White Horse – “Capital of the Yukon”

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Posted by whalerho | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 02-08-2009

We arrived in Whitehorse at noon and set up camp at High Country RV park, one of the nicest private campgrounds we have found on our journey.

On Saturday, we took a family bike ride into town. The paved path hugged the beautiful Yukon river. We picnicked near the Visitor’s Center after watching a 20 minute movie on the amazing Yukon. Ken made yummy salmon sandwiches and we sat overlooking the Yukon river, watching dogs jump in to retrieve sticks. The day was sunny and we had clear views of the mountains that encircled the area. By late in the day, those same mountains would not be visible due to the smoke from the fires in the area.

We followed the bike path to the “fish ladder” and the Whitehorse Power Plant. The fish ladder is used for the salmon migration up the Yukon river with their big arrival sometime in mid August. It’s the longest migration of salmon, an arduous 2000 mile journey UP the Yukon River to the exact location where they were born. The females lay their eggs (up to 5000!) and then die at their birthplace. Isn’t nature amazing?

Today we take off for Tok Alaska, the crossroads for everyone traveling north or south in Alaska. The road is touted as being very challenging so we will see how we survive!