To learn more about Whitehorse Conglomerates click here for their web site:
Beez Kneez Hostel
Whitehorse, Yukon
Canada
June 13 & 14
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(Journal:  June 13  5PM)
          Woke up in Watson Lake at 2:15 AM.  It was light out.  Couldn't get back to sleep.
          Later, heard a couple drops of rain on my tent.   I jumped up and was packed and ready to leave by 5 AM.  Drove to Whitehorse.  
          Drove all day again.  Arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon around 3PM.  Exhausted.  Couldn't decide what to do.  I had come to a split in the road (the only split).  I could either continue north toward Fairbanks (which was STILL a long way to go--about 600 hard miles) or I could take the only other road--it lead south towards Haines, Alaska.
          This was my last chance to turn, head south, and still make it to Alaska.  I could even catch a ferry in Haines and take it all the way to Bellingham, Washington.  Nothing to worry about, relax, sleep, enjoy the cruise--the heck with the cost.
Again...
Doubts & Second Thoughts...
          Or, I could keep going.  All the way! I'd never be back here again.  Now's my chance to see the REAL Alaska!  Go north!  Go north!  So it won't be easy--I can do it!
          This was a big decision.  Had to think about it.  Stopped in a small restaurant.  Ordered coffee through blurry eyes.  Checked out my maps.  Looked through my hostel books.  There were no hostels listed in Whitehorse in either of the two books that I had with me.  At least if I had someplace close to sleep, I could make my decision in the morning.  According to the hostel book, the next closest hostel was in Dawson City--too far to drive tonight.  Needed to do more thinking.  Was feeling kind of down.  Was really considering go
Above:  Newly opened Beez Kneez Hostel, Whitehorse.
Below:  My bunk.   Ahhhh...Sleep!
Beez Kneez Hostel
408 Hoge Street
Whitehorse, Canada
Not in Book--just opened
          Found a phone booth, and called my son, Luciano, at work just to say, "Hello", tell him where I was, and the decision that I was trying to make.  Sometimes it helps to talk to someone else.  His co-worker answered the phone.  Luciano wasn't in the office.  So I asked the man to tell Luciano that his mother called to say, "Hello from Whitehorse in the Yukon."
          Decided to drive a little ways into Whitehorse to see what it looked like.  Maybe if I found someplace to stay, I'd stay.  Then, like a miracle, I saw a very little sign low on the roadside.  It said, "Hostel" and pointed toward Whitehorse!  That was it!  That was all I needed to decide whether or not I was going to take the road south to Haines or stay on the road north to Fairbanks.  Fairbank it was!
Left:  The Yukon River.  Photo taken from the dock in Whitehorse.
Below:  The "Klondike" on the Yukon.
Left:  Visited the "Beringia" Interpretive Center just outside Whitehorse..
Nope, it's a Woolly Mammoth.
          Above & Right:  After I left Whitehorse and headed towards Dawson City, I drove by mile after mile of forests devestated by wildfires.  ALL the vegetation was destroyed.  And this was from a fire that happened DECADES ago!  I read that it takes an extremely long time for the forests of the far north to recover because there is such a short summer season.
Above:  Whitehorse Trough Conglomerate
What's that?  There's one in the picture on the right--that big "rock thing" that had my car parked in front of it.
Left:  Further up the road I stopped restaurant/general store for a cup of coffee.  The store was also the "Official Check Point for the Yukon Quest Dog Sled Race. 
          Left:  If these dogs look like they were in "attack mode", the were!  I now know where the phrase, 'let sleeping dogs lie' comes from.  Here's what happened.  When I walked into the store for coffee, the dogs were fine and friendly when I walked by them.
          When I came out of the store and saw them quietly asleep on the porch I just had to take their picture.  So I crouched down, pointed my camera.  Snap!  They moved so fast I caught them in "mid-attack".  But they didn't bite.  They just jumped up, lungd at me showing their teeth and placed their growling muzzels firmly against my thigh.  I froze and let out a little yelp of my own!  The owner ran out and got the dogs by the collar.  I explained that it was my fault.  I should have thought ahead that it might startle them to wake up to someone kneeling down about 2 feet from them and flashing a light in their faces.  No harm done.  I'll never do that again.
To learn more about Whitehorse Conglomerates click here for their web site: