Civilization! Whitehorse. Such a lovely evening, we sat in the campervan, enjoying a few beers picked up from the Yukon brewery down the road (Yukon brewing: Beer worth freezing for!), with the sun streaming through the campervan windows. This did give a somewhat false impression of the temperature outside. As we left the campervan for a night out on the town, I raised an eyebrow at Darren, brazen in his hoody. “No jacket or hat?” I questioned. “It’s sunny. Practically Summer.” A decision he would regret later in the evening as the remaining heat dissipated, the sun dipped low in the sky and the icy wind did blow.
The nice evening brought the locals out in force – totally up for a party on a Thursday night. We ate wood-fired pizza at the Dirty Northern Bastard, even splashed out with cocktails, and the bars were jolly with live bands playing. A town with a good feel to it, and a refreshing change after a few days in the wilderness.
A lie in until gone 8am was very welcome. And as we were within a stone’s throw from Starbucks, we treated ourselves instead of making our own. That sun from yesterday was nowhere to be seen. However, Darren lured me into doing a 5k run in Whitehorse, with the promise of hot springs after. It was a pretty cool run – in both senses of the word: chilly as in cold enough to freeze your pants off, but also cool to run round a river with icebergs on it. Added bonus, I had to keep stopping to take photos.
The thought of being immersed in hot water, basking in sulphuric heat like a lizard on a desert rock was what kept me going. Run done, we drove out of town to the hot springs. Closed. I repeat. Closed. Nooooo! I shook my head as if to adjust reality. Apparently, it is closed for renovations for just 5 days a year. This was one of those 5 days.
Begrudgingly, I admitted that the run had in fact warmed me up a bit. Plan B was a nearby wildlife preserve , ethically run to rehabilitate or home animals that cannot be released into the wild. We were offered two options to tour the facility. One: walk. Two: walk. There was ordinarily a shuttle that would transport you round but we’d just missed the last one. Walk it was then – a three mile trail (could’ve done our run round here!). As close as you can get to a walking safari, we were treated to elk, bison, musk ox, caribou, mountain goats and more.
Darren: “So why the long face?”
Of particular note was the similarity in all species in having long hair and/or thick fluffy coats. Funny that. My favourites were the lynx, cuddly but cautious with their tufty isosceles ears, closely followed by the red fox. This fox had such a cunning grin on his face, we couldn’t help but wonder what he’d been up to as he ran towards us, wagging his tail like a dog. Even more rewarding was that when the shuttle bus arrived and dispersed all 4 passengers, the fox didn’t bat an eyelid. I’m sure I heard a Basil Brush “boom boom” as we walked away.
