World Canada Yukon Haines Junction

Our Alaska Adventure

Haines Junction, Yukon Territory Jul 4, 2010

Sunday, July 4, 2010 Happy Fourth of July! After we put our side tables, hassock, etc. away I had time to finally vacuum before Rick disconnected the electricity. We left later than usual on purpose. With only 97 miles to go we felt we could stay a little longer. The Park was almost empty by the time we were ready to leave. It was so much easier to get out of our site than when we had arrived. We pulled straight ahead to the site in front of us and were able to hook-up the car. After stopping in the Park office to tell them that we were leaving site 101, we were once again on Highway 1 at 10:15 am. It had just started to sprinkle. We felt lucky it had waited until we were ready to go. The temperature was 53˚ and it was very cloudy. As Rick was driving he kept checking that the wet bay door was staying closed. As we passed the Whitehorse Airport we saw an airplane that is a weathervane. It was a DC-3, spins on a pole and points into the wind. It was put in place in 1988, taken down for a paint job in 1998, and reinstalled in September 2001. A couple of blocks later we stopped at Fas Gas for diesel. We purchased 177.6 liters at $1.06 Canadian per liter. As we drove on the Alaska Highway, Highway 1, we were surprised to see some areas of large sandy patches. The road was especially bumpy on this day! Along side the road were 6 horses grazing. We think they may have been wild because no fences were around for miles. The further we drove the less forest we were seeing. There were more deciduous trees. The fireweed was especially pretty. We were seeing a bit more snow on the mountains. Around 23 miles from Haines Junction there were more evergreens again. At 12:20 pm we drove into the Kluane RV Kampground in Haines Junction, Yukon. It was cloudy and 64˚. We had decided to stay in Haines Junction so Rick wouldn’t have to drive so far between Whitehorse and Tok, Alaska. It would have been 394 miles. We had had another day of no wildlife sightings except for 1 crow and the horses. Haines Junction has a population of 840 with an elevation of 2150’. Many of the residents drive to Whitehorse to work. The town “lies within the traditional homeland of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Southern Tutchone people who have lived in the area for thousands of years. Originally known as Dakwakada (High Cache), it’s more recent history began in 1942 with the construction of the Alaska Highway, the following year, a branch road was built over Chilkat Pass to connect with Haines, Alaska.” In 1072 the Kluane (clue-aw-nee) National Park Reserve “was designated with the headquarters centered in Haines Junction…In 1980, Kluane National Park and Reserve was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a globally significant mountain wilderness. This wilderness includes Canada’s highest mountain, Mount Logan at 5959 meters and one of the largest non-polar icefields in the world.” Within this area are large concentrations of Dall sheep, grizzly bears, black bears, moose, caribou, mountain goats, lynx, coyotes, and wolves. “Some of the geological features include glacier created sand dunes and dust storms, and a large delta in Kluane Lake created by glacial silt deposits from the Kaskawulsh Glacier.” We had seen these sand dunes on our drive to Haines Junction. Today, the area is mainly supported by tourism. We almost had an uneventful day! After parking, the first thing Rick noticed was we had a radiator leak of some sort. He didn’t know if it was from the radiator or from one of the hoses. With it being a Sunday there was no one available in Haines Junction to help us with our problem. The woman in the Park’s office said that someone from Triple S Service could come Monday morning. Another UGH!!! We removed everything from the left side of our closet. On the floor is a hatch that opens to the upper portion of the engine compartment. From there Rick could see that the hoses were okay. We must have had a leak. He went back to the Park’s office and bought Radiator Stop Leak. He started the engine and put some in the radiator’s reserve tank. When he looked under the hatch again he didn’t see any sprouting coolant. Even though there was no internet or cell service, the stop here was well worth it. The view from the front of the motorhome was spectacular! There were several glaciers and gorgeous green meadows. We were looking at the Kluane Mountain Range. What a life! The selections on the cable TV were interesting. There was an old movie channel and 4 sports stations. I spent the afternoon writing information into our journal about the various towns we had visited. Rick kept checking the drip. It finally stopped about 7:30 pm. We think this was because all of the coolant was gone. Because of where the tank is located, you can’t see inside of it. About this time the clouds parted and the sun made the mountains look even more magnificent! We went outside and took some more pictures. It seemed strange not to be hearing any fireworks and seeing the Fireworks displays on TV on this Fourth of July.

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