Exploring One of the Wildest Places Left on Earth - Part 2

from northern BC I had entered the Yukon and there I had encountered bison large and small wandered through the signpost forest at Watson Lake traveled through First Nations land seen leftovers from World War II days roam deep into Bear Country and learned how the Trump family really made their Fortune a brothel Rock oper here join me on a trip and let's get wild in the [Music] Yukon this is a long forgotten piece of the Alaska highway it's all poth holy and patched up quad D Kenji I guess that's how you say it long ago people's place looks like we're coming into a First Nation settlement there's a photo stop an OP let's check it out it's like the hubcap Forest remember the sign Forest it's the hubcap [Music] Forest I've been to and done videos from the Oregon Trail to the Alaska Highway and places in between caribou and mo Sandlers just a small settlement out here with the flavor of Yukon Shad halar means Sunny [Music] [Music] mountains put this beside little Lake and I think I found my piece of heaven nice size new Sandlers there and the dog on the [Music] [Music] porch dogs lion middle of the road life is slower and more relaxed here at first I thought those are clouds out there but now I'm wondering if that could be [Applause] [Music] smoke [Applause] we're back on the newer Alaska Highway again this is the little spot in the road known as Otter Falls Otter Falls cut off you can get gas and Camp here if you like the road ahead past utter Falls we're getting into clani country big mountain ranges ahead they've got snow and veins of ice looking good welcome to Haynes Junction I'm here at the kuani visitors center and let me introduce you to an artist named hegan so this is part of my regalia this is a nice uh hide drum um so the design on it is traditional northwest coast uh form line and um it is a raven as you can see here with the beak um so I'm gaked Clan which is Raven clan inette um which is my people um yeah so this is a ghak Tedy design and for ghak Tedy our clan crust is frog so if I flip the drum to the other side you can see see here is the frog eye and like the face part of the Frog um and then there's also a secondary like hidden frog if I flip it around you can see his face right here with his eye and mouth area and you can't have wolf in your design is that right yeah so because I'm a raven um I'm not allowed to have any kind of wolf designs so this is kind of like um this tells other people uh what Clan I am and like who I am and who my people are so you won't see me wearing any wolf designs cuz then like wolf clan people will be like what the heck why are you wearing my stuff you know can I show your picture over there yeah for it she's a little camera shy but I can show you her picture and I can show you yeah you can show my bead work too the I can show the bead work here at the visitor center you can purchase traditional MLS that are [Music] handmade a quick look around hannes Junction hey if you want to buy an ice cream and Burger Joint this is the place a well-known Bakery continuing North on the Alaska highway from Hayes Junction those are some real mountains out [Music] there that's a pretty cute cabin right off Alek Valley Road the old gold rush cabin that's totally cute it looks like you might even be able to rent the place for a night got a wood stove right there and and there's your facilities let's have a quick explore down ALC Valley Road looking pretty Scenic out here bit of a bumpy road a little rocky but not too terribly bad that mountain in the distance is pretty impressive looks like a river ahead but I do see the road maybe goes that way or across the river I'm not sure let's let's try the one without the river first it looks like it just gets you some views there's a hiking trail out there somewhere I think this is the road but I don't think I want to chance it I think we'll keep on heading up the Alaska highway now and interesting note is that Yukon draba is living here and it's one of the only places that does live on earth it's a tiny plant some wide open expanses here at sulfur Creek on these lonely expanses it occasionally feels like I'm the only person out here sometimes I don't see another car for 5 minutes or more the beauty of these mountains mesmerized es [Music] me that is one weird looking cloud patunas and petrol maybe somebody's made what was once a gas station their home this is clani Lake and as you can see it's quite [Music] large this is the name of the mountain I'm about to show you deep in Grizzly country now let me give you some more Bare Necessities you can look right at them and you can talk to the bear it's fine to talk to the bear let them know you're there say hi in a nice voice sweet voice and uh see what the reaction is more than likely he'll just kind of look up at you and go back to eating grass or what whatever he was doing and it's okay if they stand up on their hind legs and kind of sniff the air and look around so they use their sense of smell and they're just trying to kind of sort you out they want to figure out who you are and what you are and how far away you might be so you know don't be threatened if they stand on their hind legs and of course they're going to be really tall don't worry about it too much uh I'll give you some more information on bears in just a little bit grass on the roof that cabin looks pretty old well that's kind of funny there's a look inside the cabin smells really funky like rat pea looks like this was once a small motel but now it was just an abandoned motel by a lake so much for that idea I guess looks like they left a few things behind and what was probably the shop or a shed what might have been in the lobby or a small restaurant had a nice view an old Ford dump truck that got [Music] dumped I found a mighty Scenic spot for the night but good luck trying to get out of here tomorrow this gravel is really loose I'm just down from the abandoned motel that we looked at what the heck is coming this way is that a bear a wolverine well what is that thing it's coming right toward me in a straight line I don't think it sees me I think I have a pretty good idea of what it is now that it's getting closer I don't think it sees me still it's coming right at me it is one big big porcupine holy crap he's coming right toward me oh my gosh he's like 10 ft away not even do you not see me hello I'm right here hello hello porcupine how are you you're trying to get away from me a you're only 8 ft from me you look a little bewildered yes can I help you okay you can sense me but you can't see me huh okay okay see you later bud byebye it's incredibly calm still and quiet out here I mean it is really quiet well that quiet lasted a little while until until the trucks and cars started going by and a plane flew overhead true quietude is becoming the hardest thing to find in the world today this is what 10 at night looks like here at clani Lake the sun hasn't even set yet [Music] [Music] this is what it looks like here at midnight land of the Midnight Sun [Music] good morning calm morning beautiful morning a little bit hazy now if I can just get the car out of this gravel it'll all be good car goes well going forward but it just doesn't have a lot of power in Reverse through gravel and sand and that kind of thing so try and get it out of here and get back out that wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was a little tricky but yeah I got out so I was parked up there and I couldn't you know get enough momentum trying to back out I knew that was gonna happen so I had to use gravity and come on down this way you can see the tracks and went on through here and then just had to climb up that and go around and go past their around their camping up we're on our way and more beautiful mountains and we'll be following the lake for another 40 km or so magnificent mountains I just love it this is destruction Bay looks like a good Old World War II vintage truck there it was an international that's what's written on the side something construction company on the top there the sign says destruction Bay was established in in 1942 as a tent camp for the US Army Engineers it got the name destruction Bay because a storm came through here with 100 mile an hour hurricane Forest winds and destroyed the place destruction Bay is mile marker 1083 on the Alaska Highway there's a look at destruction Bay gas station backed by pretty mountains got your Motel there not far down the road from destruction Bay is burwash landing where there's a giant gold pan here and a museum if you want to check it out General road conditions have deteriorated because of frost Hees that's when permafrost melts and refreezes and makes the asphalt bump and buckle so I've been going over a lot of bumps and such and I'm sure there will be more oh here we go it's fros now waa businesses come and go here and this is another example of one that's come and gone this must have been one of the businesses that was here at one time the daj [Music] river [Music] some more DS and don't about bears don't ever feed a bear remember a Fed bear is a dead bear you don't want them getting accustomed to humans do your your best to avoid getting between a mother bear and her Cubs that could turn out poorly if a bear charges you don't turn away don't run whatever you do just never run away from a bear if bear charges stand your ground hard as that may sound just stand there most of the charges are going to be Bluff charges however if the bear actually does attack you hopefully you've got some pepper spray and you can blast it in the eyes with that but you may not have that so just lay down curl up a no ball protect your head and play dead now that's if it's a Grizzly play dead if it's a black bear fight you know poke it in the eyes uh smash it on the nose do whatever you can to who to fight off that black bear sorry you just had some major potholes and bumps there flashing sign L says rough road drive with caution 75 is a pretty nice temperature for getting up towards Central [Music] Yukon all this gravel laid down chips go flying Another Roadside fatality this one getting close to the Alaska Board order last chance for gas fill her up with unrealistic expectations end of the line the bush is taken over here it's going to hide all these cars real soon artistic satellite dish we got to cross Customs cuz we're going into Alaska here so I guess got to get my passport out or not it says US Customs is another 30ks so I think we're in Alaska no no we're not we're still in Canada but that was the Canadian customs back there this is the international boundary between Canada and the United States and I'm going to stand in two countries at once right now I'm straddling two different countries America and Canada you can also sit on this bench and have one butt cheek in Alaska and one butt cheek in the Yukon and mosquito Customs US Customs we are entering Alaska I hope you enjoyed exploring the Wild and Woolly Yukon Territory in Canada's Far North with me I'll have more coming up on the Yukon but right now we're going to Alaska so check back with me and keep watching don't forget to give me a like share and subscribe until next time this is the rock oper I'll see [Music] you