Fiona and Devon's Amazing Yukon Adventure: Whitehorse to Skagway and back again

So today we went on a side trip down into BC and to Skagway Alaska to see the scenery and watch the cruise ship people. On the way to Skagway we stopped in Carcross YT which is home to the world’s smallest desert. Now it isn’t really a desert it is more a dried up glacier fed lake that when the glaciers receded so did the lake and left its sandy bottom behind. None the less it was pretty cool to see a desert in the Yukon. We met with our first hoard of tourists in Carcross proper where the masses of cruise shippers unloaded to board a train back to Skagway. Now let me paint a picture of these people, in a mass generalization. They were mostly Americans (based on accent and hats identifying them as such), loud, stumbling about with an overindulged look of blankness and lethargy, and drinking and smoking while enjoying the great outdoors. Bus after bus after bus dropped these people off in this tiny town consisting of a general store and a post office until thankful the train left with them all on board and Devon and I were alone with a strange quiet. In this quiet you could hear the town give a small sigh of relief. Now this was not the end to the sightings of these bizarre people. As we drove further south every few minutes another bus would pass us by and every photo stop had at least one bus stopped with the masses trying to figure out how to use their newly acquired digital cameras and instruct others on how to take photos with them. Devon and I were dumbfounded, but we pressed on. The scenery today was the most amazing I have seen anywhere in the world. The areas between the mountains were rocky with small lakes and trees that had very stunted growth. It really was awe inspiring and we must have stopped every 15 minutes to take pictures that will surely do nothing to show the beauty that surrounded us. When we reached Skagway it was everything that I remember it being 14 years ago, touristy. There were four cruise ships in so it was moderately busy as most of the people appeared to be on buses on the highway. We stopped at a pub for lunch and Devon sampled the fish and chips (which weren’t as good as the ones in Whitehorse apparently) and I had delicious Caribou. I feel that it is my duty to sample as many local animals as possible to experience the Yukon in the fullest way possible. After lunch we discovered that Sarah Palin is indeed from Alaska and there is a market for everything that you could possibly put her name or face on. The highlight of Skagway came when a group of people entered a shop selling clothes made of muskoxen wool that had a stuffed muskox at the door. One of the group yelled to the shop keeper while pointing to the muskox, "Is this a moose?" The shopkeeper, Devon, and I all had to laugh outright at this and the shopkeep replied, "It would be a pretty funny looking moose!" After this we drove the highway back to Whitehorse and again took tons of photos as the weather had changed for the better. This evening we are going to go to the local cinema to watch The Last of the Airbenders which should be enjoyable. I must say one thing about Whitehorse, the 20 hours of daylight each day is the most remarkable experience!

Animal sightings – arctic ground squirrel, chipmunk
Animal casualties – almost one arctic ground squirrel
Km’s travelled today - 372

Carcross Desert