Kicking Off Phase Two

Good evening everyone!  I'm here at the end of a very good first full day in Whitehorse.  The day actually started with unpacking my suitcase, which felt good.  I'm settling in here nicely, and it's great to be on the longest stretch of our holiday.

After breakfast we headed to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.  It's a place that Euphy and I had visited on our last trip here, but it was such a good experience that we had to share it with the rest of the family.  For those of you who are new to the blog, the Preserve is a massive piece of land on the outskirts of Whitehorse that has been divided into large habitats for native animal species.  It's run as a non-profit and most of the animals that are there have been rescued from some dire situation and are either being rehabilitated, or are there because something prevents them from being released back into the wild.  Because this isn't a traditional zoo and has no breeding program it means that the animals present at the facility are often in flux.  The first time we visited there was only a single moose, but now there are three moose living there.  Also, since the enclosures are large and designed to closely match each animal's natural habitat they aren't always designed for optimal viewing, as that's a secondary objective.  That all adds up to mean that there's an element of luck involved in what you're going to see.

The elk seem to be a standard fixture at the Preserve, and they're located right at the main entrance, so photography was fairly easy.

However, the wood buffalo decided that today was not a day for standing near the viewing platform, so we had to admire them from a distance.

While breeding tends not to be the goal of the facility, it's apparently very difficult to keep male mule deer away from their female counterparts, so babies abound!

This was a real lucky break for us.  The one male moose happened to be right near the road and so we got a great look at him.

While most of the musk oxen were fairly standoffish there was one individual that didn't seem to mind our presence and we got another great opportunity to admire them.

The mountain goats actually have a substantial cliff to hang out on, as is their way, but this guy was content to be in the lowlands where we could get a good look.

This was perhaps the most thrilling of the photographs I was able to get.  There are three lynx in a relatively small enclosure, but they are nearly invisible unless they care to be seen.  This was shot through a chain-link fence and some long grass, so it's not ideal, but I was happy just to get a look.

This demonstrates exactly how close we got to the caribou.

So, as you can see we had a lot of luck on our side for this visit.  We did the bus tour where we had the same guide that Euphy and I had on our first visit.  You're free to travel around the facility on your own, but the bus allows you to cover the ground a lot faster, and having a guide adds a lot of interesting flavour to the visit.

We wrapped up in time for lunch at a nearby cafe and then headed back to the house for a bit.  I'm already seeing the value of an AirBnB rental, especially for a family outing like this.  Finn was able to have a nap upstairs, undisturbed by the rest of us planning out our day downstairs.  It's very freeing having this much space at our disposal.

While Finn was napping some of us went to explore the trail system behind the house we're staying at.  There's a substantial forest behind us, with well-groomed trails weaving through it.  We found our way up to a high point in the forest which offered up great views of downtown Whitehorse at the surrounding lands.

It was a surprisingly great hike given that it was just in our backyard.  One of those fun moments you get while travelling when you do something unplanned.

After our hike we had dinner at the house and then went downtown to walk along the river.

The water in the river seemed very high, and it was moving fast.  I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get in kayaks at some point soon to really explore the river.

We found a great park along the pathway and spent a lot of time there.  Finn approved.

He was also pretty amazed by the SS Klondike behind him.

So, we managed to pack a lot into a single day, and it made for a great start to the Whitehorse leg of this voyage.  I'm heading to bed now, and we'll see what the morning brings!  Be well everyone.