64 Hours In Whitehorse

 It was always the plan to spend a few days in Whitehorse after the 1600 mile/4 day ride from home.   This would be a welcome break from the road and a chance to address any bike maintenance issues that may have arisen on the way here.  I had put on a new chain a few weeks before leaving so I was expecting to have to adjust the tension but found that it was still well within spec when I measured it Monday morning.  I also had some concerns about coolant consumption having had to top up the tank but found it to well above the min level bar.  With maintenance issues all sorted spent some time in town doing some touristy bits and picking up a few odds and sods (bear spray mostly) that I had bothered bringing up from home.   

The second day was nice enough and with nothing else to do I decided a ride down to Alton BC was on order.  Now Atlin is one of those end of the road places in the world where it’s closet neighbour is not in the same geopolitical area code as it self.  In this case Atlin is in the province of British Columbia and to get there you have to go through the Yukon Territory.   For as long as I was aware that Atlin existed I have wanted to go there and today was that opportunity.  A great ride down through a mountain valley eventually to the town itself.  Not a lot going on on a Tuesday but the bakery was open and a coffee with an apple fritter was thoroughly enjoyed.   The whole town was a bit of a museum piece including this relic from 5e past just sitting there on the corner out in the open.

Originally I had considered exploring a little of some southern parts of The Yukon before heading up The Dempster but scanning all (and I so mean all) the weather forecasting resources there appeared a likely weather window opening up on the Wednesday so I made plans... and then the forecast changed dramatically.   I had made one rule for the ride up in The Dempster: don't ride it wet ( or at least not too wet for too far), and boy did it look like it was going to get wet and cold.  With the long range forecast looking promising the following week new plans were made - this one coming totally out of left field.  What does one do when the weather forecast is questionable pretty much everywhere?  Get on a ferry in Haines and take the long ways to Skagway (which is basically across the fjord from Haines) - via Juneau for a few days.