From Teslin to Atlin
June 26-27, 2015









A row of totem poles at the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre.  The Tlingit (pronounced Klinkit) native people are mostly along the coast of southeastern Alaska. During the mid 19th century some of them migrated inland into southern Yukon and northern British Columbia. Telsin has one of the largest native populations in the Yukon. The Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre, while not large, has a nice display illustrating their history and culture.








A dugout canoe is made from a single cedar log. This one has not yet been painted in the traditional Tlingit style.









A couple of Tlingit canoes made from more modern materials - fibreglas. These are painted in the traditional Tlingit style.







An institution has closed! Mukluk Annie's restaurant was a favorite place of RVers to stop for salmon bake. She also let RVs park overnight in her parking lot for free and offered a complimentary cruise on Teslin Lake (on the boat shown in the picture) to those who had dinner in her restaurant. We took advantage of that on our last trip to Alaska. The word is that she retired. What will we do without Mukluk Annie?









Next we headed to Atlin, which is along the shore of Atlin Lake and about 60 miles south of the Alaska Highway. This view of Atlin Lake is in northern B.C. and looking back into the Yukon. The road is mostly paved, but there is about 17 miles of gravel, such as seen here. Atlin Lake is the largest natural lake in B.C.








The waterfront in "downtown" Atlin. Atlin is situated in a very scenic, with beautiful ice- and snow-covered mountainous region. Juneau is about 100  away, on the other side of these mountains. Atlin  itself is a small town of about 350 people; we  found them to be very  friendly. Atlin was a gold rush city at the start of the 20th century.








An unusual house in Atlin; it is all roof and windows. It seems to be someone's home.











A "work-in-progress" at the entrance to Atlin. Atlin has a substantial Tlingit population. Later we learned that this totem pole was carved by some youth in Atlin and was just erected a couple of weeks ago.  It seems to be the first ever totem pole erected in Atlin.

Next we go back to the Alaska Highway and on to Whitehorse.