Day 26

Day 26 Whitehorse to Five Finger Rapids

It has been a long day today, starting about 8:00 this morning and ending alongside of the road at 4:30, parking at the turn out at Five Finger Rapids. In between as usual there was scenery that was breath taking. We traveled 125 miles today. The temperatures for the last two days have been in the mid 70’s, great weather.

The four of us left the Wal-Mart parking lot and headed to  Miles Canyon along the way we passed float planes and of course a beautiful lake, what lake isn’t beautiful here in the Yukon.  Here are pictures of the suspension bridge and the surrounding canyon.   Everywhere you look to the majestic mountain tops to the smallest flowerer or moss growing on a twig, one is just struck with the wonders of nature.

 

Here is Ray on the bridge with Ed in the background.

It was 9:30 and the S.S. Klondike National Historic Site was open, this is a free site and well worth your time.  Ray and Ed were more interested in the technical aspects of the ship, where Barbara and I enjoyed the kitchen and living quarters. Here are some technical facts:

Yukon sternwheelers were powered by wood-fired boilers. The Klondike’s fire-tube boiler held 4000 gallons of water, and operated at a pressure of 184 lbs. per square inch (that means nothing to me).

Now on the other hand, the dining room, kitchen, and the first class passenger sunroom were interesting to look at. There was a menu on the bulletin board; they ate very well on the ship.

After the tour of the ship it was off to a quilt store of course.  Bear’s Paw Quilts was a fun little shop, Ruth the owner was more than happy to show us around her store.  Ray and Ruth had a nice little discussion on long-arm quilting machines and different threads.

It was 11:30 before we left Whitehorse.

Fox Lake Burn fire in 1998 destroyed many acres of timber.  You can see the regrowth is a slow process.

There was also a sign for a fire in 1958 that is growing trees, just not evergreens yet.

Our next stop was at Carmack, just a small little village with some very old cabins and stable.

This stable was in use by the White Pass and Yukon Route that carries mail along the road in the winter between 1902 and the early 1920’s. Carmack was established in the 1890’s.

Stopped at Braeburn Lodge for one the world famous cinnamon buns; with a little butter and in the microwave they will not be half bad. I could not believe the size of the sandwiches. We did not have one; we took a picture of another customer’s sandwiches.

There is a dirt air strip on the other side of the road from Braeburn called the Cinnamon Roll Strip.

We stopped for the night at Five Finger Rapids Recreation Site. There are stairs (219) that lead to a trail to the rapids. We were all tired and did not tackle the hike. I really think that Ray was afraid of the bears. LOL

We cann't put pictures on at this time because of our internet connection. We will do so when we get to Alaska. Thanks for stopping by.