The ExploreNorth Blog

A Day on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

Every Victoria Day long weekend, the White Pass & Yukon Route railway offers Yukoners discounted rides on the railway, and on Saturday Cathy, my niece Bobbie and I joined hundreds of other Yukoners on the trains. We chose to drive to Skagway and take the longest trip available, from Skagway to Fraser and back, a total of 56 miles. It was an amazing day! I figure that it would take about 62,000 words to properly tell you about it, but since a picture is worth 1,000 words I’m posting 61 photos and some commentary instead

We left the house at 9:00 and our first stop was at Emerald Lake. The ice has melted off in the past couple of days and the gorgeous colours are now visible.

The gorgeous colors of Emerald Lake, Yukon

We expected a delay at the border but we certainly didn’t expect a 40-minute delay with this few vehicles! Our crossing was as quick and friendly as usual, so I don’t know who/what had caused the delay.

There were 2 cruise ships in port, Holland America’s Volendam and the Island Princess.

Holland America's Volendam and the Island Princess at Skagway, Alaska

The Island Princess was looking very ratty – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cruise ship this badly in need of a paint job.

We went to the Skagway Brewing Company for lunch but it was still closed so went to The Station instead. The quality of all 3 meals was so disappointing that I doubt I’ll be back. In my case, the pieces of halibut were extremely small inside extremely thick batter. Blah! for 15 bucks.

Engine #90 arrives at the depot with engineer John Westfall at the controls just after noon local time (that’s 1:00pm Yukon time). Many years ago I rode up to the summit with John in the cab of the locomotive. Very cool, but the view from the passenger cars is better.

Right at the scheduled 12:30, we headed north with a string of about a dozen cars.

The peaceful lower Skagway River. The sight and smell of budding trees brings Yukoners by the hundreds (if not thousands) to Skagway, Dyea and Haines on this weekend every year. We got the last car on the train, and for the ride to Fraser, Bobbie and I went to the outside platform and ended up staying there, so the photos show the same clear view you get from the locomotive, except looking backwards.

Just north of the bridge over the East Fork of the Skagway River at Milepost (MP) 6.

The cut through Rocky Point at MP 7.

Rocky Point, MP 7 on the White Pass & Yukon Route

By the standard naming convention, Bridge 7B is the 2nd one past MP 7. This is where the steep drops from the edge of the tracks really begin.

Bridge 7B on the White Pass & Yukon Route

At Clifton the granite cliffs hang over the tracks.

Clifton, on the White Pass & Yukon Route rail line

In just a little while we’d be waaaay up there!

At Glacier, MP 14.1, there is another siding to allow trains to get by one another. The elevation at Glacier, which we reached at 13:28, is 1,871 feet above sea level.

Glacier, on the White Pass & Yukon Route rail line

At Glacier, we dropped off a group of hikers who were making the fairly easy snowshoe hike to the Laughton Glacier.

Just north of Glacier, Bridge 14A crosses the main fork of the Skagway River.

Slippery Rock, seen just to the right of center in the photo 4 above this one, was a particularly difficult section to blast a ledge wide enough to build a railway on.

The approach to the tunnel through Tunnel Mountain is one of the classic views along the rail line, one that every serious photographer has to have in their collection, so the outside platforms get very crowded.

The view back to Skagway and Taiya Inlet from Inspiration Point at Mile 16.9 – the elevation here is 2,475 feet. When only one or two trains were running each day, a 15-minute stop used to be made here, but schedules are much too tight to allow that now.

Inspiration Point at Mile 16.9 above Skagway, Alaska

Across the canyon from Inspiration Point is Mine Mountain, site of the Inspiration Point Mine which operated for a short while in the 1920s. The upper terminus of an aerial tramway that connected the mine and the railway is circled.

MP 17.6 was the site of the Hannan Snow Shed which kept snowslides off the tracks until 1992 when it was demolished because it was in very poor condition.

A 215-foot-long cantilever bridge sits at MP 18.5. The tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed, it opened in 1901 and served the line until 1969 when the use of much heavier trains carrying ore from the Yukon to tidewater forced a new, stronger bridge to be built.

Bridge 18A is another photo “must”!

This 675-foot-long tunnel is at the north end of the bridge that replaced the old cantilever bridge.

The American Snow Shed at MP 19.4 was demolished sometime in the early to mid 1970s.

The snow beside the tracks was as high as the cars as we neared the White Pass summit.

White Pass summit is the border between Alaska and British Columbia. Although a map on the WP&YR Web site says that the summit is 2,865 feet high, many books use the figure 2,856 feet, Wikipedia says 2,885 feet and I’m almost certain that the sign at the summit says 2,888 feet! Despite the presence of snow here for much of the year, the pass isn’t named for The White Stuff but for Thomas White, who was Canada’s Minister of the Interior when the pass was named in 1888.

The line actually climbs another 75 feet just past the summit.

The broad Meadows area at MP 25 is beautiful when the snow finally melts, with lots of ponds surrounded by grasses and wildflowers.

The White Pass Meadows still buried in snow

The train crawls down the 3.8% grade (the steepest on the line) at Fraser Hill.

A 3.8% grade (the steepest on the WP&YR line) at Fraser Hill

Tour buses stop to watch our train cross the small bridge over the Thompson River. From the highway this is one of the most scenic spots to get photos of the rail line.

Tour buses on the South Klondike Highway

Bridge 26A over the Thompson River.

At Fraser, rather than turn the entire train, the locomotives are simply moved to what had been the back of the train. Here Engineer John Westfall, having gone around us on the siding, throws the switch to get back on the main line and re-connect to our string of cars.

A closeup of the thunderbird on the locomotive as it backed up to our car.

Most people only go one way on the train to or from Fraser, and connect with buses or motorcoaches.

While we sat at Fraser, a large flock of Cackling Geese landed close by. These are Branta hutchinsii minima, the smallest of all Cackling Geese (many thanks to Cameron Eckert for the subspecies identification).

At 14:45 we started the journey back to Skagway. Here the train climbs the steep Fraser Hill.

Back in deep snow country across the top of the pass.

We stopped at the former Meadows station to pick up this group of people who had snowshoed over from the highway.

The flags at the summit/border are those of the United States, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Canada.

Flags of the United States, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Canada

People apparently shooting video of the snow going by.

An off-kilter flash-lit look at the inside of the tunnel at MP 18.7.

A closer look at the cantilever bridge. I tried to walk across it a few years ago but quickly lost my nerve – it’s a very long way to the creek below!

Nearing Inspiration Point.

Looking south from Tunnel Mountain across Bridge 15C.

Crossing the Skagway River at Glacier.

Looking back up at Tunnel Mountain – what incredible engineering 114 years ago!

Tunnel Mountain on the White Pass & Yukon rail line

Bridal Veil Falls on Moore Creek can be seen across the valley. Due to the fact that the high country is still frozen, none of the waterfalls are very impressive yet.

Bridal Veil Falls on Moore Creek at Skagway, Alaska

One of the locations that I had yet to get photos of on my many trips is Black Cross Rock – it always sneaks up on me. This time I was ready, though, with a clear spot on the open platform.

On August 3, 1898, Maurice Dunn and A. Jeneaux were killed when a huge rock dislodged by a blast fell on them. Their bodies were never recovered.

The cross marking the burial site at Black Cross Rock

“On To Alaska with Buchanan” – for about 10 years through the 1920s and early ’30s George Buchanan, a successful Detroit businessman, brought groups of boys to Alaska, and one of those groups originally painted this sign on a cliff below the US Customs office (though neither the border post nor the highway existed then).

Almost back to Skagway.

A view of Skagway Alaska from the railroad

Bridge 5A over the East Fork of the Skagway River at Denver.

This caboose at Denver can be rented from the Forest Service – see the Denver Caboose Cabin listing at Recreation.gov.

We got back to Skagway at about 4:30. We had hoped to have dinner at the Sunfire Thai restaurant but couldn’t get in so went to the Skagway Brewing Company and had the usual excellent meal there.

A mile out of town on our way home, I did a U-turn and went back to spend a while with this black bear beside the road. He’d been hidden by a pile of gravel until I was well past the road into the gravel pit where he was feeding on new greens. Cathy had my camera and took this shot.

Black bear along the South Klondike Highway at Skagway

Just north of Log Cabin, there was another black bear beside the road.

Black bear along the South Klondike Highway at Log Cabin, BC

I have no idea what this bear was doing, bending this little tree over. A territorial display, perhaps?

A dancing bear as he left the tree

Back in the Yukon at Dail Peak, we watched 14 Dall sheep rams on the slope. A few minutes later, Cathy spotted some mountain goats fairly low at Pooley Canyon, but it was getting late and we didn’t stop for them.

I had to stop along Windy Arm to capture these patterns and colours on the lake!

This broader view of the rotting ice shows where the photo above came from.

At 9:20 pm, just south of the Alaska Highway, we saw 2 caribou, but there was a car blocking a good photo and when the car left, so did the caribou so all we got was a ‘bou bum

What an amazing 12 hours that had been. It’s not without good reasons that the White Pass & Yukon Route railway has been the top-selling tourist excursion available at Skagway for most of the last century-plus. Thanks, Whitepassers!

Posted in Birds, Cruises, Photos, Trains, Travel, Wildlife, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 8 Comments

Caribou Crossing, the Cocktail

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

One of the magazines we get that I really enjoy is tidings, a Canadian food and wine publication. In the May/June edition that recently arrived, there’s a feature article about cocktails, one of which is called “Caribou Crossing” – and, of course, I can’t let a name like that pass without telling you about it!

The Caribou Crossing was created by Nishantha Nepulangoda, mixologist at the Blowfish Restaurant and Sake Bar in Toronto. I’ve posted the basic recipe below, but what isn’t described there is what “Cointreau caviar” is. Also known as alcohol pearls, you can find directions to create them (so you can make the perfect Caribou Crossing!) at MolecularRecipes.com.

And here’s the basic recipe for the Caribou Crossing cocktail:

Posted in Food | Leave a comment

Wildlife, Cruise ships and an Aussie in a Lotus!

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

Driving to Skagway may be one of my procrastination techniques, but it’s a particularly good one On Friday I made the drive despite a mediocre weather report, and it turned out to be an excellent day.

I was on the road just before 9:30, and 20 minutes later took this telephoto shot of the fresh snow on Montana Mountain at Carcross.

Fresh snow on Montana Mountain at Carcross, Yukon in May

I stopped briefly at Emerald Lake hoping that the ice was gone, but although the colour of the water can be seen now, there’s still a layer of ice on it.

I was very pleased to see 4 caribou beside the highway just a couple of miles south of Carcross, including this cow, who I think is pregnant.

A pregnant caribou cow at Carcross, Yukon

I hadn’t been down to the silver-mining ghost town of Conrad in a long time, so made that detour. The road was in much better condition that I had expected.

silver-mining ghost town of Conrad, Yukon

This was the lower terminus of an aerial tramway that ran to the Mountain Hero and other Conrad silver mines, and the mine dock.

One of the two buildings still standing (barely). The other was a cookhouse for the mines, this one was probably a store.

Back on the highway, I had a look at the trail that used to be called the Sam Magee Trail but has now thankfully been given an appropriate name, the Mountain Hero (it was originally the trail used to construct the aerial tramway).

The “Welcome to the Yukon” sign at the border is one of the stops that every tour bus makes. For some reason this scene makes me cringe now – I certainly don’t look back at the 17 years I spent being part of it with any regret.

'Welcome to the Yukon' sign on the South Klondike Highway

There were several mountain goats and Dall sheep on Dail Peak directly above the buses – the two upper animals are Dall sheep, the lower ones are mountain goats.

Mountain goats and Dall sheep on Dail Peak, Yukon

Another fresh snow scene along Windy Arm.

Fresh snow on the peaks above Windy Arm, BC

In another month when water levels are much higher, the Tutshi River will be an short but excellent whitewater rafting river.

The new restaurant at the Yukon Suspension Bridge is a few days away from completion. The view is quite impressive, and it should do well.

The White Pass & Yukon Route rail line at Ptarmigan Point.

You can see the snow falling in this photo taken at Fraser, but you can’t see the strong, bitterly cold wind that was blowing. The temperature was +2°C (35.6°F) but the wind chill was well below freezing.

I had thought briefly about taking the motorcycle on this trip – I’m really glad that I didn’t!

Snowdrift across the South Klondike Highway in May

The view at the summit was much less impressive than it is on a nice day. The temperature here had dropped to 0 (32).

Right at the Black Lakes, I spent quite a while watching this very healthy-looking black bear getting his fill of Spring salad.

This ended my bear viewing.

The Carnival Spirit was again the only cruise ship in port. Because of the high winds, she’d berthed at the somewhat sheltered Railroad Dock. I always wonder how many people on the ship had any idea of the weather they might encounter this time of year – my guess is very few.

I was very surprised to see a tour boat from Major Marine in Seward. Always curious about such things, I’ve sent them an email to see if they’re thinking about running tours here.

Major Marine tour boat in Skagway, Alaska

I had lunch at Glacier Smoothies, and when I pulled away, I was behind this very interesting car. I snapped this shot with the idea that I’d check his blog when I got home (the URL, http://elsiefrombottomtotop.blogspot.com is written on the back of the car). He turned left, I turned right…. and then a block up the road, I made a U-turn and followed him.

Giles Cooper and his Lotus in Skagway, Alaska

I introduced myself to Giles Cooper, and after he fueled up, we went for coffee and I got a brief rundown on this adventure (I’ll let you get the details from his blog). The weather has definitely not been his friend (rain, snow, low clouds and now wind as well), but he has a whole lot of miles to cover yet, so I hope it changes very soon. One of the questions I asked him was “why the Lotus?”. He asked if I would have followed him if he was driving a Subaru – no, I probably wouldn’t have. He simply meets far more people this way. And it is bloody cool!

Giles Cooper and his Lotus Elise in Skagway, Alaska

Another tour I need to check out – there are two of these trucks. I was on a similar tour, though in a a huge “monster truck”, at Denali a few years ago, and it was great fun.

With the high country frozen, none of the waterfalls are very impressive. In another month Pitchfork Falls (or Goat Lake Falls) is definitely a photo op.

Pitchfork Falls along the South Klondike Highway

Back into the snow and wind at the railway’s loop track at Fraser.

Looking north along Windy Arm. The delta on the left, where Dail Creek flows into the lake, was the site of the small town of Wynton during the silver rush.

I stopped at Pooley Canyon, where mountain goats can sometimes be seen, and there were 3 visible at the top of the canyon.

Mounatin goats above Pooley Canyon, Yukon

This is a broader view of the same scene above. This is an exceptionally rugged canyon with access that’s tough to locate. I’ve only been to the bottom of the upper canyon twice (there’s another Conrad silver mine, the Vault, there), but I’ll be leading some friends in later in the summer, probably in July.

One more stop, at Carcross to check on the progress of the rebuilding of the railway bridge.

All in all, despite the weather, it had been an excellent day! Now back to work – no, really!

Posted in Cruises, Photos, Railroads, Trains, Travel, Wildlife, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 7 Comments

Touring Haines – Haines Junction – Whitehorse

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

This is the second of 2 posts describing my 4-day tour of the Golden Circle Route from Whitehorse to Skagway, Haines, Haines Junction and back with tour company Road Scholar.

Saturday began cold and wet – this was the view from my room at the Captain’s Choice Motel at 05:54am. I Skyped with Cathy and she said that it was a beautiful morning in Whitehorse, so Julie and I had breakfast, searched unsuccessfully for a store with Native art (one that was open, that is), and then headed north towards the sunshine, on the Haines Highway.

I didn’t make any photo stops until just past the Haines Summit. The clouds were low, blocking all the glacier views, and shortly after the quick and simple crossing back into Canada, it began snowing quite heavily. The clouds started to thin a bit just before the Summit and Julie managed to get a photo of the dramatic peak known as The Three Guardsmen through the mist.

Just past the Summit, we met many Willow ptarmigan, and I was able to capture this image of one of the males flying away from us.

Willow ptarmigan at the Haines Summit, Alaska

A strong wind made it very cold through the pass, but there were still some good photo ops.

This whimsical sign at a road leading to a group of cabins was worth a stop

We stopped at the Native fishing village of Klukshu. Only one of the many cabins appeared to be occupied.

One of the cabins in today’s Klukshu – fish all day as your ancestors did, then watch satellite TV at night.

We had planned to do some hiking along the Haines Highway, but all of the trails were still deep in snow, so the campground at Kathleen Lake was our next stop.

The picnic shelter at Kathleen Lake has been brightened up by these fish/water murals.

We had planned to reach Haines Junction around dinner time but after making few stops, decided to head west to Sheep Mountain and do the hike planned for tomorrow morning. The Tachäl Dhäl (Sheep Mountain) Visitor Centre was still closed, but there were lots of Dall sheep visible on the sunny slopes.

The view up Slim’s River from the visitor centre.

It was a lovely day to hike the Soldiers Summit Trail, despite the very cold wind blowing off the peaks. This is the view over the broad Slim’s River delta and Kluane Lake.

The interpretive signage along the trail is very good, and there are several benches to enjoy the view from.

We were back in Haines Junction by 5:00pm, and checked into the Alcan Motor Inn. It’s hard to keep track of the changes in some communities – in “the Junction”, the Kluane Park Inn (“the KPI”) has closed, the cafe at the Cozy Corner Motel has re-opened after being closed for several years, the grocery store has closed, there’s a new post office, and there’s a new mountain-viewing area across from the police station. With huge staff cutbacks at Parks Canada announced last week, even the status of park facilities isn’t known yet.

Alcan Motor Inn - Haines Junction, Yukon

The view from my room at the Alcan was quite impressive.

The view from my room at the Alcan Motor Inn

The community’s old “mammal muffin” sculpture doesn’t get much attention anymore, but I still like it. I found a funny comment about it online: “This, um, sculpture? is in Haines Junction, and if you look carefully, you’ll notice it’s on a pedestal that’s about 8′ high, so when seen from afar, it looks like a muffin cup, with the mountain and the animals growing out of it. It’s quite possibly the ugliest and most ridiculous thing I’ve seen for a while. Which is why it’s kind of awesome.” “Meandering Michael” has posted some interesting facts about the muffin.

There’s an old beaver pond a couple of miles up the Alaska Highway that I thought had photo potential in the evening light, so I drove out and shot this at 8:30.

Julie and I worked on changes and enhancements to the Road Scholar programs until well after midnight last night and were at it again Sunday morning, so didn’t start the drive back to Whitehorse until almost 10:00. Our first stop along the highway was at Canyon Creek, where the historic wagon road bridge is the feature that most people see.

The cabin, of about the same vintage as the original bridge, is off in the forest at the west end of the bridge. It appears to be a roadhouse used by people traveling to and from the Kluane gold creeks.

We went for a walk up the original Alaska Highway tote road, and at the top of the hill found lots of prairie crocuses – this is the first flower that appears in the spring.

Prairie crocus, the first Spring flower in the Yukon

Also at the top of the hill is a Native cemetery, with several very old “spirit houses”, and 3 new ones.

Looking back down the tote road to the current Alaska Highway.

The other major stop on the route back to Whitehorse was at the historic village of Champagne. Seldom visited now because of a major highway re-route a few years ago (2006?), I really like the feel of the place, except for the huge signs saying that trespassers in the cemetery will be prosecuted. I happen to like cemeteries, and feel that my visits show my respect for those who are now on the other side – I’m sorry that some people see it other ways.

One last look at the Champagne of old, and we were off on the last leg of what had been an amazing, though very short, trip around the Golden Circle.

I’m home now for 3 weeks, with another major Alaska trip starting on May 28th when Cathy and I fly to Vancouver to spend 4 days before boarding the Celebrity Millennium with a small group of friends.

Posted in Alaska Highway, Birds, Communities, History, Photos, Travel, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 2 Comments

Touring the Yukon-Alaska Golden Circle Route

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

I’m currently on a 4-day tour of what is marketed as the “Golden Circle Route”, from Whitehorse to Skagway, Haines, Haines Junction and back. With me is Julie Odell, Program Administrator for Road Scholar, a tour company which some of you may remember as Elderhostel. They are returning to the Yukon and Alaska in a major way this year, and have 15 programs set up, of which I’m guiding two of 15 days each. My job on this 4-day tour is to show Julie what a tour will look like day-to-day.

After a day of talking about the programs with Julie, 2 admin people from Ruby Range Adventure, who has the contract to run many of the tours, and one of the other guides, Julie and I headed to Skagway at 5:30pm. Our first little bit of wildlife was at the Bove Island viewpoint, where we met this Gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis), who really thought that we should have brought a little something for him to eat.

At Dail Peak, seeing Dall sheep and/or mountain goats isn’t at all unusual, but seeing a herd of almost 20 mountain goats is!

A large herd of mountain goats in the Yukon

As we descended to Tushi Lake, I explained that this is one of the the places where we see black bears first in the spring, and as if on cue, there was this very healthy-looking fellow beside the road.

Black bear along the South Klondike Highway

Nearing the White Pass summit, we stopped for a couple of minutes to watch a very impressive snowmobile stunt with a Sled Porn crew filming it from a helicopter. After the usual quick and friendly crossing into Alaska, we found another black bear (a much skinnier one) grazing beside the road.

We checked into the Westmark Hotel, and I went for dinner at the Skagway Brewing Company and then for a wander to get some photos of Skagway getting ready for the first cruise ship of the season which would arrive early the next morning.

Skagway getting ready for the first cruise ship of the season

I haven’t seen Skagway at night in many years. I really like the experience.

Some of the stores worked late into the night – this was shot at 9:35.

I was down on the dock just after 05:00 yesterday morning, as the cruise ships often arrive that early despite most of the itineraries saying that they arrive at 07:00. The tug Le Cheval Rose was already warming up. This was shot from the new breakwater at 05:20 as a light rain fell.

The tug Le Cheval Rose - Skagway, Alaska

Thinking about the best place to shoot the ship’s arrival from, I decided that with a very low tide, the beach at the mouth of the Skagway River would work, so I walked out the Yakutania Point trail and climbed down to the beach.

It seemed funny to be greeting a cruise ship when the mountains had gotten a fresh dusting of snow overnight!

A dusting of snow on the peaks above Skagway, Alaska

I saw the Carnival Spirit when she was still miles down Taiya Inlet – this was shot at 06:22.

Carnival Spirit arrives at Skagway, Alaska

As the ship got tied up, I chatted with one of the guides for Chilkoot Charters who was waiting for his group.

The first cruise passengers of the 2012 season – let the games begin! The last 2 ships of the year will leave Skagway on September 25th.

Julie had some business to take care of so we didn’t get started touring until 11:00. One of the first stops was the Pioneer Cemetery (of course!), and from there we took the short walk up to Lower Reid Falls.

As one of the programs that Road Scholar is doing is hiking the Chilkoot Trail I offered to show Julie the first mile or so of it. On the way, we stopped to watch these Trumpeter swans on the Taiya River.

Trumpeter swans on the Taiya River, Alaska

The trailhead for the Chilkoot Trail, at the Taiya River bridge.

Hiking the Chilkoot Trail. The smell of these forests in the spring is so wonderful after a long Yukon winter!

Although we had perfect hiking weather, the weather forecast had called for showers, and this halo around the sun showed that rain was indeed coming.

We were back at the ferry dock in Skagway at 1:15 for our 2:30 sailing to Haines on the little Alaska state ferry LeConte. The 235-foot-long vessel can carry 300 passengers and about 34 vehicles and makes the crossing to Haines in a hour at a cost of $111 for our van and 2 people.

Vehicles have to be backed on to the ferry. While that’s no problem for a car or van, some of the RV drivers with toads or trailers must have an “interesting” experience

Leaving Skagway in a cold, strong wind.

On a warm summer day the solarium and back deck are crowded, but they were almost deserted yesterday. The view was superb but it was just too cold and windy – even for me!

The solarium on the Alaska ferry LeConte

Whenever I go down Taiya Inlet, I marvel at how highway engineers could possibly think that building a highway (and keeping it open!) was reasonable. For visual reasons I’m really glad that the Skagway-Juneau highway project was killed.

Cliffs and rockslides along Taiya Inlet, Alaska

Reaching Haines at 3:30, I decided to drive to Chilkoot Lake, as bears can sometimes be seen fishing along the river. Even if there are no bears, it’s a beautiful drive.

From the spot where the photo above was shot, I spotted 4 brown bears up the river. I took some “insurance” shots, then drove up the road to see how close we could get.

Grizzlies fishing along the Chilkoot River, Alaska

We were able to get very close, and spent about 20 minutes with them.

Brown bears fishing along the Chilkoot River, Alaska

They were very successfully fishing for eulachon, a little smelt-type fish that’s usually called “hooligan” in Alaska.

There were two sows with their cubs from last year or perhaps even the year before. With food abundant, there was no need for aggression to protect a pool as is sometimes seen when times are lean. I’ve also posted a 1-minute video of the experience at YouTube.

Pulling ourselves away from the bears, we continued on to Chilkoot Lake, but it started to rain quite heavily so it was a very short visit.

At the mouth of the Chilkoot River, thousands of gulls were also feeding on the eulachon.

Gulls at the mouth of the Chilkoot River, Alaska

By 7:15 we were settled in our rooms at the Captain’s Choice Motel. We went for a short tour of Haines, then for an excellent dinner of mixed seafoods at The Lighthouse.

This is the view from my room at the motel. Ahhhhhhhh…

It’s almost 6:00am now, and the day is starting off cold and wet. Today we’ll be driving up the Haines Highway, doing some hiking if the weather cooperates, and spending the night in Haines Junction. It’s been an amazing trip so far – it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been on the road for 36 hours!

Posted in Animals, Bus Driving, Fish & Fishing, Photos, Travel, Waterfalls, Wildlife, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 5 Comments

The Sensuality of Paper

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

Great photography makes you think. It might make you think about a place you’ve never been, a place you’ve been a hundred times but have never seen in this way, about your feelings regarding the subject – or it might just make you think about the details of everyday life, about the beauty of form large and small, and about the quality of light and what affect it can have. These two images are from a new magazine from the UK, Baron.

Do you see the subjects, a piece of paper and a light fixture – or do they make you think beyond that?

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The Elusive Aurora Borealis

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

The circumpolar world is right now having the best aurora displays seen in the past decade, but actually seeing them can be a challenge for a variety of reasons. Photographing them can be even more of a challenge.

Even with a great aurora forecast as we had on Monday night, the weather can make viewing them impossible. When the snow started falling about 7:00pm, I looked at weather reports for communities within a 5-hour drive, hoping for a break. The clear skies that I found in Dawson City prompted me to plan an immediate road trip. Looking at other communities in the region, though, the clear skies had the potential to be quite small (and thus gone by the time I got there), and as the snow kept falling, road conditions made my ambitious plan unreasonable

The forecast was for there to be no good viewing weather for days, but the next morning (yesterday), sunshine accompanied the 3 inches of snow that greeted us.

Fresh snow in Whitehorse, April 24, 2012

With both weather and aurora forecasts good last night, I determined to head out for an all-night aurora shooting session. A challenge that I hadn’t expected was getting fuel at 11pm. I expected that any fuel pump that you could use with a credit card would be available anytime as in other cities – but that’s not the way things work in Whitehorse. I tried 4 stations, and finally found a single pump at this station (Integra Tire) that would give me fuel.

With no aurora visible yet at 11:40, I played around with some night shots at my usual starting location, the Lewes Dam. If you’re reading this in a bright room, you may not see an image below at all, but if you’re in a dark room, you’ll see what I saw.

Looking down the Yukon River from the boat lock at the dam, with the moon and Venus slightly diffused by haze. This was shot at midnight – the orange glow is caused by the street lights in Whitehorse.

A few minutes later, the first faint glow of the aurora began to show to the east. The red lights are on a semi-trailer rig parked in the rest area at the Yukon River bridge.

By 12:20 I started to get pumped as long ribbons of aurora grew across the sky directly above me.

My next stop was at the M’Clintock River Bridge. I spent about 15 minutes there, and was rewarded by several minutes of very good displays all over the sky. This view is looking south down the Alaska Highway from the middle of the bridge. There were several birds calling here, including at least three owls. For me, hearing birds adds a lot to Spring aurora viewing.

Aurora borealis along the Alaska Highway

At 12:45 I stopped along Marsh Lake to watch a particularly bright display, and while I was parked there, one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen occurred directly over head. It was so incredible I was unwilling to take my eyes off it for even a second to set my camera up. I was directly under an extremely bright, fast-moving curtain of red aurora. It only lasted for about a minute, and I wish I could transfer the images that are in my head onto the computer! After it was over, I took a few shots of the displays going on around me.

Northern Lights along the Alaska Highway

I went out to my usual turn-around spot beside White Mountain and spent quite a while there watching very unusual displays. They were large, vaporous and very fast moving, perhaps impossible to capture properly with a camera.

The destination that I had the highest hopes for, the Tagish Bridge, fell flat. The aurora had gotten very dim, and although I stayed for almost 2 hours, never did return. Being able to listen to the swans was very special, though.

By 04:30 I was home in bed – it had been a great night.

Posted in Alaska Highway, Aurora Borealis, Birds, Photos, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 4 Comments

A Day in Skagway and Dyea

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

One of my nieces has just moved to Whitehorse, and yesterday we took her to see Skagway and Dyea. Despite a mediocre weather forecast, it turned out to be quite good, and it no doubt would have been a good day whatever the weather turned out to be.

Our first photo stop was overlooking Rat Lake at Km 136.7 of the South Klondike Highway. While walking back to the car, we spotted the first crocus buds of the season – right after the rains, as expected

I stopped at Emerald Lake just to get a photo record of how fast the ice is melting. I expect that this will be the earliest that the ice has ever been gone and the colours visible (I’ll update my article, When Does the Ice Leave Emerald Lake?? as soon as the colours start to show well).

Some people were ice fishing on Windy Arm right at the Yukon/BC border.

I forgot to bring Nanook, but Bobbie (my niece) did bring “the boys”, who normally travel with her friend Sheila but are with Bobbie until September. This was shot out on Tutshi Lake.

A dramatic sky over Tutshi Lake.

The new building at the Yukon Suspension Bridge is coming along well. A workman confirmed a rumour I’d heard that it’s a restaurant, and said that they’re aiming at a May 9th opening.

It was ugly going across the pass – heavy snow and very low visibility, and the first cruise ship of the season arrives in 13 days

The boys check out the grave of Skagway’s infamous badman, Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith.

The grave of Jefferson Randolph 'Soapy' Smith in Skagway, Alaska

The Kone Company was celebrating their 30th anniversary and had a long list of great specials, but with a lineup a block long, we went for lunch at the Sweet Tooth Cafe instead.

Gulls resting at the mouth of the Skagway River. While Cathy and Bobbie went to the grocery store to browse things that aren’t available in Canada, I went for a look around town.

Many seasonal workers have already arrived – these fellows were chilling behind the house used for guides working for Alaska Mountain Guides, who have a rock climbing and zipline course near Skagway.

The White Pass & Yukon Route had 3 newly-built passenger coaches arrive from Seattle by barge on Monday.

Our next stop was Dyea. The pilings are from one of the wharves that were used by stampeders headed for the Chilkoot Trail and the Klondike gold fields.

A couple of curious harbour seals at the mouth of the Taiya River.

One of the unusual-to-us things that Cathy and Bobbie found in the grocery store was succotash, and the boys had us stop at Nahku Bay to check it out Sufferin’ succotash, boys!

It had been a long, active day and we were all pretty tired by the time we reached Bove Island at 6:45. Some people thrive in this this country, and I think that this day showed my niece that she’s one of those people.

Posted in Photos, Travel, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 5 Comments

Whitehorse to Carcross – History, Swans and Storms

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

Photography is a state of mind to some degree – the more I shoot one day (like yesterday), the more I shoot the next time, and I start to see things differently. I get back to really seeing what’s around me.

I had to go to Carcross today to show the cabin to a potential buyer, and got home with 89 photos in the camera. My first stop was one that I hadn’t made in many years – at a 1948 Fargo panel truck sitting off in the bush along the South Klondike Highway. What a street rod that would make – see what was done to this one! The last time I stopped, the roof hadn’t been caved in – other than that, the truck would be a fairly easy restoration.

Now in a “history” frame of mind, I stopped at the Robinson Roadhouse – I have lots of photos of it, but the snow adds something to it now.

Part of me wants this complex saved, but another part is okay with it rotting away – luckily, rotting away takes a very long time in this dry climate.

Looking back towards Mount Lorne.

South-facing slopes have now gathered enough warmth from the sun to melt the overnight dusting of snow.

Dusting of snow along the South Klondike Highway

Downtown Carcross – this view has been used on postcards for well over a century now.

I heard a pounding of heavy wings and turned around just in time to burst 6 shots as this Trumpeter swan took off.

WP&YR locomotive #95 was pulled out of the engine house and fired up, ready to get to work for the season.

I was very surprised to see a survey crew just finishing off marking the limits of the railroad’s property in front of the 3 cabins south of the bridge (including mine). Dogs have their way of marking territory, we use orange stakes I’ve always known where their property line is and it doesn’t affect me, but it sure affects both of my neighbours.

As I was heading back to Whitehorse at 2:30, some impressive storms began forming, and I made several stops for photos. This was the first one, shot looking north from Dry Creek.

Looking back to Montana Mountain from the Emerald Lake viewpoint.

Looking north from just south of the Lewes Lake road. This turned out to be a pretty cool spot – a glacial esker about 80 feet high provided the vantage point.

Looking north from a high rock bluff just south of Robinson.

On the rock bluff where the shot above was taken were the first new plants I’ve seen this year.

The first Spring plants along the South Klondike Highway

Back to storm chasing We don’t get much severe weather, and these storms are really mild compared to what many of you see, I know, but even storms like this are not at all common.

The heavy rain hit a few miles south of the Alaska Highway. A thorough wetting like this will hasten Spring’s arrival nicely

Posted in Birds, Cars, Communities, History, New Zealand, Photos, Weather, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 3 Comments

First Rain of the Year

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Murray Lundberg

It’s been about 6 months since we had rain. We get lots of precipitation over the winter, but none of it is wet. As a result, the first rain of the year is quite exciting to Yukoners.

We’ve had a few forecasts calling for a 30% chance of showers, but nothing fell where I was. Yesterday I could see showers off in the distance, but none fell where I was. Today as I walked along the Yukon River, it looked like there might be a good downpour falling on my home, but it must have just missed.

A few minutes ago, though, the rain came! Not a lot, but enough to get everything wet. The first rain quickly brings the first plants, and crocuses are among the first arrivals. So, although it seems funny for someone who used to hate rain to say, “I love rain!” But only a day here and there, and not on weekends

Posted in Weather, Yukon-Alaska Stuff | 2 Comments

A Day on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway

Caribou Crossing, the Cocktail

Wildlife, Cruise ships and an Aussie in a Lotus!

Touring Haines – Haines Junction – Whitehorse

Touring the Yukon-Alaska Golden Circle Route

The Sensuality of Paper

The Elusive Aurora Borealis

A Day in Skagway and Dyea

Whitehorse to Carcross – History, Swans and Storms

First Rain of the Year

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