Whitehorse to Ross River - Yukon Territory

We arrived in Whitehorse by mid-afternoon with sufficient daylight to allow some (not enough) time to explore the city.

Despite its small size (relative to most of the provinces of Canada), Whitehorse has a real cosmopolitan feel. My brief walk of the city turned up art studios and frame shops, the Yukon Visitors Center, internet cafes and various shops to suit every need.

Whitehorse is the capital of Yukon Territory, and with a population of over 24,000 it is the largest city in all of the three Canadian territories: Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut. Whitehorse accounts for almost 3/4 of the entire population of the territory, but despite having the main population center, it has the smallest land mass (by far) of the three territories.

To give you some idea of just how desolate the entire region that comprise three territories is, consider that: 1) the land area of the three territories is larger than that of the 48 contiguous United States of America, 2) the official web site of the Yukon communities lists only 18 communities for the entire territory and 5) the total population of the three territories is less than 106,000. It is not unusual to drive 40-50 miles and never even see a house.

The snowmobile plans continue to be in a state of flux; from Whitehorse we traveled back towards Watson Lake to Johnson's Crossing, in order to pick the trail to snowmobile to Ross River.

It was scheduled to be a long day for snowmobile riders and chase vehicle drivers alike, and in that regard we were not disappointed. The riders would take the summer roads to Ross River and the chase vehicle drivers would drive the longer route around by returning to Whitehorse, driving north to Carmacks, then turn west to Ross River.

From my perspective as a chase vehicle driver it was a beautiful scenic route that followed along the Yukon River, but it was not without some confusion. After stopping to capture a photo of the captivating scenery, I lost the track the rest of the caravan. Frustrated, a bit confused and fearing that the snowmobile riders might, in fact, need some assistance, I passed up scenic shots that I would have normally paused to appreciate. As it turned out, there was little to worry about; I arrived at Ross River after dark, only minutes behind the other drivers and well ahead of the snowmobilers.

For their part the snowmobile riders had a long and very tough day; by all accounts they went from sled-to-sled taking turns being "pulled-off" the trail by the unforgiving snow conditions. They arrived at the Ross River Hotel at about 11:30 Pm, and although they were obviously tired from their long day, there was not a sour word to be heard - it was all part of the bargain!

The First Day - Alaska Bound

Our day is done (the road crew, the chase vehicles, the trailer haulers or what ever you call us), but the snowmobile riders are still on the trail. It is now 6:00 P.M., and they are not expected to arrive at the motel before 9:00 P.M.

The day began on a sad note; three snowmobiles were stolen from the motel parking lot over night. All the plans, hopes and dreams were spoiled by some unfeeling and uncaring individuals who placed there personal interests above all others. I trust they are proud of themselves.

In spite of everyone's sympathy, "the show must go on," and so, it did; and right on schedule the 24 riders (joined by a host of 25-30 other riders who riding part way to Canadian border in North Dakota) made their way down and around the I-500 track before striking out on the trail.

With the snowmobiles on the trail it was time for the drivers to hook up the trailers and begin their own journey. Unfortunately, that turned out to be more of a task than it should have been.

When I went to hook up the truck/trailers rig that I was driving for Bill Bradfield (the organizer of the trip and President of MichCanSka), I discovered the key to unlock the trailer coupler would not work. Whether the key was the wrong key or the padlock was frozen, I may never know. After driving to the local hardware store to buy a hack saw, I returned to the trailer to find that the other drivers had already removed the padlock with a hand grinder. The problem was solved.

The rest of the day has been pretty uneventful. We arrived at Paradise expecting to meet the pack of snowmobiles, only to find that they had passed through Paradise without stopping, now more than, ten minutes earlier.

Having missed them at Paradise, we elected to not drive the 40 miles (round trip) to Grand Marais, out of the fear that history would repeat itself and we would miss them once again.

We now know that we were wrong in our thinking and were not accounting for the amount of time that it would take to fuel up some 50 to 60 snowmobiles and feed their riders as well.

This problem will soon disappear - we expect to have no more 30 sleds in the group by the time we reach Wisconsin.