Headin' up to the North Country with a cold wind in my eye...

Okay, so those are Rankin Family lyrics. And I suppose when they said "North Country" they really meant northern Nova Scotia/Cape Breton Island. Well this is the true north anyway, and really this afternoon I headed further west and not so much north. Ahem. Technicalities.

So I'm spending this weekend in Kluane Country (not 'north country) which nuzzles up to the St. Elias Mountain range to the southwest of the Yukon. It is home to Kluane National Park , Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and Haines Junction. It also has a number of beautiful lakes (like almost any other part of the Yukon) such as Kluane and Kathleen Lakes. In addition, Aishihik (pronounced Eh-jii-ack with a soft j sound as in jolie) Lake, Dezadeash (pronounced Dez-dee-esh) Lake, and Pine Lake. It's a pretty amazing spot here. I can't really put into words the beauty of this area of the world. When you first drive into the outskirts of Haines Junction it looks like you're going to drive into the St. Elias mountains. They are HUGE and look like they will swallow you whole. And when the sun is in the west it reflects and sparkles off the mountains and the water creating a million shades of greens and blues and yellows. It's really quite magical. This is all interspersed with the bright blue of the sky and the purples of the fireweed and other flora.

I drove to Dezadeash and Kathleen River and Lake this evening in an attempt to find anglers to survey. No such luck. I don't blame them--there were sporadic showers occurring along Haines Road (This road leads from Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska). It's really neat when there are rain or snow clouds hanging around the mountains. It can be bright blue skies above you and before you but up to the right above the mountain range you can see just sheets of grey or white--looks like sheer silk. This is normal and are just showers that eventually will move over you. Tonight we're expecting showers that are heading in from Beaver Creek.

I attempted to fish tonight on Kathleen River which is on the outside (east side) of Haines Road which borders Kluane National Park. It flows out of Kathleen Lake which is inside the park. I went fishing and all I caught were these damn mosquitoes. What joy! :-) I tried spraying repellant on me and I swear the skeeters up here have adapted to Deep Woods scent. There seemed more of them after the fact! So after 10 minutes and five casts I simply gave up. I will either wait for mid day, catch a breeze, or wait until I'm back in the BC lower mainland where the pollution seems to keep skeeters and all nice forms of wildlife (sad fact) away.

If you check out my flickr account you will see a couple photos I took of some fly fishermen on Kathleen River. I will post one below so you can see an example. More to come when I'm back in Whitehorse where it will actually upload more than 2 in 2 hours.

Well a long day ahead of me tomorrow if'n I can find a dry spot to heckle people (aka Anglers). There is a fishin' derby going on about 80 clicks northwest of here at Destruction Bay. I don't know if I'll make it there as it's quite the mileage. You'll here if I did though! So on that note I shall leave you for another day--kill these two mosquitoes buzzing in my ear with a swift kick to their knees and off to bed am I! Thank the heavens for blinds...so bright still!

Fly Fishing on Kathleen River just outside Kluane National Park.
If you click on the photo it will take you to my Flickr account page where you can access the full-meal-deal-in-all-its-pixely-glory-make-it-into-a-desktop-background size!