Heading to back to Whitehorse

It was Canada Day, July First!

I had contemplated what to do: hightail it to Whitehorse for non-stop music? Leave early and stop off in Mayo for the parade? Leave later and hit up the pie eating contest or even the $20 steak dinner or dance?

The last remaining cabin from Sheep Camp 

Keno Hill / Sheep Camp / Silver Gulch

In the end, I hiked around the Signpost on the Silver Gulch Trail, explored an old miner's cabin and looked at rocks (yaay!) before heading back towards Mayo midday.

There really isn't much to say about this hike this morning, other that that I was in heaven. No rain, no mosquitoes, no bears, not too hot and not too cold, plus amazing views, exposed rocks and snow and tiny flowers and mosses.

Here are some pictures.

Last cabin at Sheep Camp

Inside the cabin: I was surprised at how many rooms there were.

Tiny flowers: don't know what these are

How many different living things can you find in this picture?
The tundra looks bleak, but there is incredible life and diversity in ever single square meter!

Old tailings and mining structures

I reluctantly came off of the mountain. Could have wandered for a full day, but I did need to get to Whitehorse for my class the next day, and I was wary of cutting things too tight. I was still a ways away, and didn't want to get yet another flat tire on a Canadian holiday!

While researching for writing this, I did find a really excellent hiking brochure, and wished I'd had it with me while I was there. It pretty much covers everything from geology and first nations people, to mining history and some botany.

Little Elephant Heads. I've seen these in alpine meadows in the Sierra.
I guess the environment isn't all that much different!

An ore sample from the tailings (key for scale)

Arnica, I think. Arnica is widely used in homeopathic medicine.

Retracing my steps with N0MAD, I didn't dawdle, but I did stop for lunch at a beautiful spot near the Minto bridge. It was so quiet. Rabbits kept hopping out of the forest, which a rooster incongruously crowed from the farm ("Fresh Eggs" / CLOSED) across the highway. There were ducks and a muskrat swimming in the river. A raptor flew above, attacked by smaller birds. Unfortunately, even with the binoculars, I couldn't tell what it was — it was just dark, with no discernible markings that I could see.

Idyllic calm near the Minto Bridge

My lunch companion

This is a very quiet spot. Perhaps it was because it was Canada Day, and everyone was in town celebrating. There were maybe four or five vehicles that went by during the hour or more that I was here, and no one else was picnicking.

I tried a new dish, not having been impressed with Ragu spaghetti sauce when I had it for dinner on top of gnocchi.

This time I cooked the gnocchi in eggs and milk and parmesan cheese, and made sort of a savory french-toast-custard gnocchi. It was better than with the tomato sauce, I think.

Bugs

There were very few mosquitoes out, for which

I was really grateful. But there were plenty of other bugs out. Dragonflies seem to have hatched or metamophosed or whatever dragonflies do to fly around. It seems like there are hundreds of them and they hit the windshield hard when one is driving. One joined me for lunch (possibly a cherry darter).

N0MAD also picked up a hitchhiking butterfly. Fortunately it got off the car before I took off again.

There were more flowers here, too, including twinflower, so called because there are two tiny bell-shaped flowers on a single stalk. Their leaves are on long trailing stems that are very distinctive.

Twinflowers

Unfortunately it began to sprinkle, but at least it held off until I was done eating, and I'd even been able to put everything away before it got wet.

Just about ideal, and it keeps the dust down on the roads.

I continued on to Mayo, but although I got out to go for a short walk along the Prince of Wales trail along the river front (part of the Great Trail aka the Trans Canada Trail), I did not tarry long, nor did I participate in the Canada Day festivities.

Canada had shown me the best side of herself that day and I wanted to continue to savor it.

The Stewart River was beautiful. If you squinted, you could see and hear the paddlewheelers steaming up and down river; the shouts of the stevedors as they hauled cargo off the ships and the blasts of the horns echoing up and down the river. In some ways, it's a timeless scene.

Stewart River, near Mayo

I kept going, as I wanted to get within a couple hours of Whitehorse, so I wouldn't have much driving to do in the morning before class. Camping was totally full at both Twin Lakes and Fox Lake. Even the pullout that I'd camped out on the way up had three motorhomes in it. I kept going, hoping there would be a good spot.

Porcupine!

I was treated to some fine animal viewing this late in the evening. This far south it does get dusky at midnight. The dusk stays until 2 or 3am, and then it lightens again. That long, even dusk is friendly to animals, I think. I saw and OWL by the side of the road. It took off as the car approached; I slowed, and we paced each other for just a brief moment. It has been a very long time since I've seen an owl flying.

I also saw not one, but TWO porcupines, which I took as a good sign, since I was supposed to be taking the porcupine quilling class tomorrow! The first one was off in the flowers by the side of the road, but so hidden that I couldn't get a good photo. The second one was CROSSING the road, and I was fortunate to be going slow enough that I didn't hit it. Enough of the do become roadkill, and their quills are harvested by opportunistic craftspersons!

Fortunately, we know how to find spots, and a friendly gravel pit was just the thing. No mosquitoes, and mostly hidden from the road, and no one else was there.

It had been a lovely Canada Day!