Alaska 2025 – 33

On our way south, toward the Canadian border, we visited the village of Northway. Since it was an active and occupied Athabascan Native village, I did not take any pictures. The village was named to honor Chief Walter Northway, who passed at the age of 117 in 1992. Once we got back on the Alcan, we passed a group of Native Alaskan individuals cutting up a moose that was very recently hit by an automobile on the highway. We stopped in the visitor center in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and had an interesting conversation with the docents. We were asked if we saw the moose incident and were told that the Natives have first choice on any animal that is inadvertently killed on the highway. They have two hours to respond to the incident or the authorities call the next group. The Native Alaskans do not waste anything and the meat is shared with the villages.

The mountains seen in the distance are those of the Wrangell Range near St. Elias National Park.

We stopped at the site of the Seaton Roadhouse at milepost 2234, as we had not previously visited this location. There were multiple informational signs relating to the history of this area, the importance of the Alaska roadhouses and a bit about Irene and Bill Seaton, the owners of this roadhouse that was once located there. Old ridges of windblown glacial silt surround this small pond at the site.

Cathy on an overlook of the pond.

After crossing border at Beaver Creek, we headed to our campsite in Whitehorse. We set up camp then made the scenic trip to Carcross, stopping at Emerald Lake. The rainbow-like colors of the lake result from the blue-green light waves reflecting off the white sediment of the lake bottom. The white sediment, called mari, consists of fragments of decomposed shell mixed with clay, and is usually found in shallow, freshwater lakes that have low oxygen levels during the summer months. We drove by the lake on our way to Carcross as the sun was not out, but later sunshine forced us to backtrack a little for these photos. This is a favorite destination for us.

Carcross has become our preferred destination because we found that Skagway (further down the road) has become a tour ship town. We picked up a wood carving from Keith Wolfe-Smarch, a renowned Tlingit woodcarver and artist. Keith took time to show us his shop and some of the many projects he is working on, including four totems for the Yukon Territory, and four smaller totems to be used on the Chilkoot Trail information boards for Parks Canada. We also saw his recent carvings prominently displayed in the new Whitehorse Hyatt Hotel. He spent more that nine months of those carvings alone! He has also been commissioned by several European individuals (including Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales) for private projects . Needless to say, our carving is wrapped and stowed away in the motorhome, not to be unwrapped until we get back to Georgia.

This is just a random mountain on Yukon Highway 8, between Carcross and Tagish.

It’s not everywhere you can see a warning like this!

These two photos are of the Tagish (Six Mile) river that flows through the traditional home of the Carcross Tagish First Nation, one facing upstream and the other, downstream. It was a pretty wide river but almost crystal clear. I could see the bottom! Tagish Post, originally named Fort Sifton, was the Northwest Mounted Police and Canadian Customs post where the duties were collected on the tons of freight carried by stampeders on the way to the Klondike goldfields in 1897-98.

We were fortunate on this trip to witness three individual wood bison herds along the Alcan between Muncho Lake and Dawson Creek. In addition to the bison, we saw a golden eagle, a caribou, and six bears, including a mother and her two cubs.

This reminds me of the adage “Why did the Bison cross the road?”

This big fella was grinding a hole to dust himself. It was pretty comical to watch, but the dust keeps the flies and mosquitos off.

This guy was the guardian of the herd, keeping an eye on me, boldly across the road, behind our truck.

After arriving at our next camp (in Dawson Creek), and while sitting and enjoying the scenery, I noticed this little guy waddling across the path in front of us. I put him on my hat and walked him to some nearby bushes so he would not get squished. Hmmm, from bison to bugs!