07/17/11

6:00am:

And…….I’m up! brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!  And cold!  Good thang I slept in all my clothes last night.  And there’s a wee lil’ creek right by my car down this embankment!  What better way to start the morning than to splash wicked cold water on your face and neck and head from a creek…in the YUKON??!!!  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!  Perfect.

There’s a woman and her two small children across from me at the campsite and when she walks by I say good morning!  She walks over and starts talking to me.  I guess her and her kids are just traveling for a week down to Liard Hot Springs in BC and they are camping out while they do it (she’s native to the Yukon!!!!).  I offer her my small pile of wood and kindling, since in the Yukon all of their campsites offer free firewood!  And…I’m tired of carrying it around!  She’s very excited about it.  Yay!!!

“No Hunting Sheep”…don’t do it in the Yukon!  There are signs up, so don’t chu do it!!

And this day, July 17^th 2011 was one of the most amazing days on my trip.

Ready?

Driving on the highway (which is paved right now), crest a wee hill, and there standing in the middle of the road?  Full grown wolf.  And I had to stop, because she was smack in the middle of my lane staring me down as I got closer and closer.  And I stopped with her right in front of my car.  She looked at me for a moment then trotted around to the driver’s side door.  I, of course, had fumbled for my camera and took a couple shaky shots out through the windshield.  When she stood beside the car……..her head………was level with the window.  And she waited looking me dead in the eyes and quivering at the jaw just barely.  So we stared at each other there in the middle of the highway with no one else around.  Finally I broke my gaze, because I was feeling the need to just open the passenger side door and invite her in.  She would have been the perfect companion for the rest of the trip…other than the fact that she probably would have eaten ma’ face off.  But I’m sure it would have been out of love.

I started to slowly drive away all blurry eyed and shaky.  And what did she do?  She started trotting after the car!!!!!!  AH!!!  Gimmie!!!  Don’t you tempt me so, missy!!!  And drive.  Away.  With a sad heart, yet also with a stronger one.  A wolf.  In the Yukon.

And the rest of the story?  Well, it gets boring because, really!  What could compare to THAT??!!

Drove to Tok to see if a hotel room was in my future.  Naw, twasn’t.  $130.  Ouch!  Drove back to a campsite and camped out with some whiskey and cheesesticks.  Oh, and all of the campsites in the Yukon are either on a lake, river, or creek!!!  They don’t have showers, but if you’re feeling up to it you can jump in the water for a nice refreshing…OOOF!  Damn that’s cold.  Ok, maybe you should just toss it on your face and leave the rest to nature.