then things could be getting a bit 'iffy' because they are either close to the rock wall or the guardrails - - and looking at the guardrails lining the road you can see they are beaten and banged up. Now if you make a big mistake on the guardrail side you could end up about 300' below and that's a long climb back up .... if you survive.
The other point to consider is that in December and January it starts getting light around 10am and the darkness drops at 3pm. The road is a 365 day road because of the fuel depot and container cargo facilities in Skagway which deliver fuel and goods into Canada.

Flower Power

Bean North Coffee Roasters, Takhini Hot Springs Road, Whitehorse, YT.
A return to the coffee shop we visited last week was in order to check how the beans are doing....and the flowers

Golden Eye

On the Klondike Highway near Lake Tutshi
One of the neat places we visit has eagles which are being either rehabilitated, learning to fly and hunt or being kept in a natural wild environment because they have been injured (at one time) and have recovered but will never be able to survive in the wild since they can no longer fly or fly well enough to feed themselves.
The bird pictured is a 10-week-old male Golden Eagle. It and a sister are being nurtured and ready to start training to get a feel for hunting in the wild. The two were taken from a nest soon after hatching..a practice which guaranteed that they would live as in multi-chick nests the strong kill the weaker/younger birds as a basic survival instince.
This guy - - who has no name yet - - is just learning how to fly. He still needs to learn how to land as the landings I've seen would make a great comedy film. He has been known to get quite vocal when people are around ... and also when they are not.

(BELOW) The salmon are taken from the net, checked and then (mostly) released back into the water to continue on.
(ABOVE) An overall shot of the catch/record/release enclosure with the power plant in the background

Fishy things 2

The team nets the salmon in the holding tank and registers male/female; wild/tagged (from fishery eggs) and they releases them into the other side of the ladder or takes away some females to retrieve eggs for hatchlings

Fishy things 1

WHITEHORSE, YT
This is a "fish ladded" which makes it possible for the fish to bypass the dam in the Yukon river as they head upstream

Coffee Beans in the woods

Tahkini Hot Springs Road, north of Whitehorse, YT
The adventure started with a Friday night escape from Skagway and the first of two nights in the Robert Service Campgrond near Whitehorse. It continued with a trip to the Hot Springs, only to find the facility closed due to filming of scenes for a Canadian-made movie.
We had spotted a sign on the way in noting the location of North Bean Coffee Roasting - - a well known brand in all the coffee shops we visit. Not only did they have a coffee shop, but cookies and other goodies PLUS wi-fi and so the guy who can't get enough coffee has found heaven in the woods ... as seen in the pic above.
The first thing done this morning was to head to the Salmon Steps to see if any more fish had made it to the area (see lydiahinshaw.blogspot.com for info on last weeks visit). They had and we got to see a lot of good action as 4 guys worked to check, release or harvest today's travelers. (Photos should be up soon on both our blogs)

UPDATE
I've been off the blog lately because I was frustrated at our inconsistent wi-fi which seems to upload LH pics but not mine...anyway it's still cool and cloudy most of the time with about 1 day in 10 showing any sun. This is always fun while doing tours as we go from 50' above sea level in Skagway to 3292 at the top of White Pass. This is an appropriate name for the pass as 4 out of the last five days we've driven over it the only thing you could see was the yellow stripes in the middle of the road. The saying goes: "there are no non-believers on the bus in this weather." Good thing they can't see the white knuckles on the steering wheel.