September 7th, what's in your forecast?

Greeted with snow flurries as we packed up and the higher we traveled the heavier it fell. Making our way back along the Alaska Highway provided numerous photo ops and some fun driving.

 And a glimpse of our first stone sheep.

Does this make my butt look big?

Not as much to report as we retraced our steps into Watson Lake but new ground in the Northwest Territory awaited.

Campbell Highway

Highway is a dubious term in Yukon, several hundred sloppy miles of potholes and random pieces of iron on the road, but we managed to have fun regardless.

Found some nice Grayling. 

Great fighters

Beautiful Creek culvert was loaded with fish despite its diminutive size. 

On the Klondike

Ran out of roads north so began our gradual descent south on the Klondike Highway.

Anything to get to the fishing. 

Fishing the Klondike. Ask Burf! About the bears he heard he heard and his appropriate response. 

Plenty of grouse in Yukon! 

Grayling from Too Much Gold Creek. 

And Big Brown Bears!

Arctic Circle

It's a long way from home and temperature was below freezing but we made it.

Kali had another great day. Maybe the only gun dog that has ever hunted south of the border fence AND north of the Arctic Circle! 

Very proficient for walking on Arctic snow. 

Burf!'s sourdough will now always have a bit of the Yukon. .. water from Glacier Creek north of the Arctic Circle plus Yukon flour. 

Twenty one

Kali scored her 21st upland species with terrific points and retrieves of Yukon willow Ptarmigan.

Plenty of opportunities. These birds were in a First Nation's reservation so all shots were on film. 

Dempster Hwy

Had to provision in Dawson before heading up the gravel Dempster towards the Arctic Circle.

First crossing of the historic Klondike River.

Beautiful Tombstone Peak in the distance in the Tombstone Territorial Park. 

Stopped into the park office for some intel. Not often you meet a park ranger that tells you where to kill park birds or recommends drinking a lot of beer before bed so you wake frequently to look for the Northern Lights. Just love Yukon! !

Top of the World Hwy

Crossed the border at Boundry in snow flurries with standard conversation with RCMP about why Texans are chasing birds 5000 miles from home. Epic drive across high tundra with views that boggle both from beauty and distance.

Only ferry access to Dawson across the mighty Yukon River. The captain is truly an expert. 

After the show at Diamond Toothed Gerties.

And yes, Yukon must mean "no wifi" in Gwitch'n is why there's been no posting until this catch up opportunity.

Taylor Highway

Connecting Tok with northern Yukon, a beautiful gravel drive with lots of adventure opportunity.

Signs on the West fork of the Dennison warn you about grizzlies, so the prepared anglers are the happy ones.

Downtown Chicken Alaska. The miners couldn't spell Ptarmigan so the name is close. 

Susan's homemade apple cranberry pie with Yukon Brewing Ice Fog IPA is the perfect lunch. 

The home of sourdough

My recipe for sourdough came from an Alaskan cookbook years ago and Burf has his own batch so we had a campfire dinner of grouse breasts in a mountain picked blueberry, rosehip brandy reduction with grouse legs hotter'n a coed dirty rice and sourdough biscuits.

Damn good vittles!

Pursuing the state bird

Willow Ptarmigan are so prevalent that they are the state birds. Live in the tundra above treeline. "Always uphill..."
Hunted Mt. Fairplay from 3300' to 4000'. Found a covey of sharptails on the way up and Burf got to experience Kali at her best.

Look beside Emil's right ear and you'll see see Denali Peak, 275 miles to the southwest. Big mountain! 

Kali snoozing in a blueberry patch. Picked a bunch for supper. 

Truck just visible above Burf's hat. 6.59 mile hike. Unfortunately, no Ptarmigan. Everything else was awesome. 

Even better travel day

Got away from the crowds and settled into serious hunting.

First spruce grouse

Many AK lakes have boats for anglers to use. Add Alaska Boat Captain to my business cards. 

The free boats come with challenges however. 

Great travel day

Been a while since we've had wifi so catching up. Left the comfort of Cantwell headed north to Fairbanks, stopped at the Tanana State Forest and Emil scored a ruffed grouse.

Had to stop at Skinny Dick's Roadhouse for local color and brews. Got the full treatment for travelers including all the bar jokes and gags.

"Do what?"

Designated driver beer

Never seen this sign before. 

New moon pie from Gold Hill

First northern pike!