April 22nd Khechepen Lake

We arranged a tour through the countryside today. We visited a small falls and a holy lake. The small falls were small.. The lake was interesting. The entrance fee was 10 for the locals, 50 for Indian tourists, and 100 for foreign tourists. The lake was surprisingly small and almost impossible to see due to the prayer flags. I tried to find a good spot where I could photograph but it was difficult. The path to the lake led to a covered wharf into the lake and we were required to remove all shoes. The lake must be really holy The crowd at the end of the wharf was large so I joined in to get a look at the lake. The crowd was having a great time throwing food to the hundreds of large carp having a feeding frenzy. The lake wasn't all that holy.

Rimbi Falls

Prayer Flags in the rain

Pamayannngste in the fog

In the afternoon we went to the Pemayanste monastery for the second time. The day was rainy and foggy and I wanted a picture of a Sikkim temple in the mists. The weather co-operated so Joan sat on a bench out of the rain white I tried taking pictures in the mist. I took my time and several Indian tourists approached me to tell me what a patient wife I had. Joan must have told everyone she met what a slow photographer I was.

April 21st Pemayangste Monastery

Pemayanste Monastery

Girl Guide

Today we visited the oldest monastery in Sikkim. It was about 3km all uphill so we cheated and took a local taxi (but we did walk down). Sikkimese temples are similar in style with elaborate paint jobs on the windows and doors. Unfortunately photography inside is not allowed. Too bad since the walls have some great paint jobs.

This monastery was in full operation with many young monks heading to classes. We chatted with an old monk just outside the temple and he told us he had attended a conference in Vancouver. After visiting and photographing the outside we walked back down the hilltop. We stopped at a bakery shop after just 1 km and we met again the old monk. He helps run the bakery shop as vocational training. After chatting for 15 minutes he offered us a free house for 1 year if Joan would teach languages and I would do computer support. I declined because they don't get much snow in winter.

In the afternoon we tried to walk through the countryside. We quickly found a “village” that didn't seem to have any streets. A local asked us where we were going and I tried to tell her we wanted to walk through the village. I thought she said there were too many dogs, and then she called out her 10 year old daughter to guide us through the village. The girl ran off but Joan and I couldn't keep up so she would run back to encourage us and then run ahead again. Sure enough she ordered the dogs to go away and lead us through the village and back to the main road.

April 20th Walk to Sanga Choling Monastery

Farmer's Daughter

Sanga Choling Monastery

After 2 days of driving we planned a walking day today. We are high on a hill so we took the first path down towards some farms. The path turned into stairs and down we went. At the first junction we split off into a farm where a few small fields had been carved into the hill, There were cows and goats and 3 small houses. We met 2 men and a baby and Joan taught the baby to wave. After a few minutes we left and headed back up the stairs. It took an hour to ascend 487 stairs and walk out. After the warmup we walked 1 km uphill to the tourist bureau. We learned the monastery I wanted to visit was only 2 km farther on so on we went. The first 500 meters were gentle but then came the mountain. We paced ourselves and on we went. Another hour walking uphill. The auto traffic on the road wasn't heavy but passing presented a problem. We were a lot closer to the SUV's than we wanted to be. The cars often had to stop when the road narrowed or 2 cars met on a hairpin curve. It seems Indian cars do not have a handbrake, The standard method of starting a stalled car on a hill was to put a large stone behind the rear wheel and drive away leaving the stone on the road. There were several large stones on the road. The monastery we visited was the oldest in Sikkim. It had been restored in 1966, but the paint job looked brand new, both interior and exterior. After the visit we returned to our hotel by foot.

Mount Kangchendzonga

Joan did at least 7 km today – all up hill.

April 19th Half day trip to Tashiding Monastery

From Our Balcony

Monastery Door

Tashiding Monastery

Pelling is in the Himalayan foothills. There is no flat land anywhere, therefore there are no straight roads in Sikkim. We left at midday for a trip to the Tashiding Monastery. It was a 2 hour drive because we were constantly going over mountain passes or circumventing deep valleys. We had a nice visit at the monastery but on the way home a storm happened. We had thunder and lightning, rain, hail, and fog. The driver really earned his keep but Joan is a little grayer today.

April 18th Fly to Sikkim and Taxi to Pelling

We flew into Pakyang Airport in a Bombardier 400. The last few kms it looked like we were flying into a mountainside. Then the runway appeared cut right into the mountain, It seemed like a very short runway. Then we took a taxi to Pelling. The distance wasn't great – about 120km. But it took 5 hours of tough driving. The first 5 km from the airport were nice paved highway. Then we hit the potholed and missing pavement sections. I felt better because I didn't think it was fair for Sikkim to have better roads than Quebec. None of the roads were wide so passing in any directions was slow. We arrived at our hotel and when we looked out from our balcony the view was fantastic. We're in Sikkim..

April 15h to April 17th Kolkata

Kolkata is too hot. We spent 3 days in Kolkata (Calcutta) and the hot temperatures defeated us. It was too hot to walk anywhere and we couldn't wander around Kolkata to see the architecture. We took cabs to visit the highlights. Some afternoons we went back to the hotel just to relax in the air conditioning,

The streets of Kolkata teem with life and everywhere seemed to have large crowds of people. We were having coffee one morning, watching the people go by, when I just had to photograph the people. For an hour I took pictures of everyone who walked by, Only 2 people stopped to ask what I was during and only the religious people asked for money. At night the crowds got bigger and the street vendors set up on all the sidewalks. In dark spots people lay down on the sidewalks to sleep. People had to walk on the roads but the trucks, cars and motorbikes did not slow down. The horns honked constantly until I couldn't tell who was honking. Joan was fortunate to take out her hearing aids since the honking went on until 1 AM and kept me awake,

Belur Math temple

Laundry Man

Darshinewar Temple

We visited the Victoria monument, an impressive building and well maintained park, One afternoon we visited a temple called Belur Math. The drive there and back was an education. Going. it seemed to be constant slums for 12 km. We visited the temple until sunset. The way back there were vendor's stalls every inch of the way. The crowds really come out after dark.

Oct. 5 Drive from Fort Nelson to Edmonton

Grain Elevators near Grande Prairie, Alberta

The Mascot of Beaver Lodge, Alberta

Hay drying near Grande Prairie, Alberta

Hay bales near Hythe, Alberta

Over the last two days we have driven from Fort Nelson in Northern BC to Edmonton, Alberta. We left the mountains and entered the prairies. We over-nighted in Grande Prairie. The last crop of hay is being dried and baled. The relative flatness of the land and lack of tall trees makes this big sky country.

This will be the last post.

Tim and Joan

Oct. 3rd Drive to Fort Nelson, BC

We were underway at 9:00 and made it 15km down the road before our first photo stop. Today we crossed into BC, and the scenery is still very impressive. We stopped to photograph (and watch) 3 different herds of wood bison. BC keeps a wide shoulder clear of trees on their highways. The bison love to graze on the shoulders, It was fun to watch the young calves still feeding from their mothers. About halfway to Fort Nelson we stopped at the Liard Hot Springs. This is a BC provincial park and completely open to the public. Entrance was free today – although in summer it is $5.00 per car. Joan did not have a bathing suit, so I went in while she watched. We walked 700 meters through the woods and there was a changing room (unheated) but no other services. I changed quickly and hopped into the pool. It was lovely. I chatted with several people there ( 2 of whom were drinking something from a floating bar) They all seemed to be repeat visitors, most from quite a distance away. The most talkative lives 900km away and comes several times a year. He always visits on New Years day. The springs are open all winter and during the cold spells the trees are white with frost and ice.

After the hot bath we were on our way again. We have yet to see a moose on this trip, but today we saw a lynx, 4 elk, and of course the wood bison.

The walk through the woods to the hot springs

The floating bar.

Not too close

Northern British Columbia

The Elk were very shy

Oct. 2nd Drive to Watson Lake

Early Morning Frost

River Bank at Johnson's Crossing

Just another mountain in the Yukon

We are starting our trip home. We drove across the bottom of the Yukon east to Watson Lake. It was a leisurely drive but again we made far too many photo stops along the way.

Oct. 1st Drive to Atlin and return

We drove to Atlin and back today. Atlin was a resort town for the rich and famous from 1910 to 1936. The railroad ran a spur to Atlin and built a hotel and cruise ship to entertain rich guests. The scenery is spectacular. Fishing and hunting were also promoted. In 1936 the tourist industry collapsed and the town fell into disrepair. Lately it has been restoring boats and buildings and it is known as an artists' colony. The houses are somewhat quirky.

View from Atlin

Definitely different

Definitely Old

This cruise boat was dry docked in 1936 but is now usable.

Sept. 30 Drive to Fraser BC and return.

Joan in the cool mornings

Along the rail line

The rail line runs beside the lake for several kms

We are in Carcross for three nights to see the scenery in the south Yukon and Northern British Columbia. We drove to Fraser BC and back today. Fraser is a railway town left over from the 1898 Gold Rush. The White Pass and Yukon Railway is a narrow gauge railway built for the miners to get to Whitehorse from Skagway in Alaska. The railway still runs, but mostly for tourists. The road we took goes to Skagway, but I didn't bring the passports so we didn't cross the border.

The Aspen and Tamarack trees turn yellow.

Sept. 29th Drive to Carcross

Sun and fog early morning

Sunrise is after 8 a.m. and since we were on the road shortly after 8 we got the early morning sun shining through the fog. It was -9 this morning so the fog stayed until 10. We are heading south and the bright yellow aspen trees have returned to the landscape. Carcross is in the Southern Lake District which is very mountainous. Carcross has been around since the Gold rush of 1898 and is on a narrow gauge rail line from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon. We took a leisurely walk through the town which is pretty small but has some interesting buildings.

More fog

Island in thick fog

Emerald Lake

Sept. 28th Drive to Keno and Carmacks

Today is Caroline's birthday. Caroline Ursula Baker (CUB) was named after the town Oberursel in Germany. As we drove to Keno today we spotted a mother bear and 2 cubs by the roadside. I backed up the car so I could get my camera, but a big truck drove by the bears and scared them. I only got shots of the mother and 1 cub running away. But we got to see a cub on CUB's birthday.

Keno is almost a ghost town. In the summer 28 people live in Keno and work the tourist trade. In the winter, 10 people live there. The town was the home of a silver mine from 1920 to 1988. When the mine shut down the people left and now the whole town is a museum.Things don't rust very quickly in the Yukon.   We had lunch in the Keno hotel and we appeared to be the only tourists in town. The hotel bar was straight out of the sixties. 

Cub

She Bear

Old Truck

Gone bust

The old bar

Sept. 27 Tombstone Territorial Park

First Light

It was another early start as I drove to Tombstone to attempt the Grizzly Lake hike. This time the weather was beautiful – cool but sunny. I started hiking a half hour before sunrise. I expected the hike to take 1 ½ hours to the first lookup and 1 more hour to the second lookup. The trail to the second lookout was much more challenging than the first lookout. The trail through the scree was difficult to follow since I was always looking down. I needed to look up every 15 meters to check I was still on the trail. When I went through areas of solid snow I used the footprints from a previous hiker (Anthony) to follow the trail. I found the checkpoint, took my pictures and headed back down. Going down was as difficult as going up. When going from a snowy patch to a rocky section, my boots were slippery for the first few steps. Also the sun had melted the mud in places and the track was greasy. In the end it took 2 ½ hours to ascend and 10 min less to descend.

Tombstone Mountain

In the afternoon Joan and I walked around Dawson in the sunshine, and we took pictures of the western style buildings.  Dawson is the second largest town in the Yukon.  It has 2,200 people and the main town is 8 blocks by 8 blocks with most buildings nicely restored.

Dawson  - Front Street

Sept. 26 Tombstone Territorial Park

Dawson City sits in a narrow valley. It shares the valley with the Yukon river, a large fast running river. Every morning when we get up, the valley is socked in with fog, due to cold and water. This morning was exceptionally thick, but we packed up and drove to Tombstone Park anyhow. Near the park we crested a hill and voila, the fog cleared and the sun shone brightly. It was the sunniest day we have had in the park. We planned to do a hike, but the trail we chose petered out before 1 km, so we drove the car from spot to spot stopping for picture breaks every 10 km. At one point we turned back due to a storm coming, and the storm never caught us. For the first time we were able to see Mount Tombstone.

Joan in front of a gravel pile for winter sanding

One of the many pyramid mountains in the park

Mount Tombstone with its head in the mist

A storm approaching