Monday, July 26, 2010.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!!! Time is 9:05 AM and we are crossing the White River named by Hudson's Bay Company explorer because of the white color of the water; which is due to the volcanic ash. There are millions of dandelions going to seed all over the roadsides growing amongst the purpley-pink seed heads of the fescue grass.
11:00 AM we can see the Kluane Lake. Between 300 and 400 years ago the Kaskawalsh Glacier moved across the Sims River and closed off the drainage for the Kluane Lake. The water rose 30 feet and the drainage reversed its direction. Before the glacier the water flowed south to the Gulf of Alaska. Now, the water flows to the northeast. It made a new channel and flows to the Yukon River. Instead of flowing 140 miles south to the Pacific Ocean; it flows 1400 miles north to the Bering Sea. Now the waters have receded, but the drainage has been permanently altered. The Kluane Mountains are an unbroken chain of mountains up to 8000 feet and are cut by a few valleys from glacier fed rivers and streams. The Duke Depression is a narrow through to the west of the Kluane Mountains that separates it from the St. Elias Mountains. Mount Logan has an elevation of 19,545 feet, which is the highest in Canada.
The Takhini River has a tributary- the Mendenhall River, that flows to Juneau through the Coast Mountains and forms the Mendenhall Glacier we visited in Juneau in June. The are called Takhini Stop was a glacial lake 10,000 years ago; and it was apparently very deep because the edge of the lake is high up in the mountain now. Now white spruce, aspen and birch trees are growing; elk, deer and owl live here; but no moose. We saw some sort of rodent run across the road, maybe a prairie dog.
We stopped in Whitehorse, Yukon at a Walmart. The town was named by the first miners here felt the foaming rapids on the Yukon River looked like white horses manes. The name stuck.
We drove on to arrive at the Continental Divide Lodge where we stayed on May 28th for a night. That was the first time we realized the sun wasn't setting. Before they had just opened for the season and the only flowers were some tiny blue ones close to the ground. Now, there is fireweed all over the place and all of the grasses are really tall. I guess that's what 24 hours of daylight gets you! We washed the RV inside and out. Then we fixed fried halibut strips from scratch with a spicy coating. Really good!!!
So far on the road all we have seen since we've arrived in Canada is the red fox and a prairie dog. No bears or moose. I'm disappointed.
Daddy drove 435 miles today.