Saturday, August 2

How big is it?

Rolling out of Haines finds us on a nice gently curving streach of 2 lane along the side of the Chillkat river flood plane.
It's a scenic and uneventful trip with the usual overcast skies but absent of rain.
Kat has voiced some reticence about the upcoming pass through the mountains but instead of the awesome grandure and tension,of the trip into Skagway, we are treated to a gentle and effortless climb to the top.
As usual, the altitude provides some very low cloud cover and the smooth roadway crests the top of he pass and heads down into ...a wall of gray!
Fog, or clouds, thick enough to require us to slow down obscure the mountains for the next few km's.
But soon enough, the air is clear again and we descend into a place that can only be described as BIG wilderness.
And I mean BIG!
The road lifts, drops and winds it's way through the valley offering glimpses of your future as it cures around mountains way,way off in the distance.
This is a vast and empty place and while the view is stunning, the overcast sky and low clouds lead to to ponder just how small a spec you are in this world.
The front of your mind is saying "cooooool" while the back is saying "bike don't fail me now".
Most certainly a cell phone call to CAA is not an option.
This terrain is akin to the grand Canyon or Monument Valley in it's scope.
There are few words that can do justice as a descriptor.
Even a picture can't capture the feel of this vastness.
The road leads on and on while the flora slowly changes from low scrub to Boreal forest.
I'm sure the mountains are watching us with some amusement as we forge along.
The bears certainly are...:)

We finally arrived at Haines Junction and check into the kluane Park Inn.
Sounds better than it is but we have all we need for an nights rest.
Even after not covering a lot of distance,a stay overnight here was in order to ponder the significance of life.
OK...well... to get some sleep anyway!
At this time I should mention his "midnight sun" thing.
It's hard to assess the time of day as the sun never really gets up high in the sky but rather swings around through the day at what we would consider 9am azimuth.
Even at 11pm, there is still enough light out to read a book!

No comments: