Carmacks is about 180km north from Whitehorse on the Klondike highway towards Dawson City. It was a short drive today and a very beautiful one, different from any scenery we had seen. There were no high hills or mountains, just gentle rolling hills. What was also different was an obvious lack of trees and for two reasons. One, many of the hills were just covered with low sage bushes, which looked from a distance like grass. The other reason was the number of forest fires in the region. We saw signs about fires in 1962, '58, '95, '98. The only trees were 10 to 20 ft high, fighting there way up after the fire. The pretty Fire Weed, Yukons flower, is the first sign of life after the fires have gone out.
Fire Weed
Aftermath of Forest fires
Boardwalk in Carmacks
Several groups canoeing Yukon River
What we really enjoyed was the incredable views from high above the valleys. They actually had places for us to pull off the road with a trailer which we have not had, and take pictures.
Carmacks was named for one of the two men who first found Gold in the Yukon. Carmacks moved to what is now Carmacks and found coal which he mined for many years.
A little farther north of the Klondike highway, turn right and go about 170 km and you are in Keno, which was a successful silver mine at about the same time.
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