| In comparison with fixing
the road over the permafrost, fixing the bridges is easy. The rivers are
large but the construction is straightforward. The problem is that the
window for working is quite short. They only have about 90 frost free days a
year. |  |
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Who knows if this is a lake or a river. It is sometimes difficult to tell.
However this is a very common landscape as we now travel largely east along
the Yukon border with BC at this point. |
| The alternative
landscape. There are billions of trees and little evidence of active
forestry. |  |
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There is a lot of permafrost in this area so many of the trees are very
stunted. I've no idea how old they are. The road here is in terrible shape. |
| When the permafrost melts
it causes a shallow lake and drowns the trees thus further decreasing the
stability of the land. The road affects the permafrost. They are researching
all sorts of methods for building stable roads in this environment. |  |
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This is one idea. The ducts channel cold air down into the ground to prevent
the permafrost from melting. |
| This is the true fireweed
which is now in full bloom. It starts blooming at the bottom and rises to
the top. When the blooming is finished winter will begin, around the end of
August! |  |
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The clouds and the still lakes do give rise to some good photo
opportunities. |
| Another example. I'm
always surprised at how little wind there is in places I would expect it.
And then it spoils it by blowing a gale! |  |
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It was obviously one of those days. |
| But we moved on. The
water is very shallow and seeds and vegetation grow on it. Again this is
probably permafrost melt. |  |
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Then before you know it you are back to trees - as far as the eye can see.
Tall slender spruce suggest this is quite old forest. |
| Then down into the next
valley and another wide shallow river with braided channels. |  |
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It looks OK but I have to tell you it is not and there is about 300 miles of
this from Tok to Whitehorse. Best speed is around 25mph. Faster and you will
lose the contents of your cupboards and risk breaking something more
serious. |
| Kluane Lake is huge and
you drive alongside it for miles. We had planned to stop at Destruction Bay
about halfway down but we didn't like the look of the site. So we went
another 25 miles to Cottonwood where we stayed for three days. |  |
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When this is the view from the RV it is time to stop and smell the flowers
even if there aren't any. |
| The mountains at the foot
of the lake. The lake marks the eastern edge of the Wrangell/St Elias/Kluane
National Park. |  |
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The sunsets were spectacular although you have to realise that this was the
view at midnight! |
| We had a lakeside spot
and there was sunshine all day and very little wind although it did get up a
bit in the evenings. |  |
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Shepherds delight but usually much earlier than it is here. |
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