Aboriginal warmth

Friday, June 29, 2007

PELLY CROSSING, YK — Today is the day Aboriginal communities set aside to make their concerns about treaty agreements and other issues known to Canadians. Our contact with the Aboriginal people in this community today was welcoming, informative and warm.
We headed north from Whitehorse this morning, turning from the Alaska Highway onto the Klondike Highway that stretches from Skagway, Alaska at its southern end to Dawson City at its northern one. The morning was cool and foggy, with the clouds clinging to the tops of the trees and, in some places, obscuring the highway only a few yards in front of us. Val drove very carefully so as not to surprise any moose that might be wandering up ahead.
It was a bit of a disappointment to be socked in — especially as it was Mum’s first foray into the Yukon countryside. I was thinking this quietly to myself when the highway started to rise, and, as if a light had been switched on, around the curve was a brilliant sunlit sky with towering white clouds, blazing down upon rolling hills and flowered plains! I’ve never seen such an abrupt transformation!
There were a few more foggy bits that we had to travel through, but then for the remainder of our trip, it was clear sailing. We caught a glimpse of the famed Lake Lebarge (where Sam McGee met his fiery end) and paused at a couple of lookout points to gaze upon Fox Lake and the mighty Yukon River.
Then we reached the roadside stop Val had been waiting for ever since we left Ottawa: the Braeburn Lodge at Mile 55 of the Klondike Highway, renowned for its amazing cinnamon buns. Several people had recommended this place, and Val had been salivating in anticipation for more than 7,000 km! The building itself was not at all ostentatious, but once inside we saw on the counter a huge, coiled delicacy, oozing cinnamon, drizzled with icing and still warm and fragrant from the oven. Let me explain what I mean by huge: its circumference was as large as a luncheon plate, and Val, Mum and I snacked heartily on it when we sat down at the Lodge, wrapped the remainder up to bring along, and enjoyed two more cin-ful sessions later in the day before it was all gone! Yum!
Our route took us past the Montague House and Carmacks, two of a number of stations along the route that served in earlier days as waypoints for travellers heading north to Dawson. Carmack was one of the people who sparked the Klondike Gold Rush.
We also stopped to see the Five Finger Rapids, a section of the Yukon River that is combed by rocky finger-like islands, although we could only figure out four of them. We looked down on them from a great height, but passed up the possibility of descending 219 steps on a wooden staircase to look at the rapids up close, realizing that it would mean climbing the same number back again with a load of cinnamon bun in our bellies! The panorama was reward enough.
Pelly Crossing was our end point today; it is a very small community of about 300 people, all but about six or eight of them Aboriginal. There is a gas station grocery store and, next to it, an interpretive display of native lifestyles, artifacts and handicrafts. Our host was Nancy Alfred, a friendly Aboriginal woman who proudly showed off the handmade doll made from moose hide by her grandmother, and the beautiful fur-trimmed, beaded moccasins her daughter had made. Her daughter was playing solitaire at the computer behind the counter, and came over to tell us it took her only took a couple of hours to complete the beading and slipper construction.
Our campsite overlooked the Pelly River, and we had the place almost to ourselves. It is an unserviced campground, but nicely laid out with picnic tables, firepits and outhouses, and we were allowed to camp here free of charge. Val happily set out our new Honda generator to provide shore power — our first chance to put this new toy to use.
Just as we were about to call it a night (or rather, a day!), the RCMP pickup truck arrived at the site with the two members serving here. Val had dropped in to see them earlier and invited them to stop by, but we figured they’d been called out when they hadn’t shown up by 10:30 pm. Corporal Dave Wallace and Constable Cody Willoughby came in and spent nearly two hours with us, telling us all about service in the north and giving us tips for our journey. It was great chatting with them and we were astonished when we realized it was past midnight when they got up to leave!