A walk at the Lewes River Dam, and receding floodwaters
I took Bella and Tucker for a walk at the Lewes River Dam on July 31st, and was very pleased to see that the water level had dropped well over a foot. Though flooding is still extensive, the government greatly reduced the areas under evacuation alerts yesterday, and after assisting with the largest flood mitigation work in Yukon history, the Canadian Army contigent is going home.
I’m feeling bad that the kids’ usual adventure-filled summers is not really happening this year. This outing, as short as it was, was really good for all of us – seeing them both with great big smiles makes me very happy. We started our walk at the viewpoint above the Yukon River rest area.
My plan was to walk the high trail along the Yukon River below the dam, but the water level on the gravel road to the dam was perfect for Bella and Tucker to play in, and that resulted in a long stop. This is where it was most obvious that the water level had dropped at least a foot, perhaps even 2 feet.
The sandbag-protected dam as seen from the flooded road.
Up on the high trail just before noon, it quickly got too hot for Bella, so the idea of a fairly long walk got cancelled. That’s the Alaska Highway on the other side of the river.
Back at the rest area, we went to the old access road to the dam, which has been closed because of flooding and slumping of the road due to erosion. An even older road that steeply climbs the hill and then drops back down to the dam has now been rebuilt – that’s how we got to the dam.
Ahead in the next photo you can see the flooded part of the road that the dogs were playing in.
The final photo shows the worst section of the slumping – closing the road was certainly justified.
We were only away from home for a little over 90 minutes, but it was a really nice outing, and it was great to see that the worst of the flood danger had probably passed.
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