An Alaska Highway road trip – caribou and rescue puppies
For a couple of days this week, my focus was on helping YARN (the Yukon Animal Rescue Network) in Watson Lake get some supplies. My bonuses were seeing lots of caribou, and getting to snuggle with a litter of 7-week-old rescue puppies.
On Monday, I made 4 stops around Whitehorse collecting donations of food, toys, and bedding from other volunteers, and 1 stop at a grocery store for 4 cases of evaporated milk which makes the transition from mother’s milk to dog food easier for puppies. Cathy’s Jeep made this possible – our Chevy Tracker is too small, and my pickup is too old (28 years) for a long highway trip.
Just after 07:30, I was on my way, with a quick stop to pick up another long-time rescue supporter. We may have a litter of puppies to bring back to Whitehorse, and it’s always nice to have more hands when stops need to be made. The Jeep GPS said that it would take 5 hours, 37 minutes for the 422 km trip to Watson Lake – far more accurate than Google Maps but still silly when the speed limit is 100 kmh most of the way. I figured on a 10-11 hour day.
The weather forecast called for lots of snow flurries and showers for the day, but it started off looking pretty good.
I counted on seeing caribou along the Alaska Highway, and 25 minutes after leaving the Carcross Corner, we met our first little herd.
At 09:25, we stopped at the Teslin viewpoint, always a great spot to stretch your legs.
A closer look at the Nisutlin Bay bridge, which is the longest one on the highway at 584 meters (1,917 feet) as well as one of the oldest (it opened in 1956)
The Teslin Tlingit Council has installed 3 very good panels at the viewpoint describing their efforts to take care of salmon stocks in the area.
An hour after leaving Teslin, we met another little herd of 8 caribou. This time of year, only female caribou have antlers.
Ten minutes later, more caribou! No, I never get tired of seeing them. They’re one of my favourite animals.
Gerry and I stopped for lunch once we reached Watson Lake, then went over to the shelter. Puppies are a soft spot for me and many of my friends, and rescue puppies even more so. These ones have colouring that probably makes you think that they’re a large breed, but they’re actually very small. They each fit in the palm of my hand, and Mom is probably less than 30 pounds.
This little girl, the runt of the litter, melted my heart – she was so snuggly!
YARN had just been given a stainless steel feeding bowl specially designed for litters – it worked very well to keep them separated.
Socialization is an important part of getting rescue puppies ready for adoption, and Gerry and I spent quite a while at the shelter, with the puppies and with the older dogs as well. A planned foster for the litter had fallen through when she got sick, so we didn’t get to take the puppies back to Whitehorse.
On the way back to Whitehorse, we only saw one small group of caribou, and they very quickly changed their minds about going across the highway.
We got back to the Carcross Corner just after 6:30 pm. It had been a rather long but very rewarding day.
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