Where the ravens play

View from a dump

Where are we going today Edna? My cousin is taking me on another Edna Tour. She has lived here in Whitehorse for more than 30 years and she knows the best places to take pictures. "To the dump," she replies. OK, I say. I've been on enough Edna tours now to know it will be good.

 Dandelion Heights

 The Old Dump or Dandelion Heights is the site of a former tip, created after the Alaska Highway was built in 1942. The soldiers who built the road, connecting the States to Alaska,  put their rubbish here after the project was finished. It has been levelled, seems clean and now provides an excellent if unexpected location from which you can view 360 degrees of Yukon scenery.

Raven playground

 Yes, in the Yukon even the rubbish dumps are beautiful. "This is where the ravens play," Edna tells me. She is absolutely right  and it is playing not flying. From our viewpoint they float above and below us, chasing each other and turning circles in the air. It's like they're celebrating the beauty around us.

The Yukon river

 There isn't another soul around and I feel I could stay here for hours. I really don't want to leave. The ravens are making the strangest noises and having a ball. But the Edna Tour continues and we drive a little further to the Mountain View Golf Course. Here we meet someone from the native community. He tells us the sandy track we about to follow is Kwanlin Dun land and asks politely if we could respect it.

 He says they've been working on cleaning up the beach area and hope to begin fishing camps again on the river. It's windy and sand flies up in our faces. There are more ravens than ever.

The time comes for us to move on and we tiptoe past some golfers to our car. All of this was a short drive from downtown Whitehorse. I feel blessed to have seen it. That's the thing about the Yukon. You see many places that give you a strong sense that you will return.

I will definitely be back to revisit what has got to be the most beautiful dump in the world.

Me looking chuffed

I had a nice surprise today. I was reading a display on the Canadian Tourism Commission Awards and quite unexpectedly saw something I recognised. My own blog. I'm a finalist in the Best Travel Blog category. They announce the winners tomorrow night. I'll let you know.
Find out more about the Yukon and Whitehorse.
Read: The secret world above the city