Salmon, bears and gold
We have made up our minds: We will turn back here in Watson Lake and drive south again on the Cassiar Highway. It is already 18.00 o'clock, but since the days are so long around this time of year, we can still drive a few kilometers and look for a nice place to spend the night. All we have to do is fill up the tank quickly and fill up with some basic food like beer and so on.
The tank is full and the engine already started, when suddenly there is a knock on the window. Arnaud and Marie, a couple from France, talk to us. "Le série 7...c'est le meilleur véhicule!" We get into conversation (Arnaud luckily speaks English) and exchange our travel plans. "Noooo way! Ju gän nod törrrrn arrraund...nooooo! Id is sooo biutiful in de norrrrth!" - "Well, we already decided to turn around! But we can come back another time in our lives." - "Noooo, ju äf tu siii de tundra end de eskimos...du ju äf daim fürr ä bière?" We think briefly, but then agree to the offer. In the small snack bar right next to the gas station we are invited by the two to a Yukon Gold and listen to their stories with excitement. Arnaud and Marie are professional photographers who live in a hut in Finland in winter and offer sled dog rides and photo workshops there. In the summer they travel somewhere in the world looking for the most beautiful photo motives. The entire Yukon and Alaska are sometimes, not to say, THE most beautiful areas in the world. Especially at this time of year. It really would be a shame not to go further north now. We would regret this all our lives. And so on and so forth...
...Persuaded! At least we want to go to Haines to the salmon-fishing bears. We exchange our contacts and so we do not spend the night on the Cassiar Highway this evening, but on a gravel spot along the road towards Whitehorse.
We only head for Whitehorse to replenish our supplies. In these latitudes it is the only bigger place where you can get everything you need. We spend one night on the local Walmartparkplatz, which is crowded with other motorhomes...and what do we see there?! Another Troopy! Thanks to the writing www.liveworkwander.com printed on the side of the mustard yellow Toyota we find out that this one belongs to Jessica and Jorge. While we are still shopping at Walmart, we write them a message and get to know them later. Two nice Americans who have lived in their rolling home for five years and work as freelancers on the road. Since they came from the direction we are now heading, we are already separating our ways here again.
The next day we leave early in the morning and turn south onto the Klondike Highway. At a vantage point at a lake we take a short break for breakfast and continue after a snapshot. Later we find out that the lake was the famous Emerald Lake. Only now we notice that the elaborately stored waypoints (a preparation for Canada that I made in Switzerland) were not imported into our navigation system. Someone probably didn't do his part of the work there! Anyway, we have a souvenir picture of the lake, but you can google how the photo could look like.
Our next stop will be in Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing). The place has its name, because in former times the caribous crossed the lakes here on their migration. Nearby is the smallest desert in the world, which we of course visit.
On the way to Skagway (Alaska) we are already glad for the first time not to have reversed in Watson Lake. The landscape is so beautiful! Mountains, rivers, lakes and the colours and the light...simply magical!
In Skagway we book the ferry that will bring us to Haines on the same day. But as we still have some time until the departure, we stroll a little through the small village, which is especially designed for the many tourists of the cruise ships that moor here regularly.
We also find a very interesting museum about the Klondike Goldrush, which took place around 1900. In Dawson City a lot of gold had been found in 1896, which was over 100'000! People from all over the world were moved to take the arduous road to the far north in the hope of gaining wealth. Skagway was therefore an important place because it was considered the "gateway to the Klondike". From here, one of two possible routes over the mountains had to be crossed before the remaining 800km to Dawson were tackled from Bennett Lake with homemade fins and boats on the water. In Skagway you could choose either the White Pass or the Chilkoot Pass Trail...or in other words: between bad luck and sulphur.
The route over the Chilkoot Pass was shorter, but very steep and arduous. Horses could not cross the path, which meant that you had to walk this way yourself and carry the provisions for the whole trip. In contrast, the White Pass offered much easier terrain, but the route was long and led through rivers and mud. The trail was later renamed "Dead Horse Trail" as many horses died on the track (broken legs, too little food, etc.).
In the end many reached Dawson City, but only very few became really rich. Many came too late and most of the plots for gold digging were already taken.
By the way, I am currently going through my own gold rush. I got a gold pass from the Yukon Visitor Center and now I get a stamp every time we visit a Visitor Center in a place or a museum recommended by them. If I collect twenty stamps by August 24, I can participate in a raffle for 2 ounces of gold.
When we arrive in Haines, we drive directly to the Chilkoot River, where the first migrating salmon should be seen at the moment. However, we learn that it is unusual for the Sockeye Salmon to arrive first. The Pink Salmon preferred by the bears are late this year. Master Petz doesn't seem to mind, however, as we don't see long after our arrival what we've been so eager to see. We see the first grizzly bears.
Over the Haines Highway we drive after this incredible experience back to the Yukon, where we continue to follow the Alaska Highway. At the edge of the Kluane National Park we dive again into a fantastic landscape, before the next adventure is soon around the corner. But for the first time we have to use our additional tank and bunker 210l diesel in Tok at the cheapest gas station far and wide.