Day 6 - Pussycat, Pussycat I love you, deed I do!
You have probably noticed that all the titles are lines or titles of songs. Today's quote from Tom Jones' "What's New Pussycat!" is in homage to the two beautiful Lynx we saw today. The first we got a good view of and he was just lovely and the second was a quick look of a furry body racing across the road! Neither of these cats wanted to stick around for photo ops! We also saw a cinnamon coloured black bear, a grouse and her chick, a red fox, a little pika and heard the call of a loon at Twin Lakes. It had been a bit of a drought animal wise so it was wonderful to experience so much in one day.
Today, we traveled up the Klondike Highway towards Dawson City. We stopped on the Marge of Lake Laberge (of Cremation of Sam Magee fame) and visited with Earl's friend Tracie who runs Mom's Bakery. Some of the scenery up this highway is stunning with mirror lakes and mountain peaks. Today, it was very hazy as there is a very large forest fire about 40 km NE of the highway. In some places, you could smell and taste the smoke in the air!
We stopped at twin lakes to take some amazing photo's of the mirror-like water and reflections and at Montague House which is the last remaining relic of the roadhouses which offered lodging and meals on the stagecoach rout between Whitehorse and Dawson City in the early 1900's way before the highway was pushed through.
We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the Silver Trail. This is a mining corridor first explored in the late 1800's. At first it was the cry of gold that brought people to the communities now know as Keno City and Mayo. But later it was the silver mines and they still operate today. An interesting stop in Mayo is the Binet House. This museum has artefacts and history of the early miners and development of the area. Our guide was an engaging young man studying Geology at Mount Royal in Calgary. His passion and interest in the history and mining of the area made the information come alive.
We headed for Keno City which at one time had a vibrant population but is now down to 20 residents. The museum was closed already but we had fun at the Snack Bar with its quirky signs and trip down memory lane. One of the highlights of this area is the trip up Keno HIll to an elevation of 6,000 feet but about three quarters of the way up our car decided to be unhappy, overheat and 'throw-up' transmission fluid! We carefully backed down the hill till we could turn around and crawled down the hill. We found someone to sell us some transmission fluid and slowly wind our way back to Mayo. At the campground and hotel there, a heavy-duty mechanic "Dan" happened to be visiting his in-laws and was able to look at our truck. He said that we should be okay with a transmission fluid flush and new fluid but he is looking at it more carefully this morning. Hopefully, the news is still good and we can continue our journey!
We went to bed swatting the mosquitoes (there is not a single mosquito in the Yukon ~ they are all married with very large and hungry families!) Hopefully the morning will bring good news about our vehicle and the adventure will continue.
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