Two days and three nights in Whitehorse, YT. Yesterday, we visited the local wildlife preserve, 700 acres devoted to showcasing the mammals of the Yukon. More than a zoo, more reliable viewing than in the wild. And although most of the mammals were captive, all the birds were wild, and we found two life birds, including a pair of trumpeter swans. I was as fascinated by the ground squirrels as the elk and bison.

And hiked along Miles Canyon, where the Yukon flows between basalt walls, about 30 feet down. A cross-country ski trail runs right along the canyon rim.

Whitehorse is only about 90 miles from Skagway, Alaska, a town that, on our plan, we would not get to visit for another two weeks. Today, we took the White Pass and Yukon Route railway (a narrow-gauge train) from Fraser to Skagway. Looking at the mountain walls, there was a reason that they used a narrow gauge train. The WPYR originally ran from Skagway to Whitehorse, and provided an easy ride for the gold miners trying to get to the upper reaches of the Yukon. Because of a famine in Dawson in 1897, the Canadian government required that anyone coming into the country to mine for gold have provisions for a full year; this amounted to about a ton of supplies per miner (or stampeder, as they were known here). A ton of supplies does not fit easily on one’s back, so the miners brought pack animals, sleds, anything that could carry the load. Once the train was running, the trip got a bit easier.

Whitehorse is semi-arid, getting only about 11” of precipitation a year. Skagway is coastal, and snow stays only a day or two when it falls. But in between, winter brings 8 to 12 feet of snow in an average winter. Which required really big snow removal equipment.

 

Snow Blower, WPYR Rwy. Made in Paterson, NJ in 1898. Retired, 1965

Tomorrow, we are off to Kluane Lake, our last night in Canada for a while. On Monday, we should enter Alaska for the last third of the AH.