CARCROSS TO ATLIN

Leaving Carcross for Atlin. The Carcross area is full of history and very interesting. I wasn't much on history but this trip has me doing extra research. Hopefully you, the reader are not bored. The scenery 'up here' is incredibly beautiful. Beyond anything I have ever imagined or seen in all my travels including other countries. Canada truly is a beautiful country. I thought Russia was spectacular, but, sorry Russia, we have a bit more beauty.

We drove through Tagish, without stopping and crossed this bridge over the Tagish River.

On the way to Atlin, we passed Snafu Creek, Snafu Lake and Tarfu Creek. They are named after WWll military slang. "SNAFU" stands for "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up," while "TARFU" means "Things Are Really Fouled Up" or  Situation All F*%$#d Up and Things Are Really F*%$#d Up. The names were added to the Yukon map in the early 1950s, likely by Canadian army engineers working on the Atlin Road after the war. We passed many nice lakes and campgrounds. 

 

We camped by Atlin Lake in town. Atlin is in BC, but you can only reach it by road through the Yukon. The lake is 4 miles wide and 85 miles long. It is the largest natural lake in BC. I always thought Babine Lake was but Babine is the 'longest' at 110 miles, not classed as the largest. 

Atlin means "big water" in Tlingit. This are was another one of those richest gold strikes made during the 1897-98. One of the first claims was by Kenneth McLaren. We went to the cemetery and will post more photos later. 

 

There are no banks in Atlin, only ATM''s and they only got cell service this year,2025. They had a music festival the week, but we did not want to be there so we carried on and this is our 'back tracking'. We heard the festival was $200 a ticket and they were expecting 3,000 people. Wayyy too many people for us and trying to get a campsite when there is only 2 campgrounds would have been impossible. Having said that, Atlin is quite artsy/fartsy. Lots of artists living there and retreats of different sorts but all related to the arts.

At its peak, the population was 10,000. Mining obviously was the main attraction but still lots of tourists then, (as is now), .. even at the turn of the century, well into the 1920''s. It was known as "The Switzerland of the North". They came up through the Inside Passage and the Alaskan Panhandle by boat, then by train to one of the two lake steamers that crossed Atlin Lake to Atlin town. One of those steamers was the Tarahne. We tried to view the inside of this steamer but it was always closed. As a matter of fact EVERY steamer we came across on this trip has been closed or ''under repair". 

The Tarahne was built as an excursion boat with an observation deck with wicker viewing chairs and took tourists on a 85 mile tour of the lake. By 1927-28 the ship was too small for all the tourists, so it was cut apart and 10 meters (33') was added. Go figure! I was impressed. The 2nd photo posted is of the 33' added along with better engines. And it was gas powered, not steam. Tourism was good. But WWl hit, tourism fell off and in 1936 the ship was beached.

On to the cemetery.. some were interesting

lots of the little square markers and we only suspect they are soldiers from the WW's.

Ok. Now onto some interesting buildings and mining equipment..

It doesn't look that interesting but wandering around out there it really was.

The Morgue from 1927 to 1970..can't imagine

Lots of these benches through out the town.. all painted. And guess what? No, not one of them had graffiti on it. Truth be told, we never saw any graffiti in any of the towns except Whitehorse and it was hardly even noticed.

Pine Creek Falls.. beautiful

There was wild rhubarb ''everywhere". Along the roads, streets, fields and even way out in the bush. Nobody was picking it. If I had room in my freezer it would have been there too.

A mining stake. There is still a shit load of mining going on here. I think they are mining the old tailings and coming out with more than a few bucks.

lol

This guy is quite ingenious with trying to cleverly disguise his unsightly gas tank/equipment

This hotel is still there and it looks pretty much the same.. however, we were going to go for a beer and burger but the burger was $34 and the beer $15 pfttt

This looks promising. Up until now, the weather has been up and down like a toilet seat. Could we possibly be in for 3 consecutive days of temps over 15..please?!

Yes, yes that is a cat on top of the gas pumps. Cute little guffer.. too bad its stuffed.. lol

Some pretty looking campers out there and being pulled by little cars, not SUV's

People of the north have a different kind of humour. Also notice the ladder on the roof.. its for getting up there to shovel snow.

We heard there were hot springs so whahoo, we are going swimming! Not. I tried to post a video of the babbling hot springs but couldn't. It was coming up out of the gravel like the bubbling crude from the Beverly Hillbillies series. 

This is it. its about ankle to calf deep and does not smell that great nor does it look too inviting. But wait, there's more..

yes, fresh water shrimps.. who would have guessed

We were a little gob smacked. No idea if they are natural or if some idiot dumped their fish tank in here. You know, like the idiots that dump their gold fish and turtles in lakes, rivers, and parks. Tried to find out but didn't find out anything.

Our greeter all day, every day, along with his family, cousins, and 10 generations. I have been taking photos of birds, animals, and flowers along the way but have not posted them ..yet. Eventually I will do that. 

This is our campsite. I thought I would build an inuksuk. This is the 1st one I have ever attempted. No, I did not leave the glass of wine behind.. what ..are you crazy? 

And so, that concludes this leg of the trip. From here, we drove to Jakes Corner and headed north to Tuktoyaktuk, but stayed in Whitehorse for 2 days. Stay tuned...