Find My Country

Hush up and gather around children – I am about to tell you a secret that Bill Gates doesn’t want you to know about.

The Yukon is a beautiful place. The locals are the friendliest people I have met anywhere in my life, and the scenery is breath-taking. In the process of getting my car, I heard about this one twisting road off the Alaska Highway, just 5 or 10 kilometers out of town. It wasn’t on Microsoft Maps – nor was it part of the normal tourist experience. The nice lady at National rent-a-car told me about it in a conspiratorial voice, and I decided to take her advice. I’m glad I did.

There are a lot of trails down old Fish Lake road. This one is actually part of the Trans Canada Trail and is next to a Marsh. The cloud cover was so awful that one couldn’t tell the difference between the snow caps and the clouds themselves, go figure.

As a Biologist (if I can be permitted that title with a mere B.Sc), I always found it funny that a marsh (like MacIntyre Marsh, above) is considered a symbol of death. In reality, Marshes are a large source of biodiversity, with some of the most complex ecosystems around.

On the map at the top you will see a splitting path. This is where it happened – the right side leads to Johnson lake, over some testy dirt roads, while the other one goes to Fish Lake.

Despite the lack of infrastructure and roads, people still build houses here. I don’t blame them – this area looks as beautiful as any part of the Rockies, without the fake people.

You pretty much need 4WD to reach this point at this part of the year because the road sides are soft and it is easy to skid off the road. It is hard to reach a speed over 40 km/h if you are not used to the area.

This sign is so dilapedated that someone could be excused for trespassing by accident. I saw it and turned back, as the roads beyond this point were worse than quicksand.

An example of the “roadway”. You need some decent clearance to go over this. I am glad I didn’t come with my Mustang

I retraced my steps and drove down until the terminal point of Fish Lake. I passed by some Ranches and a tourist destination (“Sky High Wilderness Ranches”). It is theoretically possible to go further, but you’d have to be stupid to do so in a car. I did explore the area a bit on foot though.

This area is blissfully quiet, with very little noise except for the crows.

I wonder if this scenery will still be there when my kids will be around. I pray that it is the case – but global warming doesn’t make me confident. The Taxi driver told me there wasn’t a single day below 40 in the Yukon this winter.