Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 127

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 127

Canada

6/19/09 – Lake Creek Provincial Park, Yukon Territory, Canada

As we left his area, we stop in Burwash one last time to thank the cook for her fishing information.  We are off to where she always takes her three grandchildren (grown) to fish (Edith Creek).  We bought some of her most fantastic white and wheat bread (huge, but light and soft), then pulled out and away from Kluane Lake.  Good, fun times and great people.

Gold Pan

We are going to have a long, grueling travel day again.  This time we are traveling 85 miles to Lake Creek Provincial Park.  Only a few things jump out and grab our attention.  The first occurred as we were traveling through some lower mountains. We came over a crest and around a corner and right there – a river was flowing up the hill on the other side of the valley.  I will let Sam explain that one, because I can’t.  The second happened when we hit a major road dicombobberation.  A sign said watch for extreme dust.  Instead, they were out there grading (or was it grating?) the roads, tamping them down nice with big thumpers, but in addition – they were watering them.  That left a soft, silty mud that flew everywhere.  Up and over and under and down. It covered Brutus, the trailer and the poor fold-a-boat on top.  Covered.  Totally.  Big mess. We went through a long stretch of this.  The road since we crossed the bridge into Lake Kluane has not been good and it fits the description of wash-boardy, but mud was worse. We hit some paved highway, but it was like riding a bucking bronco. Other than that, a lot of pretty flowers in bloom.

The Eagle Is Landing

We pass Edith Creek and know that the campground is close by.  We turn into the Lake Creek Provincial Park and find a spot next to a … raging river.  This one was a dark brownish rust color. Nope. I don’t know why.  Minerals of some sort would be my guess. We set up camp and head out in Brutus to fish.  We go to Pickhandle Lake first.  It is a little further down the road and is also a rest stop area as well.  We fish off the small dock provided and off of the deck that some information panels were located.  I take pictures first, including some of a large juvenile bald eagle  perched just across the small lake.  Then I fish.  Sam and I catch nothing. We decide to go back to Edith Creek. On our way there, Sam and I are discussing how we have been looking down and not up when looking for ‘critters’. Just as we say this, we both spot an adult bald eagle sitting proudly at the top of a dead tree right by the road.  I take pictures. Sam drives closer and I take more. Good ones.

This Is My Good Side

We make it to Edith Creek. We grab our gear and head off.  There is a swift running river about 12 feet wide.  Several long fars before it makes it to where we are, the river splits in two unequal halves and comes back together where we want to fish.  This give me a slow moving place to fish and same a fast water place to fish.  I actually chose the slower moving section since I saw more evidence of foot traffic and noticed that someone had piled even more rocks upstream to slow it down even more. After my first few nibbles, we both fished that slower part. We caught nine graylings and Sam caught a Pike.  So cool. So different.  None of the fish that we kept were under 17 inches. The pike was about 23 inches.  We went back to camp smiling.

Edith Creek Grayling

Of course we can’t go to sleep until the fish are processed and in the fridge.  I closely watch Sam from the trailer window as he fillets them on the park bench outside. He then cleans the area with buckets of water from the river.    He also cleans the windows with river water.  He does such good work and is a delight to watch. We are ready to go to bed. It is 12:30 pm and still light outside.

Mmmmm