Carcross Adventures

We awoke in Whitehorse on day 5 and were faced with lots of Smoke from wildfires to the North East.  We squeezed in a morning ride before driving south to Carcross. The day became interesting. We started at WH Nordic Center-tough breathing, accidentally letting the air out of my front shock(returned to car for that),  attempting to explore trails by the Nordic Center without the map (returned to car after that), relocating at the Granger trails where a a Yellow Jacket lands on my lip and stings me (return for the car as the swelling was ridiculous).

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So it was time to leave town

We drove to Carcross, a small "village" of 400 south of Whitehorse. They have a small network of single track on Montana Mtn just south of town.

 

 

There is a campground with 14 tent sites just north of town, next to the airstrip and that was our home for the next 2 nights

There is a guy named Wayne who lives in the Yellow house at the base of the hill. When you check into the Visitor Center and sign the trail waiver, they tell you to talk to Wayne. We never crossed paths with him, but he is the trail guru and will shuttle anyone up for a small (large) fee if you are looking to just experience the technical down.

It was sprinkling the morning of our ride, so a climb was perfect. We think temps had been in high 70's and a break from the heat was welcomed.

We made the choice to ride up the gravel road for about 1.5 hours and enter the network of downhill trails. Our curiosity spiked seeing everything from Green-Easy to Black-Very Difficult

It was a great experience- smooth, made by hand single track- creative man made elements using rocks and wood-and challenges that made my eyes widen.

Rock riding was really a blast- not something we experience a lot in AK-It grips, guides, topples and rolls...most of the time successful and fun.

Elephant Rock is behind Skip in this picture....yes folks ride and go off the far side with no direct out...it is just OFF. He took the Elephant "junior" ride and that was more than I chose to do.

A highlight for me as usual is a good cold water swim (and with a dog) after a hot ride!

This is Bennett Lake, one of five Glacier fed lakes that are the head waters of the Yukon. Miners would float these waters to the Yukon river, after climbing over Chilkoot Pass. That history was always welcoming to learn about-

This 9 day trip combined The Old and The New with The  Easy and The Hard- isn't that what life is all about- finding the balance. 

The trails, the roads , the history, the solitude, the companionship, the tourists, the locals and the weather-it all made for a memorable and incredibly fun get-away!

Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart. You just gotta poke around.