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Just to clarify, our location for these days was actually the Dempter Highway, and the Arctic Circle(destination), which is about halfway up the red line on the map(still in the Yukon), but those aren't in the location database!!
We started out early in our car, one last time across the ferry, and up the "Dome" to look over Dawson City. Really nice drive up and great views from the top. Continued on, and filled up at our new record: $1.34/L. And we were off, up the Dempster. It was a nice road for the first few kilometers(of over 300 we drove north), but then the pavement ended and the fun began.(Background: When we rented the car, we asked if we should bring a full-size spare. The guy said, "you should be okay, unless you go on the Dempster--you'll definately blow at least one tire there"). So, we drove it as carefully but quickly as we could, and made good time to Tombstone Park. Into the info place for hiking directions, fabulous lunch(tomato, cheese and tuna!) with a spectacular view, then we found the trail and started hiking. Up we went, and up and up. What a climb. So steep, you could almost use your hands as you went, without even having to bend over. What a workout. We walked up 3 stretches past snow, and I continued up as high as I felt safe. Which was really high. 480m from the bottom to the top, we were somewhere around 1750m above sea level. The views went forever, and it was surprisingly warm.
Back down to the bottom(lots faster going down!), and back in the car to continue on our way. We had high hopes of seeing lots of wildlife, but didn't see a lot. A moose with twins, which was neat, and a mountain goat but that was the extent of it. Maybe we couldn't see all the animals 'cause we were too busy looking at the views!! Amazing. Which, you'll see from the pics-- I couldn't help loading up way too many. But, the scenery was unbelievable. From tundra-type ground, to marshes, burned forests with fireweed growing throughout, mountains with snow, reflective ponds, gorgeous rivers, and on and on. We hit a patch which could be known as the world's largest gravel pit. The hills looked almost manmade, except that they were mammoth sized, made up of gravel from top to bottom. No climbing any of those--lots of fresh rockslides in places. Passed Eagle Plains(the closest "village", and it's really just a truck stop/motel) at almost 10pm, and finally arrived at the Arctic Circle just before 11pm, in the bright sunsine. Where we were greeted warmly by... the worst mosquitoes I have ever hoped to NOT see in my life. Everything you've heard about the north, times 10. I read a t-shirt a few days ago: There isn't a single mosquito in the Yukon... they're all happily married with large families. And they all live at the Arctic Circle, apparently. Dozens on our clothes at any one time, and that's not including the cloud that was circling us. We took a couple of pictures, walked around in circles trying to stay ahead of the mosquito tornados that were pursuing, and somehow got the tent set up, and us in with minimal bloodshed. Had a mosquito killing party(for the 6 crafty ones that made it in), and fell dead asleep, we were so tired. But not before we took pictures of the sun SHINING into the tent(at 11pm). Blindfolds are a must for sleeping in this part of the country.
Up the next morning, and had about 1 1/2 minutes of mosquito-free-enjoying -the-view time before they realized we were out of the tent. Packed up the tent while walking around in a circle to keep ahead of them(that was a feat!), and back into the car. Really early start to the day--couldn't wait to get out of the mosquitoes!! We were back at Eagle Plains trying to bus gas before they opened(8am). Paid our new record($1.41/L) for gas, and headed back. Much more wildlife on the way back--we saw a fox, brown bear, wolf, moose, lots of marmot-y things and tons of birds. LOTS of screeching to a stop and backing up down the middle of the road for wildlife/scenery shots. We maybe saw 50 other vehicles there and back, so it was pretty safe. You could see people coming for miles too, billowing dust behind them. No blown tires for us, and a great drive.
previous travel blog entry
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