Add another moose to the wildlife list!

We drove the short distance to Pelly Crossing yesterday morning. It is the home of the Selkirk First Nation, and home to the Northern Tutchone native culture. Population of the town is about 300 people.

They have a gas station and store on the highway, as well as the Big Jonathon House Interpretive Centre. And they have a lot of internet access. Except none of them are available to the public!

Some towns are really visitor friendly, and others are not so much. The local community of Pelly Crossing is based on hunting, trapping, fishing and guiding. There is a school, curling rink, baseball field, swimming pool, church, youth center and laundromat. Visitor services include food, gas and lodging. There is one motel, take-out food, a grocery store, gas and diesel, minor vehicle repairs, a campground, post office and bank.

But no internet.

Actually, the girl at the store said there is a library in town, but she wasn't sure where it was (huh?) and of course it wouldn't be open on a Saturday.

I think that in this day and age it should be mandatory for these small towns to offer public internet access. A very small cost in the whole scheme of things. But, I also realize that we are in the middle of nowhere up here and that it's only recently that many of these communities have come online to begin with.

The Klondike Highway.

Yes, we are now in Beringia!

Yukon scenery.

The Big Jonathon House Interpretive Centre.

Some interesting stuff to look at.

 The locals make some very nice stuff!

How would you like to float down the river on this old raft?

The town of Pelly Crossing.

We continued north up the Klondike Highway to the town of Steward Crossing. There, we found fast free public wifi coming from the Yukon Highways Department!

We sat and had our lunch there and got caught up on our internet work. From there, we took a detour! Most people continue north to Dawson City. But we wanted to take a side trip to the original gold rush town... Mayo!

Mayo has a few things going for it that make it worth a visit. First, it really was the first place that had gold fever. Mayo's next claim to fame is that it is the hottest and the coldest place in the Yukon. Record high temperature of 36.1 C (97F) in 1969 and an official Canadian cold record low temperature of -80C (-112F) in 1947.

Here's some interesting reading about Canada's Coldest Day

And, it's off the beaten path and we like to see off the beaten path kinds of places!

It's only 50 kms (30 miles) off the Klondike Highway. The route out here is called the Silver Trail.

Yesterday's drive, 203 kms (126 miles).

We were driving slowly along the Silver Trail, at about 70 km/h (43 mph). There's hardly any traffic, so it's easy for someone to pass us should they want to. Suddenly, Ruth says "oh! There's an animal. I'm not sure what it was though...)

I managed to quickly pull off the highway at a viewpoint. We got out and had a look.

Can you see the moose that Ruth spotted from the highway?!

Here... I'll zoom in for you!

So, we can add another moose to the wildlife list!

We stopped a little further up at the Devil's Elbow pulloff to do the short half hour hike up the hillside to the lookout.

Apparently this is grizzly bear territory as well. The sign at the lookout said "Grizzly bears like to eat the plants on hillsides facing the sun... just like this one!"

View from the lookout.

The Silver Trail is paved as far as Mayo. 

After that it becomes gravel road to Keno City.

The Stewart River.

We made it to Mayo!

View of the Stewart River in Mayo.

We stopped at the Binet House which is now the visitors centre here. We spoke to the lady there who is originally from Australia, but has live here in Mayo for 20 years! It turns out there is lots to see and do here, but hardly anybody comes here. She lamented the fact that one day last summer, Dawson City logged 1,500 visitors, while Mayo had 2.

Well, that's why we're here! To show people what they're missing!

But, that will be tomorrow's post.

There are two free campgrounds in Mayo. One right in town, and one near the entrance to town. We drove back to that one and got a beautiful site by the river. We were the only ones there until two pickup truck campers pulled in with British Columbia plates. They went and parked way on the far side.

Sherman, camping for free at GPS 63.604791, 135.901527

So, today we will explore Mayo, and depending on how much we find we will attempt the gravel road to Keno City!

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