The South Riding RV Travels

587

10th June 2010 - Watson Lake YT to Teslin YT Museums

Have you got the picture that this road is endless yet? The Yukon is 12 times the area of the UK and has a population of 30,000.
I'm not sure that this isn't the only metalled road. The rest are almost all gravel.
I suppose these were easy bridges to transport and erect.
One of the rare trucks which passed us. I'm assuming most of the transport to Alaska goes by sea. We have seen very little road traffic.
Wow - a different style of bridge. Sufficiently unusual to be worthy of comment.
We are getting close to the continental divide. Rivers beyond here flow into the Arctic.
This would be more impressive if the clouds were higher. However the weather has in the main been very benign.
There are rest areas every 80km or so. This one is near a waterfall with a properly constructed walkway to it.
These are Rancheria Falls . There are two sections with a proper timber boardwalk and viewing platforms.
This is the second falls. Not as spectacular as some but the whirlpools below them show very turbulent currents.
Another shot of the first falls. They are only yards apart.
Approaching Teslin. the old road carries on and the new one turns right. The cones mark a bumpy bit where the road has been patched following frost damage. Cones are quite common.
This is the Nisutlin Bay bridge, the longest on the Alaska Highway at 1917ft. This is the BC-Yukon border and we will stay at the lodge on the far side of the bridge.
The design is familiar, it is just the scale which is different.
The roadway is a metal grating and you sound just like a tube train setting off as you cross the deck. It can be very slippery in wet or icy conditions.
The gift shop at the lodge has a collection of stuffed animals like this impressive looking grizzly. We were impressed by the beautiful condition of all the specimens.
This is a snowy owl, one of the few owls which is active in daylight.
A beaver. They cut willows and aspens in the summer and submerge them near their lodge for use as a food source in the winter when the water freezes over.
This male mule deer  became reckless crossing thin ice during the mating season and was drowned. There is a small herd of about 2500 in the area.
We are still looking for a live moose. Sadly this one is stuffed.
A mountain goat with a rather luxurious coat. These are shy and reclusive creatures, rarely seen.
Not much different to the Dall sheep which also live in the area.
Musk ox inhabit some of the Arctic islands and are slowly increasing in numbers after being almost hunted to extinction in the last century.
One of a pack of timber wolves shown hunting a solitary moose. Despite the size difference they can and do kill the old and weak. part of nature's cycle.