A Day in Whitehorse- Wooly Mammoths, Planes, Trains, Trucks, and Yukon Beer

Thursday, July 31, 2014

The early fog rolled out and revealed a beautiful arctic summer day; clear, dry, sunny and warm! We fueled up, dumped and took on water, and drove out to the airport area along the Alaska Highway to check out two museums, The Beringia Interpretive Center, and the Yukon Transportation Museum. Both looked interesting, and since they were offering a reduced price ticket for both together, we checked them out. If the museums were only so-so, we would be quick and head back down the road. If they turned out to be good, we might stick around, find a pub downtown afterwords for grub and the local brew, and stay another night at WalMart.

Kathleen and her lap mammoth

The mosquitoes could tell which one was fiberglass

So, here we sit back at WalMart this evening. You can guess that we found two very well done local museums, and had a good meal! We started with the Beringia Museum. When the rest of the northern hemisphere was covered with ice during the last Ice Age, Alaska, and the Yukon stayed ice free. Because of the huge amount of ice worldwide, the coastal waters receded and more coastline was created, as well as landmasses linked from the British Isles all the way around into North America. The Bering land-bridge formed, and is now known as Beringia. It allowed the animals from Asia to migrate to the ice free portions of North America, and we now have evidence of extinct wooly mammoths, bison, Short-Faced bears, giant beavers, horses, camels, large cats, and antelope. Some of the animals survived until the present; caribou, elk, moose, and ground squirrels.

Map of Beringia

About 1 1/2 times the size of a modern lion

Giant sloths were good hunting and good eating and did not last long when humans arrived

The earliest humans in North America followed the animals across the land-bridge and eventually spread south. Evidence of humans has been found in the northern Yukon and dates to 24,000 years ago. We spent time examining the animal fossils, mummified remains, and remains preserved frozen in the permafrost. Most of the evidence has been uncovered by mining prospectors when they use water cannons to mine the gold-bearing gravel deposits from glacial rivers. The museum also showed an excellent BBC/Discovery Channel film. Great little museum definitely worth the time spent there.

Diorama of Paleonative pit-house

Pleistocene critter that is still here, a musk ox

A few of these arctic antelope remain in Siberia

First Nations sculpture of the Creation Story

Next we walked over to the Yukon Transportation Museum. Out front is the restored DC-3 that is mounted to swivel as a weather vane. Inside was a great display of transportation exhibits, starting with the Klondike Gold Rush, covering boats, sleds, planes, trucks for building the Alaska Highway, snowmobiles, buses, highway equipment, tractors, and all kinds of odds and ends! But, instead of a hodge-podge, it was very well organized and not overwhelming. Everything had to be adapted to the harsh arctic climate. Planes had skis, and the engine oil removed overnight, reheated in the morning and put back in. Vehicles had big tires or tracks. Horses pulled sleighs, but only if it wasn't too cold for them or the passengers. People and goods were transported all seasons of the year by using ingenious means, typical of the people who choose to live in this climate.

The World's Largest Weather Vane. It really rotates!

From Horses to Aircraft

1960's Snow Cat

Bush plane skis

WWII Truck used to build the Alaska Highway

REO restored after 50+ years of use

US Army tundra crawler used in building and maintaining DEW-Line radar stations during the Cold War

1942 Ford tractor just like Grandpop used. Kathleen and brother learned to drive on one!

After our interesting tour we went downtown to the Klondike Rib and Salmon Barbeque. It is housed in the two oldest buildings still in use in Whitehorse. The dining room was originally opened as a tent framed bakery around 1900. We ordered lunch and tried the Yukon Brewery's beers. Their motto is, “Beer worth freezin' for”. Not sure it lived up to that motto, but it was good. More halibut for Greg, and an elk burger for me. A good meal, and we were ready to walk around town. The downtown is only a few blocks. The town has a population of 27,000, the largest town in the Yukon, which has a total population of 36,000. We walked along the bikepath and onto the big, new deck over the Yukon River. The trolley that follows the waterfront shuttled past. The arctic summer days are long, but the summer itself is short. Lots of locals were out walking and biking and mingling with the tourists.

Local Yukon Ale

Yukon Riverfront with old pilings

Whitehorse riverfront trolley and totem pole

Downtown Whitehorse on a beautiful August afternoon

We drove back to WalMart and took the same space we had last night. It seems to be more crowded and noisier tonight. The rigs are warm and people are out cooling off. We are both still up at almost 11 pm, Greg reading without a light. The sun hasn't set. I have finally reached “wired”. My brain chemistry is really off from the long days. Last night I had insomnia and when I did fall asleep I kept waking up. I hope I am tired enough to sleep tonight, even with my “wired” brain. Even Mr. “I can sleep through anything”, is having trouble not getting up at the crack of dawn, which is practically the middle of the night! It will be a relief to finally be farther south and have darkness at night again!