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Saturday, August 4, 2018

Good thing we didn't meet any oncoming traffic!

We went into downtown Whitehorse on Friday morning, filled up the fuel tank, and emptied the holding tanks. Also did some stocking up at both the grocery store and the liquor store, There aren't many services along the Cassiar Highway so we wanted to be prepared.

Then, we headed back down the highway that takes you to Skagway, Alaska. Only as far as Carcross though! I had read about a fantastic hike in the area, and we wanted to have a better look at the town as well.

When we got to the town, if you're heading south the first thing you see is the brand new Tagish Tlingit First Nation Learning Center.

It's a beautiful building.

Lots of totem poles.

And a bit of interesting art in the lobby.

But other than that, there's not really a lot to see there. Still, it's worth a quick stop.

We stopped in at the Carcross visitors center and picked up a walking tour map.

That's Nares Mountain. We will be climbing that this morning!

Carcross is a busy enough little town.

Tourist buildings for the cruise ship passengers.

The cruise ships that come into Skagway, Alaska send many of their passengers on the railroad that runs from Skagway to Carcross. So, the town of Carcross has a lot of tourists visiting whenever the train arrives between May and October.

Carcross train station.

The oldest continuously operating general store in the Yukon.

Shoplifters will be shot!

The beach at Bennett Lake.

The railway bridge entering Carcross.

Lots of wildflowers.

Carcross also has Canada's oldest continuously operating post office.
It has been in this building since 1905!

Carcross scenery.

Kevin, with the smallest cabin in the Yukon!

Arnulf “Arne” Ormen was a woodcutter, of Scandinavian descent, who lived at 12 Mile on the Tagish Road from the 1940s to the 1960s. He would ski into Carcross in the winter and bicycle in the summer to get his supplies and to visit the beer parlour. As Arne grew older he thought he should live in Carcross and so he built a little cabin where he claimed he could do what he always wanted to light his fire without getting out of bed. He was a very tall man and could not stand up straight in his cabin, only in the outhouse. Unfortunately, Arne didn’t live for very long after his tiny cabin was built.

The Catholic Church.

We decided to go to the trailhead for the Nares Mountain hike, and see if we could park there overnight. We had actually asked at the visitors center, and the lady there thought it wouldn't be a problem. She even produced a photo showing the parking area so that I could be sure there would be enough room to get Sherman turned around.

We got past the residential area, and as soon as we were on the single track road we saw a momma black bear with her two cubs. Didn't manage to get a photo of the cubs, but we did see them climb a tree. Then, mom starting running off and we got a quick shot of her. The cubs were soon right behind her.

Mom, running into the woods.

We drove about 2 kms (1.3 miles) on this road. 
Good thing we didn't meet any oncoming traffic!

The trailhead parking was pretty tight! We squeezed out of the way enough that a couple of more vehicles could fit in if anybody else shows up to do some hiking.

Sherman, parked at GPS 60.166292, -134.649021

It's about a 5 hour hike, so we're going to get an early start, and then do some driving this afternoon!

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18 comments:

  1. Taking your time enjoying what the area has to offer is certainly the way to go. Enjoy the hike, great pictures as usual.

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    1. Yep, that is the way we love to travel, however even traveling like that you can't see everything. We can see us doing a return trip again sometime to see the things we just ran out of time with. :-)

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  2. Love the First Nation long buildings in Canada & Yukon. Interesting little town Carcross and railroad line too. Thank you for info.

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    1. We loved those buildings too and the native art on them, very striking and colourful. :-)

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  3. Great photos! Love the Native cultural center and the post office and the history of the area. Skagway was a feeding frenzy when we took an Alaska cruise from Vancouver. Took a shuttle to the glacier and did a hike in the National forest. Came around the corner and there was a big black bear right on the trail maybe 30 feet away. I thought uh-oh, but the bear just went "yawn" just another tourist from the cruise ship, and ambled slowly down the trail. I waited a few minutes, OK 15, and followed. Haha.

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    1. Thanks Scott, we enjoyed those buildings too! The history all through the Yukon is great, from the First Nations, building of the Alaska highway, the gold rush to even the geological aspect.

      Sounds like you had the better idea when you came in on the cruise ship and that is to get out of the busy little town and head out on a hike away from all the tourists. That must have been a little frightening seeing the bear so close, glad that it wasn't interested in you and just moved on.

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  4. Still lots of open spaces left in North America to boondock. This has been a great trip to follow.

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    1. Lots of boondocking spots, let's just hope people to go and abuse what is out there or there will be none left! :-(

      Glad that you enjoyed our journey Chris! :-)

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  5. You'll really enjoy both Stewart and Hyder, I know we sure did. If you are thinking of the Salmon Glacier I suspect Sherman would be fine, check locally. We rented a car at the Video (aka Hertz) in Stewart, that may be option for you. Sure enjoy following your experiences!

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    1. We are looking forward to our little side trip there. Not sure if we will have time to see the Salmon Glacier or not, but because we have already seen the Hubbard, Logan, and Kaskawulsh Glaciers we aren't too worried if we miss it. We will see how our time is going as we are starting to run short on time. :-(

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  6. This trip looks absolutely amazing .. Have really enjoyed your photos and stories ..Keep them coming please as i don't think i shall ever get there to enjoy this as you have . Wouldn't be the same from a cruise ship im sure.The scenery is beautiful.

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    1. This trip has been amazing! So glad that you have enjoyed it. Even if you can't see some of what we saw because of taking a cruise ship, you will still see some beautiful scenery from a different angle that we wouldn't be able to see because we are on land. Traveling is always an adventure, whatever mode of transportation you decide to take. :-)

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  7. We had fun checking out the general store and post office when we were in Carcross in 2013. They were building the learning centre then.... nice to see the completed work and display inside. I think we even had time to stroll along Bennett lake which had some locals picnicking on the beach. Thanks for the pictures...brought back fond memories.

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    1. We had fun checking out the store as well. Not much to see in the post office though, looks just like any other post office we have been in but the history of it was interesting to learn. They did a fabulous job on the new Carcross/Tagish First Nation Learning Centre, it is beautiful.

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  8. By the way.....that’s an awesome photo of Kevin and the landscape behind him.

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    1. It is a great picture isn't it?! There will be more pictures up in today's post from our hike. :-)

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  9. Wonderful area, I am afraid we were among the cruise passengers that made life more complicated for the rest of the visitors:)

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    1. I would think that the majority of the tourists in Skagway were cruise ship passengers, no need to apologize! :-)

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