Date: 11 June 2001 (Monday)

Start: Trail of ’98 RV Park, Whitehorse YT

End: Cottonwood RV Park, Destruction Bay YT (147 miles)

It was 51f with a few clouds when we got up. It was another beautiful morning.

We ran over to Haines Junction (not a very big place, as it turns out). It has a nice little visitor’s center emphasizing the Kluane (clue-on-eee) Lake District and the glaciers in the area.

The Kluane range borders the St Elias range in Canada and the US closer to the coast, which contains many mountains over 15,000 feet.

Going north out of Haines Junction, we encountered a 30km long construction zone that at times had us moving at a crawl in a single file of RV’s, trucks, and a few cars.

Just after that, you get the first look at Kluane Lake, another large beautiful mountain lake. You circle around the south end, and proceed up the west side of the lake.

About 50 miles north of Haines Junction, we pulled into our place for the night, Cottonwood RV Park and Campground. It is a nice place with beautiful views of the lake and the mountains. We parked in our site so we can see out the rear the view to the south end of the lake and the south end of the Kluane mountains. Out the table (curb) side the view is across the lake to the Ruby Range, and out the other side from the couch the view is up into the two lower mountains across the road from the campground.

We were warned that there is a grizzly in the area and that he has been spotted several times around the campground. We didn't see him.

Dolores was startled by the lack of birds seen today. Much of the area we went through was burned in the 1950’s. Very little rain falls in this corner of the Yukon (Whitehorse gets less than 9" per year of precipitation). The coastal mountains take out all the moisture before the wind can blow it inland. So it takes years for the forest to replenish itself. Visitors are asked not to pick wildflowers or other living things for this reason.

We’re just relaxing this afternoon, reading, and taking hikes around the campground and the lakeshore.

No animals were sighted today until we got to the campground. There, we found an arctic ground squirrel during one of our walks. Not the largest animal we’ve seen, but an animal.

The truck and trailer are getting dusty from the construction zones. We’ll have to wash them the first chance we get.

Today is our last day in the Yukon going in this direction. Tomorrow we’ll be in Alaska.