Sweet perfume and reflections

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For most of today a subtle perfume with touches of jonquil and winter sweet have accompanied us as we rode along the 424km gravel road from Faro to Watson lake 'the gateway to the Yukon'. Maybe the warmer air has liberated the volatile perfumes. This wildflower on the shoulder of the road is one of the sources.




But when we stopped for a break this shrub with small green flowers was filling the air. I don't know what the plant is.




The road took us through stunning scenes.




With reflections in the lakes








This is one of Ken's photographs
We were happy to arrive safely in Watson Lake after the longest distance we have travelled in one day on gravel. Some was hard packed clay, some was like amarbles game and there was a 7km road work and quite a few km with surprise dips and bumps courtesy of the permafrost thaw.

We saw no settlements en route and only one motorcyclist, one pickup truck, one motorhome and a petrol tanker.

And.. one porcupine and a bear beside the roadside near Frances Lake -the site of the first Hudson Bay trading store in the Yukon.

A forest fire in the 1990s had burned 32,000sq km of forest. That is equivalent to about 20% New Zealand Land area.

Location:Faro to Watson lake

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