From Watson City, we headed up the Dempster Hwy to Tombstone Territorial Park. I learned quite a bit during our stay here. First, there is no such thing as a 1.5 km hike. It is at least 4.5 kms uphill both ways. Second, ‘scat’ does not only refer to a cool singing method. There is more …. much, much more.
As a point of reference, after we had passed through Carmacks (after the Fox Campground), we stopped at the Five Fingers Rapids lookout. Although we were not drunk at the time (it was only noon afterall), we decided to take the stairs down. I always thought a lookout would be stairs up — but not this time. Not only was the temperature about 30° celcius, but the best view was at the top where we had started from! The number of stairs was the equivalent of 21 flights! Luckily for me, there were information boards on each level that I could read (and breathe) on the way back up. Remember this tidbit of information for when I tell you about our second day at Tombstone.
So back to Tombstone. I have mentioned before that Yukon has Territorial campsites of which Tombstone is one are run very well. Tombstone also has a very interesting Interpretive center staffed by very knowledgeable and dedicated people. There were not many visitors here, which was nice for us, but if it wasn’t for covid, Tombstone would have been overrun with tourists. One of the nice things about the territorial campsites is that, if the campsites are full, they allow you to camp in the parking lot and usually have overflow areas. Here is our campsite being visited by this Whiskey Jack who was not shy at all.
Once we were settled in, we headed out on one of these ‘1.5 km walks” that we had been told about at the Interpretive Centre. As we walked along the path, I decided that I would lead so I could see the fantastic views. It wasn’t long before I found I had to push my way through branches and brambles. It turns out that I had found a ‘game trail’ which I had heard about but had never seen. Now I know. Needless to say, I am not the leader any more. We found our way back to the path enjoying the views and the plethora of flowers and plants.
This is lichen which is what cariboo
like to eat
I should point out that it is a very warm day (perhaps about 28°+) so were very surprised to see patches of snow!
We reached the benches as we had been told we would but we couldn’t tell if this was the end of the ‘hike’ we had taken and we couldn’t tell how much further you could walk. All the trees were no more than 6 ft high and they seemed to go on for miles so we decided to head back.
Later on, we went on a nature walk with one of the guides who shared a good deal of information about plants, flowers and the terrain in the area.
More to come … stay tuned …