North to Alaska #12b–Whitehorse part 2

Cutting it short a bit, tried to leave Whitehorse the next morning, only to discover this.

Apparently there was an accident–truck overturned–at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and the Klondike Highway, which goes north to Dawson City.  First the delay was “2-3 hours”, so I went into town for groceries and diesel.  But when I got back to this point, the delay was “another 6 hours”, so I gave up and went back to a campground, a different one that was a bit nicer in that they had a spot in amongst trees that worked for me.

In the end, it was a good thing.  I napped most of the afternoon and slept well all nght–I think I’d been needing a down day.

The next morning, having previously decided that as part of my dedication to touristing I wanted to do the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, I stopped on my way out of town, and did the walking version.  Lots of pictures–won’t try to post them all or Verizon will cut me off.  Because I was well rested, it was a lovely morning, and the animals didn’t look too miserable.  Though they were all shedding.

I particularly wanted to see the musk ox.  They were just lying around when I went by the first time, but my presence seemed to bother some of them, so I didn’t stand and stare as long as I would have liked.  This was true for several of the other animals too–it seemed rude to stay there making them nervous.

Anyway, musk ox.

The woman who checked me in told me there were babies–musk ox, elk, and caribou.  Later, on my way back, off in the distance, I caught a glimpse of the mamas and baby musk ox.  I think.  Took this way zoomed in with the camera.

The elk were right by the parking lot/entry.

Bison.  Nice to be able to see them up close, but it was more thrilling to see them by the side of the road.

Mule deer.  Have seen plenty of them over the years.  In fact, this year there’s been a small group living in the gorge by my house who visit every now and then.

Thinhorn sheep.

Mountain goats.  They were the most active of the animals, so I watched them for some time, and even took some video.  Not exciting enough to post, though.  This big dude was after the hay stored in the shed, I think.

Most active of the large, captive animals, that is.  There were these ground critters (gophers?  Ground squirrels?) running around.  This guy was extra fat and came up to me and chittered before running off when i was unresponsive–I suspect people have fed him in the past.

And of course there were birds.  A ways past the mountain goats there were several of these, though this is the only one I saw or got a picture of.

I spent some time with my bird app trying to identify it, but couldn’t be sure. Might be some kind of phalarope?  The call was loud and distinctive, and not quite like any of the birds in the app.

Caribou.  Babies were cute and awkward-looking. 

The road climbed a bit, and I got to soak in a couple of vistas all by myself, since the other walkers had gone around the other way.

Their map indicated they had a few predators (lynx, fox, I forget what else), and there was evidence of dens for them, but none were in evidence.  

Altogether, it was worth the extra day, not only to experience this, but to be rested and fresh enough to really enjoy it.