Grounded

So.....unfortunately in Haines Junction it was too cloudy to  fly....bummer. But I made the best of it and decided to trek there anyway since I'd already rented a car and had planned on doing some hiking anyway. This just meant that I could take my time to stop and snap pics of the country side as I drove to Haines Junction. I have to admit it was difficult not to stop every 30 seconds to snap a new set, even though its a continuous bad of boreal forest with mountains in the background...well what am I saying, I'm driving surrounded by Boreal Forest with Mountains in the background!!!

 I will say that for the most part (the drive between Whitehorse and Haines Junction is little over 2 hours) the landscape did mostly remain the same (though really no less interesting).

The Mountains teased me the entire way to Haines Junction.

The road itself began to come alive throughout the drive. There aren't many highways up here, and today I drove most of them (2). The ones that are here can change from 2 lane black top to tar/rock/dirt pretty quickly and then back again. There is ample warning, however the patches are intermittent, and the other drivers don't always want to pass you on the smoothest portions (I had a large diesel flatbed decide to pass me on the rockiest portion of the road, of course flinging rocks up at my rental car while going about 95 km/hr (60 mph). I dodged as far to the right as I could without going into the ditch (I was going the speed limit after all!), but the truck flicked one well placed rock right onto the left middle of the wind shield, creating a small chip...dammit...thats what I got the insurance for!!

Besides stopping occasionally to shoot pics from the roadside I did divert into a few 'scenic photo opportunities'. The Mendenhall Landing was one such place, it was about 3 km off the Alaska Highway (the road between Whitehorse and Haines Junction), so not too far, but of course a muddy little road!! I'll let the sign do the talking:

Its a picturesque place at the confluence of the Mendenhall and Takhini Rivers. The water was brisk and looked oddly inviting, clear/blue, cold...don't worry I didn't jump in, it's way too cold for that! It reminded me a lot of places I had visited in Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely, MN, or Quetico Provincial Park, in Ontario (just North of Boundary Waters).

I made my way back to the Alaska highway, and carted on towards Haines Junction, stopping a few more times to take photos.

Upon arriving in Haines Junction I made my way towards the Kluane Visitors Centre. Across the street from the centre is the Village Bakery and Deli, where they make fresh baked bread, sandwiches, desserts, etc...and have wireless!! I was able to go in and grab a delicious little pulled pork panini, caesar salad, and sea salt and vinegar chips, yum!! I was also able to check and send e-mail, etc. After lunch I made my way across the street to the Visitors Centre to get the low down on hiking trails, bear spray, and anything else I could. I took a look at some of the exhibits on display outlining the habitat and history of Kluane (found out there its pronounced Klew-Ah-Nee). I also asked the lady behind the desk about bears and bear spray. We spoke for a bit and she led me into the offices where they show a film on traveling in bear country, she had said that they see them on the road so of course there's a good chance I'll see one on a trail. The film, she warned me, while having been shot only a couple of years ago had a distinct 80's style to it. I was pleased to find out that she wasn't wrong. While it was chocked full of facts on how to avoid bears, minimize interaction or threats, what to do if you encounter a bear (there are both Black Bear and Grizzlies in the area), and how to react if the bear approaches or even attacks you...it was also hilarious to watch at points. I was pretty convinced that the footage had either been recycled from the 80's or that 2 or 3 of the 'actors' didn't have anything to wear besides sweet 80's mesh ball caps, Marty McFly life preserver jackets, and late 80's Air Jordan's!! Either way I knew now what to do if I encountered a bear!!
I thanked them for letting me watch the film and told them I'd see them up in Dawson if they came for the Music Festival (Dawson City Music Festival - Pokey LaFarge is going to be here!: http://www.dcmf.com/), and went back across the street to buy some bear spray. I'd decided to possibly try a few trails that were within 30 miles South of the town, some were more established trails, others were mixed.  For those who don't know, bear spray is not like bug spray, it's more like bear mace. You spray it in the bear's face if it gets to close or becomes threatening. It's a non lethal deterrent that works most of the time (just like human mace or a taser works on most people, but some just don't seem to want to go down!!). Bear spray is about $45 Canadian (so about $40 USD), but can be used multiple times if necessary. Plus the folks at the bakery told me that if I was going to be in Dawson and was doing any hiking that I would probably want to have it with me there just in case.

I made my way out of town, going South on the Haines Highway. About 5 minutes out of town I encountered heavy road construction (or rather destruction). A road grader, water truck, and road roller (modern steam roller?) had torn up and were presently leveling both lanes of the 'highway'. Unlike down South (or back home?) they hadn't shut the entire road down however. If you chose to go further up the highway you had to wait for a 'pilot' car to guide you past the machinery. I of course chose to do so since I need to get to my trails! This also presented an opportunity to capture video of something that I thought I'd have trouble locating while in the Yukon = Large road grading/construction machinery working in the vast environment of the Yukon!! I figured I'd have trouble because even though there are only a handful of highways, they are spread out over an immense area, so they might be doing this somewhere but it could be 100 miles from where I am (and I don't have immediate access to a car!!). I talked to the foreman of the crew, and he assured me that they'd be doing this all day, so I decided to push on to some hiking and come back and capture video later (which worked out beautifully!!).

The road for the next 6 miles or so was basically rocky mud with holes and pits filled with muddy water, so it was a bit rough going in my economy vehicle. They had made me sign a form at the rental place stating that I wouldn't take the vehicle off road, which technically I hadn't but you wouldn't have know that from looking at it after I had gotten past the construction. The car now had what I'm dubbing a 'Yukon Paint Job':

the 2012 Chevy Sonic including the 'Yukon Paint Job' feature...

She looks pretty slick, eh? It was actually even worse once I'd made my way back through the construction and eventually back to Whitehorse, but I didn't get any pics of it (though I unintentionally kept a record on my jeans and T-shirt because of getting in and out of the car...). Once back in Whitehorse I washed the car since I wasn't sure how pleased they's be to get it back covered in mud (I swear I never went off-roading, at least not in how we define it!!).
Anyway, I drove about 30 miles South of Haines Junction to the Rock Glacier Trail. It said that it could last anywhere from 30 min - 2 hrs depending on how far up you wanted to go. The trail began and continued intermittently with a raised board walk/handrail, going into forested and slightly marshy ground, again reminiscent of Quetico and Boundary Waters.

Once through the wooded area the terrain rose sharply and I ascended another boardwalk onto the rock glacier. A rock glacier, again for those who aren't familiar, is like a regular glacier but in reverse. There is a lot of rock (anything from sand and gravel to car sized boulders) with ice holding it together. It moves like a regular glacier, or controlled rock slide, and is still moving even today (very slowly mind you). Part of the boardwalk coming onto the rock glacier looks to have been rebuilt recently, maybe the old one gave out from the weight of the glacier pressing on it??

On the left bottom of this pic you can see the top most part of the boardwalk/railing

The view once atop the rock glacier was amazing!! Even though it as clouded over I could see that I was ringed with mountains and hills, and the rock glacier itself seemed an unending stream red, grey, green, and blue colored rock forms. It was a lot like a naturally built fortification or dam.

Once on the rock glacier there is an established 'trail' that leads half the way up to its originating point. The trail is a narrow band of rocks that have been laid flat to allow for easier hiking, though its still very uneven. Every so often theres a little placard that provides information about the rock glacier, wildlife, or climate/history.

For the most part it switches back across the face of the glacier until you get to a spot that informs you that 'If you have a couple more hours, you can hike the rest of the way to the glaciers' point of origin'.

From there the way is faint and at times difficult to pick up, really just where people had found was the best way to ascend and traverse the rocks. Fortunately they had also been kind enough to leave a cairn now and again for way finding.

Some where of course larger and more elaborate than others, but all that was necessary was an intentionally left pile of rocks!! This part of the trail was certainly a bit more treacherous, as it seemed that most people stopped at the sign and didn't go too much further. The risk was worth the reward however, as I got to get a closer to the mountain tops (including a peak that couldn't be seen from lower down because of the slope) and see the buckling and waves of the rock glacier first hand. It also obviously gave a grander vista of the landscape.

A peak peeking out near the top of the Rock Glacier trail 

Someone had also built a series of 'Kings Chairs' near the top of the trail, this one seemed to be the biggest/most elaborate:

Having reached the top I spent some time taking in the landscape and shooting photos. I also need to catch my breath (lugging camera equipment up a rock glacier in physically challenging, despite the fact that I'm a little out of shape...which I plan to work on while I'm here!!). The mosquitos hard found me again, (they were thick in the woods below) probably because I was sweating pretty heavily...Once I caught my breath I started back down the glacier, which I found to actually be a little more difficult than coming up! Balancing from step to with the rocks shifting as I went down made it difficult, luckily I had packed my camera away in case I needed to steady myself. I made it back to the boardwalk and leisurely strolled to the parking lot (making noise as I went and keeping aware in case of bears!). Once back to my car I changed shirts (the other was a bit wet...), which the mosquitos loved!! I had to keep walking in a circle to keep the majority of them from landing on me, as I stripped off my jacket, wet shirt, and then put on my other shirt. I also had to maneuver removing my sheath knife and bear spray off of my belt so they wouldn't get in the way as I drove back to Haines Junction. Having accomplished the task of changing I jumped in the car and swatted any remaining mosquitos (they're relentless!!) and tok off.

Returning the way I came I once again encountered the torn up 'highway', only this time the water truck had been over it several times, making it actually slightly dangerous to drive on. If I made any sudden decelerations the car would begin to fish tail or loose control. Fortunately I had learned to drive behind the wheel of an '81 Pontiac Bonneville or 'land barge' as my friends tended to call it, so I knew how to handle this for the most part. It was also fortunate that the 2 large trucks behind me were having trouble so they had to slow down as well (didn't need any northern hot shot trying to pass me on this road). I made it back to the active construction site, and following the pilot car stopped on the other side of it to get out and shoot video. I spoke to the foreman again, and he offered me a ride further back up the road to get a better chance of shooting before the grader finished. I think I was at once a novelty and a nice break up to the monotony of their day, everyone seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing and to help me, as long as I stayed out of the way of the machinery (I don't think they'd let me do this back home). Here are a few pics, I shot about 30 minutes of video total which I'm planning to combine with some other video from in town/future video captures into an artwork:

I also shot some pics and video of a construction crew in Haines Junction on my way out of town. Just outside of town I stopped in to the Kluane Glacier Tours office at the Haines Junction air field. They informed me that it was still too cloudy to do the whole trip, but that we could possibly see the glaciers, there was just one problem, they fly 2 people at once (I needed another person...). They also told me though that sometimes people congregated at the Village Bakery to contemplate taking the tour and encouraged me to try and see if anyone was there now. So, I returned into town and asked around a bit at the bakery, but everyone had plans for hiking or weren't planning on doing it. So, after about 45 minutes of trying I just decided to head back to Whitehorse (it would be about 7 p.m. by the time I got back, and I knew that I'd be hungry and need to wash my rental car...). On the return trip I shot some more photos (still not yet tired of mountains and trees...). I filled up the tank just West of town and trucked back tot he hotel. Next door there was a car wash place (which was DIY - what I wanted anyway), so I washed the car, parked it and did dinner in the restaurant at the Airport Chalet where I was staying. I had a couple of glasses of the local Yukon Gold beer, and it was pretty smooth, a light pale ale really - not bad!! I spent some time writing the previous blog post entry and a little bit of this one, downloaded the media off my camera, packed for the morning flight and tucked in for some sleep. 

That was my official first full day in the Yukon, pretty full I'd say!!