Carcross Desert and Wild Black Bears, Yukon

To say our journey to Alaska and the Yukon (this was an unexpected adventure because we didn't know our dog sled ride would take us up to the Yukon).  It was amazing!  Each place we visited on our adventure added more dreams come true and pleasure to all of us.  The ship, Holland America, didn't make Layla sea sick and that was a pleasure in itself.

The kids and I loved our state room suite.  It was large, open and had a powder room that Layla claimed for herself. Mind you, we had to pass through it to go to the washroom and to shower or bathe.  Our balcony was huge and we loved being able to go out and see the scenery without having to go elsewhere on the ship.

The Yukon was really surreal for us.  I just couldn't imagine that we were really here in the Yukon.  Our wonderful tour guide explained everything to us, even more than I would expect a tour guide to do.  He did everything to beat the big buses from the ships and he did great!  We only had seven on our entire tour.  All seven of us went on the dog sled, ops, there was one less because she was too afraid to go.

When we stopped in the Yukon, we took pictures of us by the Yukon sign.  We again stopped at the Yukon's desert.  I couldn't believe there was a desert in the North and yes it was!  The Amazing Race Canada had one of their pit stops here at "Carcross Desert".  We felt the sand and saw the sand, but it was hard to believe it was really sand!!!  Our tour guide said it was from billions of years from the Glaciers rubbing together which made the sand we see today.

Carcross, Yukon used to be called Caribou Crossing but when people stopped getting their mail for years, they investigated and found out that there were five other Caribou Crossings so they changed their name to Carcross.  Car for Caribou and Cross for the Crossing.  Interesting stories he told us about the Yukon.  They always carry their guns and if someone is on their land that shouldn't be, they shout first.  You can imagine that no one has thefts or break-ins.  They even go out without locking their doors.  We stopped at the little community called Carcross and they still have the big buck with their original name on it.  There is a little RCMP building there.  It is a very small but lovely community.

We came upon a black bear going to the dogsled camp and another black bear coming back.  They are amazing creatures.  Some foolish people even got out of their cars to get a better picture of the bear.  Our guide said it was the stupidest thing they could ever do because that bear could easily rush down the short hill to them before they could get into the safety of their vehicles.  Some people never learn.

The Yukon is definitely a place people should put on their bucket list.  There is still so much more for us to see here but at least we enjoyed some small part of the Yukon.
Enjoy folks!

We actually made it to the Yukon. What a pleasant surprise for all of us.

This is just one of the pictures I'll be posting on the beauty of the Yukon. Look at the beauty!

Hard to imagine that once huge Glaciers covered all of this.

This was the Pit Stop on the Amazing Race Canada and we were here!!!

We walked around a bit but the sand kept getting into my shoes.

Desert for miles and it even feels like sand.

Kids stopped to say hi to the camera.  They were in awe of the Desert.

All of us took our picture with the Carcross Desert sign to prove we were here.

When we first saw the bear, we couldn't believe it! First one ever!

This was amazing! We were really looking at a wild animal in its own habitat.

The bear was so into eating his berries, he didn't even bother to look at our bus.

Our guide said this black bear was about 3 years old.

This was a great shot Layla took. 

You can see him here eating the berries.