BC RVing: White Pass, BC/Alaska border
Cathy is in Ontario visiting her family for a couple of weeks, and I’m going to be on the road in the RV for much of that time. I’d thought about a few destinations, but my head just isn’t into anything lengthy or complicated right now, so I decided that for the first 3 or 4 days, I’d just take the kids down the South Klondike Highway to the White Pass and “boondock” by the side of the road (there are no campgrounds). After that, maybe west to Kluane Lake, but I’d decide when I was finished with the pass.
The weather in Whitehorse was quite awful on Friday, with a heavy cold rain falling for much of the day. I had initially planned on being on the road noonish, but there didn’t seem to be any point. We finally got away at about 5:30 pm.
Southbound traffic was quite heavy, with Yukoners in all manner of vehicle heading for the July 4th celebrations in Skagway the next day. I don’t think I’ve ever been to one, but a lot of people say that it’s great fun.
The rain had stopped by the time we reached the pass, so the dogs and I went for a long walk across the granite near Fraser, and were set up in a large rest area a kilometer north of the BC/Alaska border by 7:40.
Saturday began with a fairly thick fog, as had been forecast. The border station at Skagway is closed from midnight until 07:00, so there had been no traffic all night, but soon after the border opened, the parade of party-bound Yukoners began again.
I decided to go and play with the dogs on the large beach at Summit Creek instead, but on the way back stopped for a few minutes at this little creek beside the highway. I actually did a U-turn and went back to it after seeing the amount of wild flowers along it.
The wild flowers are at their peak right now, and the recent rains have made this an especially good year for them.
The first-ever painted graffiti has appeared in the White Pass over the past few days, at the large Summit Creek parking area. I posted this and a couple of other photos on Facebook and Twitter, with a comment that Olivia, Curtis and Marcus are a special kind of stupid. Within a couple of hours, I’d gotten a private message on Facebook from Olivia’s mother, who was offended that I called her 10-year-old daughter stupid. Her, and I assume the other 2, were on some sort of summer school outing (with chaperones and armed with cans of paint). I’m not done with them yet…
On to more fun things, though. Summit Creek empties into Summit Lake about half-way up the lake, and creates a large fine-sand beach that almost crosses the lake. It’s only stopped by what was at one time a granite island that allows the lake a narrow channel to flow through. There’s no trail to the beach, you have to pick your way through the granite.
I don’t think I’ve ever had such a “joyous celebration of life” dog as Bella. She’s always laughing, always playing, even when she’s by herself, and she loves beaches!
The view south from the top of the granite that blocks the end of the beach.
After checking out the granite block’s nooks and crannies, it was back to the beach for more exploring. Whenever Monty stops to check anything out, Bella has to know what he found 🙂
Just after noon, Bella was pooped! It was time to get back to the RV for lunch anyway.
I had arranged to meet a friend from Haines at the Skagway fast-ferry dock at 3:00 so we could spend some time hiking over the weekend. I sure hadn’t expected a lineup like this at the border! I made it on time, though.
In the summer, losing daylight isn’t much of a consideration for planning hikes, so I suggested that we follow the BC/Alaska border east from the highway summit that afternoon, hopefully to find a border monument that I’d read about. The monument right above the highway is fairly obvious if you look for it.
Looking down past the “Welcome to Alaska” sign towards Skagway. There are no trails across this unnamed mountain, you just find your own way. This is the way I prefer to hike, as the odds of meeting anyone else are pretty much zero, and that odd preference is what prompted Greg to join me, to see what it’s like.
To say that this country is stunning is an understatement. The broad views are obvious, but it’s really the details of the granite, the water, and the flowers that make it so special.
If not for a chilling breeze, I think we both would have gone for a dip in this wonderful pool. Although they’re not obvious in this photo, there are even steps down into the pool in the foreground. Did the Mayans make it up here? 😀
Looking closely is needed to see some of the flowers.
We found it! This is the view to the north, with the South Klondike Highway to the left and Summit Lake above me and the dogs. It was great being able to ask Greg to take photos rather than set up the tripod, which I had brought out of habit.
Birds are not seen very often in the White Pass, and especially at even higher altitudes. Seeing this American pipit (Anthus rubescens) was exciting, as it’s a new bird to me (Greg identified him in my Sibley guide back at the RV). He was at the border monument – it’s not a good photo but he didn’t get close and was moving fast.
Here’s an unusual sighting – Arctic lupine (Lupinus arcticus Wats) on the left and Nootka lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis Donn) on the right. The leaves are slighly different in shape, but the main identifier is the hairy leaves (on both sides) on the latter.
Route-finding can be a bit challenging up here, but that’s part of the fun of it.
Monty in his glory. It’s time to tell you about him, and why you may see a different tone here every now and there. At 13 years old, Monty is very sick, and is failing quite quickly. He has inoperable nasal cancer, and as we headed out on this trip, I stopped to see our vet – her best guess is that he only has 5-6 months to live. So, to keep a long complicated story very short, my goal is to make every day his best day. Positive energy is hugely important to him, and I try very hard to not have anymore bad days.
We got back to the motorhome at about 7:30, and had a very pleasant evening, though a short one. We were all tired and went to bed early, with big plans for a Sunday hike or 2.
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