The ride across Northern British Columbia was through thickly forested mountains. The forests go as far as the eye can see, a rolling campus of evergreen trees. This is the Taiga, the great pine forest that stretches around the world at this latitude. The mountains here are relaxed little things, more like the Appalachians than the rugged Rockies.
Wildlife was everywhere. I had to be alert. No time for napping allowed because----
Going around a curve you might come face to face with a cute bunch of baby mountain sheep eating salt off the highway.
This little guy (or gal) was very curious about me (What are you up to strange man on a black motorcycle?)
Don't worry, Mama is watching closely. (Yes, mama bighorns have horns, but the daddy bighorns have big daddy horns --- uh, remember that I promised a test later?)
Why do they put up signs like this? They should know that bison are too stubborn to pay attention to them. Do the sign people expect bison to show up just like that? Really now!
Well, what do you know. There they are. Right on cue. I sat there for a long time, traffic lined up behind me, wondering how I was going to get through this herd. They just kept coming, climbing over the fence. You can see one on the right doing that very thing. Just then, a tanker truck came roaring around me. Those guys stop for no buffalo. I went through very quickly right behind him. Whew!!
There were a lot of these girls also. Wouldn't want to be going very fast and hit one of them. There were foxes, too, and lots of bears, both black and grizzly. All these creatures had their cubs (calves, pups, kits -- whatever). Springtime is a busy time in the forest maternity ward. It was like riding through a very busy zoo.
I couldn't resist showing at least one scenery picture.
And then, pretty soon, I was in the Yukon Territory. About that time I met two other riders: Ron from Oregon (I like that name; it is easy to remember) and Les from Texas. Like me, they are headed to Dawson City for a bike rally with Adventure Riders. We hit it off, and have been camping and riding together since.
The three of us are camped at Whitehorse tonight. Whitehorse is the capitol city of the Yukon Territory. This paddle wheeler used to go on the Yukon River up to Dawson City until they built the highway. Since then, this boat just sits there being the major attraction in Whitehorse.
Tomorrow, We are doing the ride along that rather new highway up to Dawson City. It is a long way, but a lot faster than going by a paddle wheeler.
More later,
Ron