A little drive down the Alaska Highway hoping for caribou
Sometimes it takes a friend to help you get un-stuck. Having tea with a friend has done that for me, and here’s the second little post as a result.
It’s really easy to get flat during the winter. Even Bella and Tucker do – and despite having a house full of comfortable places to be flat, Bella often naps in this chair 🙂
I mentioned in my last post that the sun has some warmth now. It also has some colour, and the world is lighting up beautifully. Looking at my back yard on Wednesday (February 7th) inspired me to get out of the house.
A close look at my deck. The day before, we had gotten a rare snowfall that had whole, unbroken snowflakes falling and piling up gently. It’s hard to imagine that every one of those is different from ever other one.
I decided to go for a drive with Bella and Tucker, and a post on Facebook by the Yukon Conservation Officer Services gave me an idea: “The Carcross caribou herd are back in their winter range and will frequently be crossing the Alaska Highway and the Carcross and Tagish roads until the end of April.” That would obviously give me a better chance of seeing caribou!
Okay, on the road – leaving my subdivision with the Alaska Highway ahead and Grey Mountain in the distance. I turned left first to top up my gas tank in case I got drawn by something distant.
I love the view of the Yukon River Bridge on the Alaska Highway, and if you’ve been with me for a while you’ve seen it before. It does make me really want to keep going 🙂
Just before reaching Marsh Lake there are some impressive cliffs along the highway. I always notice them, sometimes study them, but I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to photograph them. The light was perfect, though, so a mile or so down the road I made a U-turn and went back for a few photos along the entire stretch of cliffs.
Right where the Conservation folks said they would be, there were a lot of caribou tracks, but no animals were in sight. Reaching Jake’s Corner, I thought about continuing, but the light on White Mountain and its neighbours was poor, so I didn’t. I took a few photos of the former lodge, now just a fuel cardlock 🙁
When the leaves come out on the trees, this bit of history from the lodge’s very interesting past is pretty much hidden.
I had no luck with caribou on the drive back home either. I stopped and backed up a bit to get some photos of this lovely spot.
We were away from home less than 2 hours, but this was a good outing to get my butt back into gear so we can enjoy the sunshine ahead.
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It is always good to get out into the sunshine. A few miles underway, a few stops… surprised you did not find and stop for some food along the way…
Yes, sunshine is always good – I plan to take much greater advantage of what’s coming during the next week. On that drive no food places are available.