Yukon, Ho!

Evidentally we cannot get cell service in Canada, so we've been unable to post for a week. We finally found an Internet Cafe this afternoon in Dawson City, YT. We entered Yukon Territory on Tuesday. Our stop at Watson Lake included the signpost forest seen at left. Tuesday night was spent awake dealing with an intruder, a mouse! Not good to have a mouse in your van full of food. At 3:00 a.m. we were repacking all of our food into the storage bins, and making all sorts of noise (the kids did not wake up at all). Wednesday we entered Whitehorse (Yukon's capital), did laundry, food shopping, and trip to Wal-Mart for mouse traps. By this time Tyler had named the mouse Freddie, and was hoping he would escape, unharmed. Phil, however, wanted vengence for his night of sleeplessness. He caught the mouse within an hour. Life is good.

We've seen several bears along the roadside, eating grubs and grass. Pictures will be under the British Columbia album. Yesterday we spent the day in Keno City (population 20), an old mining town. We drove up to Keno hill and explored a couple of old mine sites. Everyone we've met has been super friendly, and we get lots of comments on the van (sa-weet, wicked, rad, etc.), but as we get closer to Alaska we're seeing a lot of German travelers in their Unimogs (don't know if I spelled that right). These people ship their vehicles over from Europe and travel North America for several years at a time.

Next stop, Tok, Alaska.

Finally, a bear!

We saw this cute little guy returning from our drive/hike up to Salmon Glacier. We were driving along, and Phil saw leaves falling from a tree. As he slowed to check it out, we came around a corner to greet a small black bear in the middle of the road. He immediately went into the brush, but Phil discovered this bear up high in the tree. The bear was eating a berry-like substance off the branches. We were later told he was probably eating buds, since berries are not out yet. Whatever it was, he was totally making a mess of the tree.
After our laundry stop in Smithers, BC, we camped at Seely Lake Prov. Park. It rained on and off that afternoon and evening, and the next morning was more of the same. There are many Native Canadians in this part of BC, and every village/town has an Indian name (so I won’t try to spell any here). We turned onto the Cassair Hwy to head toward Stewart, which is an old mining town on the border with the Alaskan town of Hyder (“The friendliest ghost town in America”), population of “about 100 happy people.” We camped in Stewart, and drove over thru Hyder and on up to the Salmon Glacier. The road was blocked ½ way up the glacier, so we had to hoof it from there. Although we didn’t reach the summit (lots of snow), it was pretty incredible.