Travels in the Yukon 2023

I am delighted to announce that my portfolio of Yukon images is now live on my website.

I could not have asked for better-traveling companions. Led by Lester Picker, we were a small group of four. Our trip took us from Whitehorse to Skagway to Dawson City to Tombstone to Eagle Plains to the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territory. Subsequently, we traveled west to Haines Junction then south to Haines, Alaska, and then back to Whitehorse for flights home. Two weeks, lousy food, extraordinary scenery, kind people, back-in-time traveling, fascinating bears.

Father and son, Charlie and Darryl Johnson, my fellow travelers

Breakdown on The Endless Dempster Highway

The distance between Whitehorse and the Arctic Circle along the lonely Dempster highway is challenging. We drove for unending hours without seeing another person, vehicle, building, or animal. 

Traveling south after a long long day, our car engine suddenly began to smoke. Hoping that it might have just overheated, we opened the engine, added some cooling fluids, and paused for a bit. No luck. When we tried to continue,  our car made it about another mile before the engine burned up. It was dark. It was night. We were alone. There was no cell phone signal. 

Then, what we thought might make matters worse, a large truck pulled in silently behind us. I grabbed my monopod but thought “That won’t do much!”. A stocky fellow with a big beard walked up to the driver’s side window and inquired what was wrong and if he could help. I swear he was one of the dwarfs from Lord of the Rings. Charlie and he went back under the hood and tried once more to bring life back into the car. 

No such luck. 

At this point, we knew we were totally stranded and Lester put out an emergency signal via GPS. After some back and forth to determine our position, we received a text to let us know that the Canadian Mounted Police would be on their way to rescue us. 

Several more hours passed. I wondered how I would stay warm. I wondered if I could sleep sitting up. I wondered if we would run out of food and water. I wondered what I would do if I had to pee. At one point I turned to look out the back window and saw that the fellow’s truck was still behind us. I got out and asked him if he would like a protein bar and why was he still with us. His response was simple “I am not going to leave you alone on this road” and he stayed and stayed with us through the night until the Mountie arrived. 

Andrew. I will never forget his name or his extraordinary act of kindness.