Category Archives: Philtrons Pedal South (2014)

Whitehorse to Haines – A study in beautiful scenery

There was so much adventure and fun (i.e. struggle!) during this 4-day stretch!

The storms threaten!

Whitehorse to Haines is about 250 miles, with one small town (no grocery store) and one stunning mountain pass. We left Whitehorse later in the day after being thoroughly spoiled by our friend Alice. In fact, we were so well fed that we didn’t even bother making dinner that first night, opting instead to eat left-over pancakes from the breakfast she had made us!

Dirt turned to mud…

We camped a mere 20 miles from Whitehorse, just a small bit off the road on a small patch of hard-packed dirt next to an abandoned truck trailer. It was a great, hidden spot… but then the rain came. That hard-packed dirt became cement-like mud and after packing up in the morning our shoes were piled high with the stuff. It was like walking on platform boots!

The riding is good.

The storm threatens!

The rain was to come and go for the next three days en route to Haines, but somehow it wasn’t too bad for us. We put our coats and pants on and off, on and off as the showers moved over us. One day, we put them on 7 times! Our second day out of Whitehorse we rolled into a campground just as a big storm reached us. We were so lucky that there was a 24-hour restaurant attached to the campground, where we got the $5 pie special and found a sheltered spot to cook. They offered us free showers, but since we had spent all day in ‘showers’, we didn’t even want them.

Our big accomplishment so far: 1000 miles since Anchorage!! We were about 10 miles from Haines Junction, and we stopped to celebrate.

1000 miles!

We bought day-old cheese stick bread in Haines Junction, and headed out on Haines Highway. The rain continued to come and go, but it didn’t matter to us because the scenery was still stunning. Our longest day (79 miles) yet ended at Million Dollar Falls campground – we had ridden an extra 20 miles for the promise of a picnic shelter. We were not disappointed, the shelter was excellent and we ignored the ‘no tents’ sign and slept out of the continuing rain.

Hot dogs… bike-touring in the Yukon style.

Now, finally, here is the amazing story of the post:

After we made breakfast at Million Dollar CG, we went to retrieve our ‘smelly things’, which we had stored in the back of the bear-proof garbage bags right next to the shelter… and they were GONE. It seems that the park employee had changed the trash bags, and assumed our little bag was trash. We were at first numb, then we started to list all the things that we would need to get anew – Jason’s hand medicines, our spare prescription glasses (!!), our toothbrushes, creams, floss, etc. It was awful. Daisy had a meltdown when she thought the leatherman was lost too, but then we found it in a bear canister. So, finally, we got our stuff packed and limped out of the campground.

At the entrance to the highway we flagged down a Yukon Government Road Maintenance truck, hoping he would have a radio to call the park guy on. No luck, but he said that he knew the guy and a few of his hangout spots, and would check for us. Then if he did find the bag, he would bring it to the ‘Green Shack’ the next day. He also warned us that he believed it was a lost cause…

We continued on, trying to find some silver linings like: ‘Well, the bags are a lot lighter now!’, ‘I guess we didn’t really need that anti-itch cream.’, and ‘At least everything smelly fits in the bear canisters now!’. It took a long time to get cheered up, especially as we climbed higher up and toward the pass with the rains continuing to come and go. On the bright side – the scenery was stunning!

More scenery.

As we neared the summit, we saw the ‘Green Shack’ that we have heard so much about. It looked like nothing special from the outside, but on the inside we would find it to be a warm, cozy oasis. We turned off the road to leave a note for the road worker, and just as we did we saw his truck turn in behind us. Could it be true?! His passenger hopped out of the truck holding our bag full of items! He had found it, and driven all the way up to nearly the summit to get it to us! We were in so much shock, awe, and happiness that we didn’t even get the whole story from him before he got back in the truck and drove off the way he came.

The miracle workers in the Yukon truck.

The rest of the trip into Haines was actually great. The sun came out, the border was no problem, and the scenery continued to be stunning. As we neared town we met some rafting guys who live with our host in town (Thanks Andrew!). Haines is a great, great town, we have met and chatted with many folks and are happy to spend a few days here seeing the sights. Next stops – Juneau, Skagway, and then back to the Yukon!

Here are some more pictures of our descent into Haines. It was so lovely. I highly recommend this road to everyone!

Fish Wheels.

Scenery rolling into Haines – notice rockslide on the left.

Litter and it will hurt.

Yukon Wildflowers

In the Dawson City Visitor’s Center, one of the guides gave us a little booklet about wildflowers in the region. I think she probably realized how good of a fit this gift was – considering the number of hours that we stare at the edge of the road!

Most of the flowers below prefer “dry, rocky soil.” That condition exactly describes the gravel shoulder on every road we’ve been riding. So, you can imagine that we’ve been seeing these flowers a lot.

Tufted Fleabane (Sunflower family). It was believed that bunches of the dried plant would drive out fleas. (Luckily we haven’t had to test this with our tent!)

Tall Lungwort (Borage family). The leaves of this plant are edible. Instead of making a salad, we added some to our rice and it added a nice almost oregano-like flavor. Eaten raw, the leaves were like a sweet lettuce.

Showy Jacob’s Ladder (Phlox family). The name refers to the ladder-like arrangement of the leaves.

Northern Sweet-vetch (Pea family). This one is known to be poisonous, but there is a flower that looks very similar (“Bear-root” or “Indian Potato”) for which the roots are edible.

Arctic Lupine (Pea family). Very common throughout the Yukon, and also poisonous.

Horned Dandelion (Sunflower family). These are slightly different than the ones that probably grow in your yard!

Horned Dandelion (Sunflower family). This probably looks very familiar, but it is slightly different than the ones that probably grow in your yard!

Tidbits – June 1, 2014

Here are a few items that have been bouncing around our heads as we ride…

Robert Service Poetry

We loved the introduction to Robert Service by the Parks Canada interpreters in Dawson City. His poems give the feel of the Yukon and roll off the tongue with flourish. You can read some of his poetry online, for example at RobertWService.com. One of the most famous is The Cremation of Sam McGee.

Percy the Mailman

In Dawson, we heard a fantastic story of a mailman named Percy who served for about 40 years delivering mail year-round in the far north. His route was from Dawson up and over to Eagle, AK, from around 1900 to the 1940s. Here is the story of when Percy got frozen to his sled…

He was dogsledding on the frozen Yukon river. Although the dogs were light and ran across some thin ice, his sled broke through. The sled fell in the water with him and his letters, becoming drenched. At the moment he was falling, he yelled “Mush!” and the dogs pulled the sled out of the water and on top of the ice. It was so cold that the water froze him to the sled – boots, legs, arms, and all. However, the dogs knew the way to the next town and just kept on running. When Percy arrived, the townsfolk cut through the ice to free him from his sled. He emerged from the ice unharmed!

Question Time

We’re a few weeks in now, and I imagine you may have some questions about our trip. Do you wonder about the big picture of where we’re heading? Or maybe the day-to-day things like how we do our dishes? Write your questions in the comments below, or via the Contact Us page, and we’ll answer some in a new post on our next rest day.

Fibonacci Sequence and Mi/Km

This one is really nerdy, so prepare yourself! … Now that we’re in Canada, and distances are in kilometers, we’ve been practicing and getting better at converting between miles and kilometers. I was a little bored one day, and decided to work out a few conversion points (rounded to nearest integer) to use as a reference: 1 mi = 2 km; 2 mi = 3 km; 3 mi = 5 km; 5 mi = 8 km; 8 mi = 13 km; 13 mi = 21 km; 21 mi = 34 km; 34 mi = 55 km; 55 mi = 89 km …

To this point, it happens to be the same as the Fibonacci Sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, … ! I think this is because the golden ratio (1.618…) and the mi to km conversion (1.609) are nearly identical. I will leave it to my math friends to argue any other points.

A long travel between towns – Dawson City to Whitehorse.

There are 333 miles between Dawson City and Whitehorse, which translates to five and a half days of riding through isolated, forested terrain. It was beautiful, and long, and almost always daylight. We saw ground squirrels, a fox, and a grizzly bear. We spent three nights camping next to the road, hidden in little pockets out of the view of drivers, and two nights in lovely Yukon government campgrounds. Now we are resting for a few days in Whitehorse, and staying with a friend I (Daisy) made on my last trip through the area nearly four years ago.

The 5-Finger rapids on the Yukon River.

This part of our trip is challenging: we must plan for long stretches between grocery stores, and spend many hours pedaling through scenery that is vast and very slowly changing. At times, it is psychologically tiring, particularly when the road is straight for miles at a time with strong headwinds! I will give you the highlights in this post.

Tailings cover the entire valley as you leave Dawson City.

Outside of Dawson City we rode through miles and miles of ‘tailings’, the giant piles of rock that were left over after the massive dredges finished digging up the rivers in search of gold. It is absolutely remarkable how we humans have changed the landscape, even in these remote areas. The first day of riding south was good to us – there was a strong enough tailwind that we didn’t even mind the rain that blew over us. We rode through miles of forests, and spent our fist night camping near a gravel pile. It was actually very nice!

Gravel pile campsite. Not bad!

Daisy and the largest mosquito we’ve ever seen!

We kept riding and riding, and finally found a little outpost of humanity in the quirky Moose Creek Lodge, where we also had our first experience with a tour bus full of folks. It was a big group from New Zealand milling around this funny little spot full of moose antlers, funny sculptures, and baked snacks. We ate some, filled up water, and kept riding until we found another hidden spot to sleep near the road.

The weather really began to get warm our third day out of Dawson, and we rode in short sleeves and shorts. The bugs are out too, and we started to get many many mosquito bites. I even got bites on my rear while sitting in a camp chair. Those little things are vicious. Just as we were getting ready to find camp this third day we head a crash in the woods next to us and both looked in time to see the back end of a grizzly bear, running quickly away from us. Of course, we decided to ride a little farther before making camp! Don’t worry, we take basic bear precautions and always cook far far from camp (like 10 miles), and store our food away from where we sleep too. I always cuddle the bear spray.

Our first glimpse of people and services again was in Carmacks on our fourth day out, where there was a wonderful grocery store with divine Nanaimo bars. We also met a fellow who had ridden from there to Guatemala and back. We spent far too long eating snacks and chips and cookies outside the grocery store, before carrying on to Twin Lakes: a lovely campground on the shore of a clear lake. We even waded in and splashed water on our tired, dirty arms and legs. What a treat!

Twin Lakes – just beautiful.

The scenery began to get fantastic the last two days before Whitehorse, and we had the sense that we were experiencing bike touring at its best. The valleys, rivers, and lakes next to us seemed almost prehistoric in their beauty, and I half expected to see Jurrasic animals loping across them. We made good time and loved watching the hills and mountains pass by us. We also loved stopping at a lodge for a meal-sized cinnamon bun. Yum! We actually didn’t even need lunch that day.

Fox Lake with a partial ice cover. It was noticeably chilly near the water.

Fox Lake with partial ice cover. It was noticeably more chilly near the water.

We spent our last pre-Whitehorse night on Lake Laberge, a stunning lake formed by the Yukon River. It was peaceful. When we awoke the next morning, however, the still air was gone and there was a roaring headwind all the way to Whitehorse. The highlight of that windy ride was a bold little fox, who didn’t mind our gawking at all.

The happy couple at Lake Laberge.

Now we are resting, and feeling very pampered. We are staying with a fantastic cook who has been feeding us non-stop. She has a lovely condo overlooking the Yukon River, and directly adjacent to a trail leading downtown. We will finish these updates and go to town to be tourists!

After our time here, we will go back to Alaska and visit Haines, Juneau, and Skagway. The stories up here of the gold rush era are intoxicating, and I can’t wait to go find a few books on local history at the bookstore!

We made it to Whitehorse!

The Philtrons

Cycling South America in 2026 with kids

Category Archives: Philtrons Pedal South (2014)

Whitehorse to Haines – A study in beautiful scenery

Yukon Wildflowers

Tidbits – June 1, 2014

A long travel between towns – Dawson City to Whitehorse.