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| August 05, 2008. Day 55 - Engineer Creek Campground- Tombstone Mountain Campground |
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| There was some light rain overnight. We woke up to a faint sun hiding behind
the clouds and trees. A beautiful majestic mountain painted the background
at Engineer Creek Campground. Occasionally the sun would give us its grace
and sometimes it would hide behind thick overcast skies. So overcast that
we couldn't tell from which direction the light was coming from. Since we couldn't charge the batteries in the morning due to the overcast weather we decided to start driving, with less than half of the battery pack we could drive at best about 100km on a flat terrain on a good road. Considering the rolling resistance of the gravel and mud on the Dempster Highway coumpounded by the climb ahead (the GPS was showing 600 meters, North Fork Pass is the highest elevation on the Dempster at 1,280 meters or 4,229 feet). We knew it would not be possible to make the summit but hoped to find better weather somewhere on the way. From far in the horizon the sky looked brighter beyond the mountains (the grass always looks greener on the other side). It was incredible, we got nealy 100k before stopping to charge the now nearly empty batteries. We stopped by Two Moose Lake. The lake is in a flat valley of gently rolling tundra enclosed by picture perfect mountains in the distance. No moose though. Thus, being in the middle of nowhere, it was amazing how seconds after stopping, the solar car was swarmed by tourists. Before we had a chance to set up the array, Marcelo was already answering questions about the project from an attentive tourbus crowd and a few independent travellers. A few people had already seen or heard about the solar car on the Dempster. No it is not a legend it is real! Hey remember the spider guys from McGill University we meet on July.... They had told us about a reasearcher doing some studies on forest growth in burned areas. Well, we finally met them. They were on their way back from Dawson where they had gathered some supplies. It was interesting to learn about the research taking place. Trees in this part of the world take a long time to grow because of the permafrost and short summers. So, if there are two forests just a few years apart in the same area cause devastering effects because the trees take a long time to mature and seed the second fire can incinerate the young trees before they seed. As a result the forest may never regenerate. The research is being carried by Carissa Brown from the University of Saskatchewan and Katrina Wohlforth her field assistant from the Yukon. Back in Eagle Plains there were a group of Palentologists from the University of Toronto and a Yukon palentologist searching for dinosaurs in the Yukon. They were staying at Eagle Plains and had a helicopter ride to their field of exploration. While the spider research team from McGill, the plant researchers from UofSakatcwan, the squirrel researchers had a more modest budget. We were all happy to see money invested into research. Hey, anyone interest in investing in us? Back to the reality of running a solar car expedition (we still don't know what to call the XOF1 drive above the arctic circle). After charging, napping and the usual fare of noodles, soup and hot chocolate, we left this particular side of the highway around 6:40. On the final stretch of road before the Tombstone Mountain Campground, Marcelo wasn't feeling well and as soon as he got out of the car began throwing up He is still puzzled as to the cause of this sudden affliction and other than a sore throat, was feeling better and eating an apple a few minutes later. Carrie and Mo explored the campground and looked forward to checking out the well equipped Nature Interpretive Centre in the morning. Special thanks to Joao Vicente for sponsoring 10km. |
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