Walking The Fall Leaves

Under the Fall sun,

Beneath trees cloaked in colour,

Subtle lights defined

The fall colours this year have to perhaps be the finest on the West Coast in recent memory. The long warm fall, essentially absent of the usual chain of Pacific storms has allowed the leaves to 'ripen' in the trees for longer than usual. 

As I've walked these past 10 days, and flown a bit too, I've been dazzled by the colours evident every where. I know this can't and won't last much beyond this weekend as the weather is about to change. What a show it's been!!

They say there is rain on the way beginning late tomorrow. All this splendour will change, and I like many others will be raking and muttering about just how many darn leaves there are on the ground this year. But for now they are just so very spectacular!!

Carmacks, Yukon Territory: Cloud with Snow, -2

Ridge Walk To The Spirit Houses

This afternoon we had the opportunity to walk through the heavy snow that has been falling in the area the past couple of days. After all, we are north of 62 degrees north latitude so I suppose that snow is possible in October, though I am strongly assured that this is very unusual. I almost believe them...not! 

The walk today was to visit the local First Nation's Spirit Houses.  This is at the beginning of the walk before we head off into the forest. There is about 6" of snow on the ground, but up higher where we walked there was considerably more. It seems so odd that we will be returning south in a few days to green landscapes and much warmer temperatures. It's like being dropped into the middle of winter when we wake up in the morning.

There were 7 walkers, one hitchhiking baby and of course our fearless dog.

As we climbed up stream the vistas became quite enjoyable, though there was low cloud and snow falling in the distance.

Lots of animal tracks in the snow, some we could figure out, others that remain unclear. We even saw a place where an eagle had dropped on a rabbit, made its kill and carried breakfast away. The wing marks clearly visible in the snow.

It was pretty slick on the climbs and descents, so poles were carried by some of our troop. Those of us who didn't have one ended up on their butts a couple of times!!

The Alaska Highway looking towards Whitehorse 175 kms to the south. When we drove up the highway was covered white with ice and snow. Clearly it's been plowed and sanded, but later reports indicate that it's very slippery and tough going. Hopefully it will be in better shape when we have to drive south on Tuesday.,

We eventually arrived at the cemetery and discovered a beautiful view of the Yukon River and the town of Carmacks with a population of 350 souls. 

The Spirit Houses arenthe burial sights of the local First Nations where a long vista is apparently important and I understand that many personal articles are placed in the grave. A little like the Pharos of Egypt, early Greeks and many others...a timeless burial process, albeit on a significantly reduced scale.

Carmacks from the top of the climb.

A father and daughter, the latter feeling pretty snug. 

We slipped and skidded down to the bottom on a return loop...
...and took a few photos at the bottom to mark the occasion. A good way to spend an afternoon doing something typically Canadian, but a little bit unique for those of us who live on the south coast where we seldom experience snow. The addition of the Spirit Houses was a nice historical addition.

Hey Ken, it also gave me a bit of an idea how a winter Camino might work out. Clothes layers, breathable light wind & water proof outer clothing and as always good waterproof boots. I'm still interested in exploring the possibilities. We plan to walk again today so I hope to learn a little more, though I know you have a much better experience with this. We will talk!

Lake Tagish, Yukon Territory: Snow, Cloud, -2

There's Tracks, But Where's The Animals?

Last night as we stood around a hot fire just above the lake waiting for the northern lights to show, the snow began to fall quite heavily delighting the four Aussies who hadn't seen snow before. In the morning there there was a thin skiff of snow covering everything. 

As I turned from taking this photo I found a very large coyote passing just beside me. Being downwind he couldn't pick up my scent and he didn't realize I was present until he was almost on top of me. I asked in the lodge and they thought it might be a wolf, given it's size. However, I had it confirmed as a coyote elsewhere and I must say that it was much larger than the urban coyotes one sees these days in our urban environment. It more sensed me rather than saw me, and then it stopped and reversed course, but not before I took a nice series of photos.

We ended up just a few metres apart. To this point our only large animal encounter. Knowing there are many moose, elk, caribou, bears and other animals we've been surprised by their absence. Perhaps it's due to the massive areas available for them to wander without human interaction. After all, there's only about 40,000 inhabitants in the Yukon with 25-30,000 located in Whitehorse.

Today we had an opportunity and the time to walk along a fairly remote forest trail to Sucker Bay which is so named for the boats that got stuck there during the gold rush days in the 1800's. Something to do with the winds.

As we progressed, we started to see many different tracks in the snow and mud ranging from coyote, to bear and even some moose and elk. 

Coyote tracks.

In spite of our efforts we only saw this wee fella.

We continued down the trail and found something unexpected along the way.
And then something, or some things also unexpected. This big fella began to check us out from a long way away, and slowly advanced towards us. 

Then a second beautifully marked horse showed up, and I figured that I'd walk over and introduce myself.


They came right up to me and checked me out. Then we began to hear the dogs barking in the distance and realized that we were very close to the fellow we'd met the day before who had his sled dogs...66 of them! He was out on a training run with them and pulling around a couple of Aussies to boot!

We continued along through some remote countryside. A beautiful walk. We marvelled at how small the trees are here, this far north with a very short growing season.

Wolf tracks in the snow...but then we finally reached the lake.

Chilly, but a great view in spite of the cloud.

A beautiful beach! Lots of drift wood pushed up by high winds during the spring snow melt, as this would be completely frozen over through the winter, thick enough to take a dog sled team outon, or ice fish.

A different selfie.

A few of the smaller details.