Carrie’s Ramblings

Leaving on a jet plane…well, maybe not…
Carrie posted in Uncategorized on July 20th, 2007

I left it all until the last minute. So much goodness crammed into my last days in the Yukon. Of course, summer decided to make it’s first appearance just as I was leaving which was doubly frustrating but at least I enjoyed every last minute of it.

On Sunday Ryan and I took advantage of a beautiful day to paddle along the shores of Fox Lake. Fox Lake is HUGE! But the sky was cloudless and the wind was calm and the water was so clear you could see the bottom as though you were looking through a window. I wanted to jump in and enjoy it but I’ve learned from experience that Yukon water is not something you enjoy.

Monday it POURED rain ALL DAY. It was actually impressive how much it rained. Especially for Whitehorse.

Tuesday was spent on the road driving the South Canol Road. George and Heather were starting a 7-day trip down the Big Salmon River and needed some friends to do a car drop so Diane and I had the honor of being chosen. I was thinking this was going to be a 4-hour thing, up and back in the morning and then I’d have the rest of the day to do things. Well then we found out it was more like a 6-hour drive to do the loop. George’s directions were: Well you’ll be driving along and then you’ll notice this big huge valley and you’ll think, “There’s gotta be a river down there!” and there will be so you’ll see the Yukon below the cliff you’re on and ahead of you there’ll be a bluff sort of rock face and somewhere around there you can leave the truck. Excuse me? Diane and I stared him down and said we were not driving a metre without better directions that than. So we pulled out a map and figured it out. I couldn’t help but ask George, “What’s this dotted line here?” And his was response was, “Oh that’s the South Canol Road you’re on.” Oh. Turns out it was going to be more like an 8-hour drive. That’s fine, I can handle that.

I said we should leave as early as possible and voted for 7 am. They asked for 8. 7:30am and we had a deal. So 8am when we pulled out of the driveway…

THEN! Then we turned off the Alaska Highway onto the South Canol Road. This is after we’ve passed through the booming metropolises of Jake’s Corner and Johnson’s Crossing (I missed them because I blinked). The highway we turned onto is only open in the winter and frankly only barely open in the summer. Little more than a single track there were actually points with grass growing up the centre! But the scenery was unbelievable! This road took us where no RV could follow…We drove through 500 km of mountains and valley with crystal clear streams and moose and bears and alpine meadows. We drove though so many different habitats and microclimates it was like one big geography lesson. If ever you’re in the Yukon and the bridges are in tact, take the time to drive the South Canol Road.

So 12 hours later we made it home.

After spending the next 2 hours playing Ultimate and then packing and trying desparately to get my bags under the required weight I fell asleep and SLEPT THROUGH MY ALARM! I woke up at 7 am on the dot to the sound of my Air Canada flight leaving without me!!!! I had a melt down and a freak attack and once that was over pulled myself together with the some and figured out what to do. Air Canada said they could only get me on the flight out of Whitehorse at 7:30 that night!! So I called Air North and asked about their next flight which left in approximately half an hour and they said sure they could get me on for $780. So I decided it was time to call in some favours. A quick call to some friends in high places and I got on the Air North flight for the lowest possible fare and sat with my hands and fists clenched for all 2 hours and 19 minutes of the flight. I didn’t really care where it went as long as it was a city that had more than 2 flights leaving in a day! I practically ran off the plane in Vancouver and grabbed my bags (which where there right away I’d like to add…none of this 1-hour wait for luggage like with other airlines…I love Air North) and raced up to Departures to figure out how much money I was out and what could be done about it. Eventually I figured out my best bet was WestJet flight leaving just before 2 pm and checked my luggage on to that one. Only then did I have the time to call my parents and let them know what the heck was going on and that I would be in to Toronto a little later than planned. All’s well that end’s well but it was a bit traumatic.

I made it home and it spent most of my first day back in this tropical paradise raining. Apparently I’m the rain magnet that ruined summer in the Yukon. It was good enough for me:)