June 3, Carmack and Pelly Crossing

We started out on the Klondike Highway this morning, passing through many burn areas. There have been many forest fires in the area dating back from the 60's to a very large one in 1998.  It was interesting to see how the forests had rejuvenated.

                                           The brownish colors are part the huge forest fire.

One they way a"cinnamon bun" alert when up and we stopped at  the Cinnamon Bun Strip for a taste comparison.  Can you believe the size of this bun??

Of course, we split it four ways and we were stuffed!! It was a lot more gooey than the last one but on the hand almost too sweet. I think we will keep searching.

                                                     In case you are wondering, its the name of the air strip.

We stopped at Five Finger Rapids.  This was the most challenging part of the river for the stern wheelers.  They had to maneuver the channels and not crash into the rocks.  There is a long, very long, stair case and trail down to the river.  It was worth the walk.  I am amazed that the large stern wheelers could get through the channels.

                                           The stern wheelers maneuvered  through the channel at the bottom. Looks pretty scary to me.  At one point some of the rocks were blasted to make the channel larger.

                                 The stairs leading down to the trail.  There were more but I couldn't get them all in the picture.

It had been raining in Whitehorse when we left , and  it continued to rain off and on all day.  Pelly Crossing was about 180 miles which was an ambitious goal for us but we made it.  We found a free campground at Pelly Crossing.  Our guide book and other information indicated a free campground and it being free didn't expect much.  It turned out to be really nice. It was located right on the river.  We checked with the Heritage Center across the street and sure enough it was free.  

The Heritage House is known has Big Jonathan's House and there are exhibits of the Selkirk First Nation.  There were exhibits prepared by the school children exhibiting their culture.  I was really impressed at how detailed the children's  exhibits  were. There were narrations of drum making, game playing, and others.