I was happy to get today off, but not so much as when I realised that, hey, my day off coincided with my one year anniversary of being on the road! I didn’t hesitate to pack up a picnic and head back up the Dempster to Tombstone to see the fall colours! I was a little bit late as the colours are fading, but I did manage to get a few good shots. I also decided to rehike the Grizzly Creek Trail, sans 30lb pack, and discovered along the way that I’m sick and tired of climbing UP and I need a break from climbing mountains. 😀 To add to my disappointment, the pictures I took from the summit are all washed out and don’t do justice to the landscape. Bah. 🙂
En route, I stopped at the Klondike River Lodge for a coffee and ran into my Chilkoot guides yet again! Not much later, I ran into my cyclist friends whom I’d met on the Top of the World highway. What a small world for such big country!
On the way back, I picked up a young guy I’d met at the camping this week. He looks like a complete punk, but he had wowed me with his impeccable manners. I hate to judge a book by its cover, but I wouldn’t have picked him up had I not met him before. I’m glad I did because he had the funniest story to tell. We somehow got on the subject of stupid questions tourists asked and his favourite was “What do you guys do with the ice bridge?” To which he replied: “We take a big saw and cut it up into chunks. Every resident of Dawson has to keep at least three chunks in their freezer all summer and then the bridge is reassembled the next winter.” Hee hee!
It was a grey, drizzly day, but, still, what a spectacular anniversary!
This map showing the elevation change for the Grizzly Creek Trail was not up when I first hiked here. Had it been, I’m not sure I would have ventured up with my 30lb pack! It’s actually not that far off from the elevation change from Sheep Camp to the summit, but it’s STEEPER!
there was another one of these guys hanging out by itself in the bushes
okay, this was worth the climb 🙂
Ah, stupid tourist stories.
1) Our son once worked in a fancy restaurant in Victoria. Looking out the window at the horse drawn carriages, the ST asked, “How much do the horse drawn carriages cost?” My son: ” It depends where you want to go or how long you want to ride”. ST: “We want to go all the way around the Island”. My son: “Well, there is no road all the way around the Island, but even if there was I think it would take a couple of weeks”.
2) A group of ST’s in the same restaurant ate a huge meal with deserts and wine. It was a very large bill and one female ST was in charge of paying. When the waiter dropped off the bill she asked, “Have you already converted the bill to USA dollars?” Thinking quickly the waiter answered, “Oh yes mam, we automatically convert the bill to the currency of whatever nationality the customer is”. The ST was very pleased with this, paid the $300+ Canadian bill with $300+ USA dollars and left a large tip for the accommodating waiter. The exchange rate at that time was about 30%. They shared tips there so it was a big night for all the staff.
Croft: I would have been impressed if your son replied “We have floating carriages and horses that swim to do that.” 😀 As for the money, it’s technically theft, but such sweet justice. LOL!
To Rae: Those are amazing pictures!! They remind me of Eastern Autumn. I find Western Autumn to be mostly gold and orange, but they really are spectacular when you throw in vibrant reds!!
To Croft & Rae: Having worked in the Legislature in Victoria, I can relate to the ST input. One asked me if the Legislature was the city hall, or the government house for the whole province of Vancouver. You just can’t answer straight on those questions. It would be nearly a form of comedic injustice. I just said that it was just city hall. They had to put the government building underground for confidentiality issues.
Donna: I really missed the bright reds last fall! You’re right, these colours are similar to those back east.
I love the idea of our underground government bunker. Bwa ha ha!
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