Secret world above the city

We shared the view with robins

There are 220 steps at Puckett's Gulch at the bottom of Black Street in Whitehorse. They are however worth taking. Once at the top of these clay cliffs you can smell the wild sage beneath your feet and join the robins in their view of the city below.

Early joggers running down Puckett's Gulch

"You've just done what a lot of people in Whitehorse has never done by coming up here" says my cousin. We are walking amongst the sand and the wildflowers along the path at the top. 

Wild crocus

It's just after 8am and all around us are snow-capped mountains (we are in Whitehorse after all). It's known as the Wilderness City. Around 23,000 live here and yet there are only 34,000 in the whole of the Yukon Territory. There are also 50,000 moose in the Yukon and 17,000 bears (one bear for every two people)

The secret view of Whitehorse

This morning we are looking down on it and talking about graffiti. My cousin once called the police when she saw someone spray painting on the clay cliffs here. "I can't stand it when people mess with my Yukon", she declares.

We walked along the top here

We stroll along the top with our cameras, pausing every few seconds to take a picture. That's the beauty of going out with another photographer. You never get impatient.

Our view

Tomorrow I leave Whitehorse and the tourism conference here to travel the lower 1000 miles of the Alaska Highway. We will be travelling in RVs for part of the trip visiting hot springs, viewing bison (I am promised) and experiencing a bit of the wildnerness on this route built in 1942 by American soldiers after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was used to transport planes to Russia in the fight against Germany.

Worth the climb

 I know it is wilderness because we journalists have been warned there won't be any WiFi for two days - which to a journo is a bit like saying there won't be any food. Be patient and I'll be reporting from my RV along the route down to Dawson Creek in British Columbia.

Wild lupins

Find out more about the Yukon and Whitehorse.

Tomorrow: Read Driving the Alaska Highway in an RV