After leaving Watson Lake we drove over to Carcross which is a neat little 1 horse town. On the way we stopped at the Tlingit First Nation Heritage Center. Nice exhibits with beautiful examples of moosehide clothing with elaborate beading. There are proud of their heritage which for a period of time they had to keep hidden. There were also some examples of their canoes and hide boats and some totem poles.
Today we saw 2 grizzly bears but they were too skittish to get pictures. Also a grey and a red fox. And a small cougar! Unfortunately these were crossing the road and we couldn't get a picture of either.
Then we went to the Carcross desert, the world's smallest desert, about 1 square mile. It is actually a series of northern sand dunes formed from large glacial lakes which have dried up. Some of the sand comes from Bennett Lake and is carried by the wind. The dunes are used for sand boarding, hiking, cross-country skiing and snowboarding. The sand is blown in by the strong winds when the lake level goes down. Interesting to see all of the trees engulfed by the sand.
Today we also visited the Carcross Tagish First Nation Learning Centre.
There are 6 totem poles across the front of the entrance to the Learning Centre. Inside there are six poles representing the six Tlingit Clans. We learned the totem poles represent the six clans. The young lady who greeted us as we entered the Learning Center was eager to share her knowledge of the heritage she is so proud of. She explained the six clans and which she belonged to. She is related to Skookum Jim, James Mason, who was a member of the Tagish First Nation. In the mid 1880’s he worked as a packer for the miners carrying supplies over the Chilkoot Pass. He was later credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Learning Centre was many years in planning and has only been open a couple of years. There are displays and information about the Tlingit First Nation peoples. The clans are working to keep their language and culture alive through educating their children from a very young age. Each year the six clans come together for a three day celebration at the end of July. This year the Carcross/Tagish Learning Centre will be the host site for over 2000 Native Peoples. The lakes and rivers have always played a critical part of lives of the Tlingit peoples. The Carcross/Tagish Tlingit are in the process of carving a canoe out of a large cedar tree. The canoe will hold up to 8 people. The work is being done all with hand tools and their hope is to have it completed within two months for the big celebration at the end of July. The young lady carving today is the younger sister of our guide!
Then we went to the Caribou Crossing Training center for dogs for dog sledding and racing. Our guide is training for his third Iditarod 1,000 mile race and has competed in six other Yukon Quest races of 200 - 300 miles. We learned about the training of the dogs, what they look for in a dog to race and the equipment used in the races. The rules require one Musher and six to twelve dogs in the team. Dogs and Musher cannot be switched out during the race, it is OK to remove dogs from the team during the race but you must have at least six dogs at the finish. He told us about caring for the team during the race as well. We were able to ride a sled pulled by an eleven dog team. These sleds are used in the training of the dogs during the summer. It was very interesting and fun. It was great to see how excited the dogs are barking and jumping. However once they are hooked up and start pulling they are very disciplined and concentrating only on pulling the sled.
There were puppies, horses and Llamas in a petting area.
We then toured their wildlife museum which included Grizzlies, Black Bear, Moose, Caribu, Deer, Mountain Lions, Lynx, Bison, Mountain Goats, a Wooly Mammoth, etc. Of course all of them were stuffed!
There was also a nice exhibit about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Probably tomorrow or Friday we'll drive down to Skagway, AK to tour the town. Skagway was the start of the Klondike Gold Rush. The "stampeders" as they were called got off the boat in Skagway and were required to have a 1 year supply of food and other goods before entering the Yukon to search for gold. If they could afford pack mules or horses they could make it in 1 trip. If not they had to make several 33 mile trips over the Chilkoot mountain trail on foot to carry all of their supplies.
 |
| Original hide boat |
Today we saw 2 grizzly bears but they were too skittish to get pictures. Also a grey and a red fox. And a small cougar! Unfortunately these were crossing the road and we couldn't get a picture of either.
Then we went to the Carcross desert, the world's smallest desert, about 1 square mile. It is actually a series of northern sand dunes formed from large glacial lakes which have dried up. Some of the sand comes from Bennett Lake and is carried by the wind. The dunes are used for sand boarding, hiking, cross-country skiing and snowboarding. The sand is blown in by the strong winds when the lake level goes down. Interesting to see all of the trees engulfed by the sand.
Today we also visited the Carcross Tagish First Nation Learning Centre.
There are 6 totem poles across the front of the entrance to the Learning Centre. Inside there are six poles representing the six Tlingit Clans. We learned the totem poles represent the six clans. The young lady who greeted us as we entered the Learning Center was eager to share her knowledge of the heritage she is so proud of. She explained the six clans and which she belonged to. She is related to Skookum Jim, James Mason, who was a member of the Tagish First Nation. In the mid 1880’s he worked as a packer for the miners carrying supplies over the Chilkoot Pass. He was later credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Learning Centre was many years in planning and has only been open a couple of years. There are displays and information about the Tlingit First Nation peoples. The clans are working to keep their language and culture alive through educating their children from a very young age. Each year the six clans come together for a three day celebration at the end of July. This year the Carcross/Tagish Learning Centre will be the host site for over 2000 Native Peoples. The lakes and rivers have always played a critical part of lives of the Tlingit peoples. The Carcross/Tagish Tlingit are in the process of carving a canoe out of a large cedar tree. The canoe will hold up to 8 people. The work is being done all with hand tools and their hope is to have it completed within two months for the big celebration at the end of July. The young lady carving today is the younger sister of our guide!
 |
| Artwork made from drift wood |
 |
| Artwork carved from moose antler |
There were puppies, horses and Llamas in a petting area.
We then toured their wildlife museum which included Grizzlies, Black Bear, Moose, Caribu, Deer, Mountain Lions, Lynx, Bison, Mountain Goats, a Wooly Mammoth, etc. Of course all of them were stuffed!
There was also a nice exhibit about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Probably tomorrow or Friday we'll drive down to Skagway, AK to tour the town. Skagway was the start of the Klondike Gold Rush. The "stampeders" as they were called got off the boat in Skagway and were required to have a 1 year supply of food and other goods before entering the Yukon to search for gold. If they could afford pack mules or horses they could make it in 1 trip. If not they had to make several 33 mile trips over the Chilkoot mountain trail on foot to carry all of their supplies.
No comments:
Post a Comment