June 3

SOLTESWEB.NET ALASKA TRIP 2005 - JUNE Page 3

Wednesday, June 8 - Tombstone Provincial Park

The park office advertised a ranger-led walk to trail head 9 km north to Angelcomb peak at 7 pm, so we went. We were surprised that this was the highest point on the Dempster Hwy, actually again the continental divide. We were above the tree line, on permafrost. The picture at he very top of this page is what we saw at the top. Do you see the road in the middle? The following pictures are some of the flowers we saw on the hillsides.

The field trip was until about 9:30, and we returned to camp. At 15 minutes past midnight when we went to bed, it was still light, and there was sunlight on the top of the mountain next to the park.

We are at about 65° 45' latitude, the Arctic circle is at 66° 33', about 200 miles up the road.

Thursday, June 9 - Up Dempster Highway

This was such a great campground that we decided to stay unit Saturday. We did little today. At suppertime, we got a good fire going, and grilled the halibut steaks we were given at Liard Hot Springs in exchange for marshmallows. We were expecting to go on a hike at 7:00 pm again, but it was cancelled. So we drove up the Hwy (still at least 5 daylight hours left, after all!) for about 30 miles to Two Moose Lake. These are what we saw. Note that we have seen lupines (bluebonnets) all the way up to here. At this same lake, there was a small island, on which we saw a loon nesting. On the way back we saw a snowshoe hare running across the road.

Friday, June 10 - Around the Campground

At 10:30 am today, we went on a short hike with the ranger around the campground. It's interesting how much more you see when your trip is guided. We heard many types of birds, but they were all in the trees and hard to see. Here are some of the flowers. At lunch, this baby gray jay was picking up crumbs around our table. Gray jays. or whisky jacks, are common here and in BC, and they behave much the same way as the blue jays we have at home.

At the museum, pictures of winter here:

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