2004/07 Yukon trip - Trek to the Arctic - |
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We headed back over the mountains to resume our trip up the Alaska Highway, but first we had a few stops to watch the trains climb the mountains again. Further up, towards the pass, we ran into low cloud and fog that wiped out the view, so it was just as well we’d had a good look on the way in.
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Klondike and Alaska Highways to USA border (Robinson, Lake Laberge, Whitehorse, Haines Junction, Kluane Lake) |
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We crossed into Canada and BC without any problems, went back past Fraser and the Carcross desert, and 
headed for Whitehorse, the Yukon’s capital. We stopped off at Robinson, which used to be an important station on the railroad. Now it is derelict, a small ghost town of collapsing buildings, a good set for a Stephen King movie or a Charles Manson weekend. We met a car-load of teenagers there and I think they thought we were as spooky as we thought they were!
Whitehorse looked interesting but we needed to find a campsite, so we passed it by and headed north on the Klondike Highway to the government campground on Lake Laberge, where we found a great site overlooking this enormous lake. It’s actually part of the Yukon River, but it’s a couple of miles wide at this point, and we had waves crashing just below us. Lake Laberge was made famous by the Yukon poet, Robert Service, almost a hundred years ago:
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee
Until I started planning this trip I had no idea that the lake really existed, so I just had to visit it. It was warm enough to sit outside, so we sat around the fire reading his poems. You may have gathered that we’re fans of his. He seemed to have the knack of capturing the humour of the people (like in the Cremation of Sam McGee) as well as his fascination with the land, particularly the winters. He also wrote:
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,
It’s the forest where silence has lease,
It’s the beauty that fills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace
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