By the time we left Carmacks only one other RV was still in the campground, something we are getting used to. We stopped at the Fox Lake Burn rest area, which we did not stop at on the way north, but didn't take the trail since we wanted to have some afternoon time in Whitehorse.
We decided that if we ever come back to Alaska we should schedule more time for going up to Dawson City and do more in Dawson. Our friend Gypsy John really enjoyed taking the Yukon Queen to Eagle, AK for example (see his June 2005 adventures here with three pdfs on the Yukon Queen).
After 113 miles we stopped at Mountain Ridge Motel and RV Park for a three night stay. The sites are larger than the ones we had at Pioneer RV Park on our last stay in Whitehorse. The owner asked us to try the Wi-Fi before setting up the dish so we did, but again could not send email on any of our accounts. Our neighbor had also had the same problem at the last campground they tried in the Yukon. The campground owner was unhappy, this not being able to send email is a new problem and he was paying for the highest level of commercial service. We set up the dish and could send email.
We went into town and got a tourist three day parking pass and paid for a bus/train combination tour of Skagway on Wednesday the 21st. We also picked up some salad fixings since we needed them for dinner.
On the way back from town we took the cut off for Miles Canyon.
The next day we visited the Beringia Interpretive Centre, dedicated to the land that was the Bering Land Bridge but also extended into the Yukon during the ice ages. The sea was lower and large animals roamed what is mostly sea bottom today.
The female mammoth statue is based on a skeleton found by following a First Nations tale that took them right to the skeleton. The First Nations in the Yukon have stories that directly correlate with Beringia history.
Inside there were movies, displays and we each tried our hand with an atatl, used to throw spears. It was a very interesting museum, we learned a lot.
For lunch we tried Taste of India and it was actually quite good, a 3 star. The lunch buffet was all vegetarian with each dish spiced differently and it was all good tasting. Indian food in the Yukon, who would have thunk it. Off the menu they have chicken and meat dishes.
Here is the Wal-Mart parking lot in Whitehorse, loaded with RVs for the night:
Wal-Mart has designated overnight parking for RVs:
Early on June 21st we took a bus/train tour of Skagway
We now had our mail and were ready to head into the main part of Alaska.