Waking up amidst the blowing flowers and the sounds of the babbling brook outside we made a small breakfast and headed into Whitehorse to explore the town for the afternoon. While walking along the rows of buildings and taking many pictures of the local murals, we snooped through the local museums, camera and outdoorsy shops and pubs. One of ours stops consisted of a trolley car ride through the city along the Yukon River. While the sounds of it were promising, the ride itself could have been a lot more scenic. The train operators were friendly and informative but the tour was basically a up close view of the construction sites, which did not make for a very picturesque ride. Fifty minutes later we decided it was time for a well needed a beer, so we went to the local Inn for a chicken burger, spinach salad and some locally brewed draught.
After seeing much of Whitehorse we decided to check out Miles Canyon. This was a beautiful place with some crazy colors. Ricki had the bright idea to take some pictures of some orange moss on the canyon ledge, and while walking back up her flip-flop fell deep inside a chasm, never to be seen again. While losing a flip-flop was bad enough for her, I was the unfortunate soul who had to piggy back her all the way back to the car.
We decided it would be best to go buy some new ones so we stopped at the local Wal-mart. In the parking lot we managed to find another Land Cruiser with the same tent, SPOT GPS, and First Aid Kit. They were also carrying a cat and dog…which made Ricki quite jealous. After exchanging some windshield notes it turned out to be another member of the IH8MUD forum.
Across the parking lot we also saw another expedition vehicle, this one was from Germany and the couple is on their 14th month of their expedition. During our quick stay in Whitehorse we have seen A LOT of land cruisers, they seem to be everywhere we look and most of them are diesel (so jealous). Which makes me wonder if mine is ever going to be back from the shop? After taking some pictures we got some groceries at a local organic shop and headed towards our campsite. While the first campsite was not suitable for our roof top tent we headed north to Tahkini Hot Springs where we set up camp for the night. Here we also enjoyed an hour long soak in the mineral pools that were heated by the local lava flows deep underground. The pool was 45.6 degrees Celsius and felt great after many days in the driver seat and exploring the local backwoods. Our dinner consisted of an amazing stew that we cooked in a cast iron Dutch oven which we finally found at the dollar store after search every camping store we could find from here to the island.
· 2 cups water
· ¼ cup chopped potatoes
· ¼ cup chopped onions
· ¼ cup chopped carrots
· ¼ cup chopped celery
· ¼ cup cubed gypsy salami
· 3 cloves minced garlic
· ¼ cup chopped zucchini
· 2 tbsp sun dried tomato paste
· ½ cup white basmati rice
· Italian seasoning
· Vegetable OXO
· And a whole lotta love.
