The Last Day of Leg One

Miles Canyon on the Yukon River.

Emerald Lake

Our group shot - can you spot me?

The wagons had a picnic table inside to eat at.

Face to face with a grizzly.

The muskox I hope to see in the Arctic...

and the massive male wood bison.

Lance, Markus, Harold, Elfie and Barb.

The delicious lake trout Barb baked.

Wednesday, August 23^rd.

Dawson City was probably the nicest town on this tour. It had real character with the brightly painted buildings, the wooden sidewalks, the dirt roads, the mix of historic buildings that were fixed up and those that were left as they had been, and it had none of the trappings of big and small towns elsewhere: no fast-food chains, no box stores, just their own local shops.  I was sad to leave but this was the last day of the Holland America tour for me, but there was still one last activity. We boarded a coach for a drive to Caribou Crossing which is back south towards the White Pass area where the stampeders traveled from Skagway to the Klondike. On August 10^th I’d taken the train north over White Pass to Carcross. This time I’m traveling south to within 5km of the same area. We made two stops at viewpoints; one at Miles Canyon where there is a beautiful hiking trail you can see from the lookout and the beautiful reflective Emerald Lake. Julie had the bus driver take a group photo of us. But he climbed a hill on the opposite to take the shot and although it is a great shot of the lake, not so much of the group, oh well. The Caribou Crossing location is actually a very tourist trading post complete with a gift shop, restaurant, a petting zoo, a sled-dog demonstration, ice cream shop and a wildlife museum complete with all sorts of northern animals that have been taxidermized. These large stuff animals were beautifully done and very life-like. I was absolutely amazed at the size of the 2-ton male bison and was surprised that muskox were not larger. Interesting to be able to stand so close to life sized dead animals. The grizzly and polar bear were both huge. We had a provided lunch there and then we explored the trading post for an hour before reboarding the bus and heading back to Whitehorse. The coach took us to the airport where everyone but me were catching the last flight to Vancouver. I am staying in Whitehorse until August 29^th with my friend Barb who I met on my Ghana Project Overseas trip in 2014. She picked me up at the airport and took me back to her townhouse where I met her husband Harold and then we were joined by two friends and a neighbour for dinner. Barb had baked a large lake trout and made grilled vegetables and a salad full of vegetables, fruit, and nuts. We had a very nice evening talking, eating and having a drink.