Two days on the beach with the dogs at Kluane Lake, Yukon
My life is rather in chaos this summer for a variety of reasons, and two of my major trips have been cancelled so far. On Thursday, July 4th, though, I finally got away with the motorhome in the early afternoon. I headed west on the Alaska Highway, but with no firm plan as to where I was going or for how long. My first stop turned out to be Kluane Lake, where we stayed for 3 nights and 2 days. I had told a friend that “the healing waters of Kluane” might be what I needed, and that turned out to be exactly the case.
While we usually go to Congdon Creek Campground, just before 5:00 pm I stopped at the large pullout at Km 1642.1 of the Alaska Highway – because that is Bella and Tucker’s favourite beach. The pullout has no facilities, but lots of almost-level parking and the great but little-used beach goes on for miles.
Even with heavy cloud, conditions were very good, with the lake pretty much calm and the temperature at 22°C (72°F).
Within a few minutes, Bella and Tucker and I were all walking in the shallow water along the shore, which in this area is sand and fine gravel.
Tucker loves playing ball on this beach. While playing with him I also played with my camera, and got some shots I liked by setting it to ISO 1250, f20 and 1/400th of a second, and throwing the ball with my left hand 🙂
Bella plays ball mostly to get Tucker going, and they were soon play-fighting, in and out of the water.
We walked and walked and walked, from the sandy beach out onto the glacial silt of the Slim’s River flats, which varies from hard and dry to very mucky.
By the time I shot the next photo at 7:50 pm, the kids were both filthy and Bella was pooped.
We stopped for a rest, I enjoyed a beer in the spectacular silence of this vast plain, and just after 8:00 pm, started walking back towards the RV.
I shot many photos of patterns in the silt.
During out walk we came across tracks of a wolf and 2 caribou. I had my bear spray with me, as this is serious grizzly country.
In a sheltered corner where Slims River flats joined the main beach, a bit of vegetation added some interest.
This tiny creek washed off a bit of the mud, but when we got back to the sandy beach, I took both dogs into the lake for a bath of sorts. We were back in the motorhome by about 9:00 pm.
The sky started getting quite interesting, and at 9:45, I went out and took a few photos. Sunset was at 11:31 pm. Not quite “The Midnight Sun”, but pretty close.
The sky got me out for more photos at 02:45 – this super-wide-angle photo was shot at 10mm.
After giving the kids breakfast at 07:00, the dogs and I went for a short walk along the beach…
…and then I returned to reading for a while. John Steinbeck (1902-1968) would have been an interesting guy to spend an evening with.
The weather went sour for a while but by 11:30 it was beautiful again and heating up rapidly. I started by getting a portrait of the RV.
By the early afternoon the temperature had climbed into the high 20s and it was time to get wet. Tucker doesn’t swim, and if I throw the ball too far, I have to retrieve it for him (Bella sometimes does it for me).
Bella doesn’t really swim, either, but if I do she will often follow me – just out and back. With her extremely thick coat, she’s then cool for hours.
After a good long play, I put Bella and Tucker back in the motorhome and took the kayak it. What a perfect day for it!
I paddled across to Slim’s River flat and went for a walk there.
A storm suddenly started moving in from the head of the Slim’s River, and I headed back to the RV.
With the dogs back on the beach, I was messing with Tucker, throwing his ball into the waves.
Waves are so amazing – calming, mesmerizing, photographically fascinating.
“Hmmm, I wonder who lives in there…” 🙂
Friday afternoon wasn’t very pleasant – the temperature hit 31.3°C (88.3°F) in the RV but bugs were making Tucker crazy outside (black dogs often have that problem – they didn’t bother Bella or I).
The light Friday night was wonderful – the next photo of God beams coming over the Kluane Range was shot at 9:58 pm.
I was on the beach shooting a few times that night as the sky changed – the next photo was shot at 01:13 am.
Official sunrise was at 4:41, but when I shot the next photo 12 minutes later the sun was still well below the mountains of the Ruby Range.
A broader look at the sky over the Ruby Range, also at 04:53.
What a place to start the day.
At 05:35 the sun finally came over the ridge.
Smoke from over 120 wildfires in Alaska and over 30 in the Yukon was causing an increasing loss of visibility, but is rather interesting photographically even beyond the colourful sunrises and sunsets.
I hear some odd noises after breakfast so I opened some drawers and sent out Inspector Molly. She soon gave us the “all clear” – no mice here 🙂
With another hot day coming, I decided just after 09:00 to continue west, perhaps right to the Alaska border, 260 km away. I’d just see what caught my interest.
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