After a leisurely breakfast we wandered along wide quiet streets to the information centre. A map with lots of circles around places to visit was given to us and away we went. First stop the centre to book our train trip. We tried to book online but the website assumed we were starting in Skagway even though the pamphlet said the trip started in Whitehorse. The booking office looked closed. Heavy wooden door tightly closed. Once around the building and back to the wooden door which opened magically this time. The person behind the counter, smiled and said "we have told them the website needs improving" and that was that. We paid for our tickets and were told we needed to present our passports and ESTAs before they would hand them over. A job for another day.
The city is flat, a bikers heaven. Bicycle racks of many shapes and sizes are scattered around.
Along the path beside the Yukon river (river loops trail) and past the beach volleyball courts, we saw marmots (the cutest little rodent that mimics many of the antics of meerkats), ducks, small grey squirrels while bald headed eagles flew above. One was playing a chasing game with a rook (not sure if the rook was enjoying it). After a while they both settled on crags of rock and after a fairly long stare out the rook flew off, the eagle obviously tired and not keen to continue the chase.
The Yukon river swiftly flows for 3,185 kilometers starting in British Columbia and ending at the Bering Sea. Currents seem to flow in all directions, with a few rapids and whirlpools. I couldn't imagine the river completely covered in ice and breaking up as winter turns to spring.
A picture of a frozen Yukon river https://niche-canada.org/2018/12/13/freeze-up-on-the-yukon-river/
Up at the dam the river pours out of the outlets sending spray high in the air. Apparently, Whitehorse was given its name due to the 10 kilometres of rapids (likened to a stampede of white horses) that needed to be navigated before coming to the town.
The salmon ladder is closed on Sundays (try telling the salmon that)!. It was pretty impressive providing an upward climb and I imagine a lot easier that trying to navigate the fast flowing outflow from the dam. We read in a local paper that chinook salmon are now "functionally extinct". Only 130 travelled up the river to the lake to spawn last season and so far they have counted only 78 this year.
We returned to Whitehorse via the bridge, and sat outside waiting for a pub to open at 3. Sure enough as the clock chimed (metaphorically), the doors opened and people flocked for the iced tea (us) and wine (them). The music was good (starting with Royal by Lorde), and so was the food so we spent a couple of hours sitting in the shade, reading (NZ mentioned in an article about the Tongan eruption), playing games and revisiting our adventures of the day.
Another wander down wide, lonely streets. Past the oldest church built in 1900, and the threee storey log cabin (for years the tallest building in Whitehorse).
Then it was time to fill in the ESTA forms (while hoping for a quick turnaround).
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