On 1 June we made the drive to Whitehorse, Yukon. On the map it looks like it would be a quick drive. In reality it was a long day with some interesting stops.
The scenery was amazing. There were a lot of interesting trees and shrubs.
River, lakes and mountains started to dominate the scenery. Then we hit a traffic jam.
As this is the only road to Whitehorse we had to deal with a herd of bison crossing the road. There were at least 75 adults and 35 young.
The adults enjoyed rubbing against the low concrete wall and somehow the young managed to hop over it.
It’s really amazing how big this beasts are.
Then after crossing the rive we started to encounter elk.
We also started seeing our first black bears, which occurred in many colors.
This cinnamon-colored black bear was perhaps my favorite.
We stopped at a lodge for lunch and while we waited for our food Susan and I wondered around looking for plants and insects.
The most interesting plant that I found was this butterwort, a carnivorous plant.
We also started seeing arctic lupine.
Red-necked Grebes were also starting to be quite common.
An exciting, but not unexpected find was Say’s Phoebe.
By evening we had settled into our motel then Susan and I took a walk to a small park where we found some interesting orchids.
We had a huge patch of Calypso orchids, also called fairy slippers. This was more that we have ever seen in Michigan.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 