As I turned back south towards home (another 4500 miles/6500 kms away) again, I decided to turn north juuuust one more time, following a sign towards the Arctic Ocean.  I had no plans to drive Canada’s only long and lonely road to the icy ocean, but did drive just a couple hours further north again to visit Tombstone Territorial Park.  

Tombstone Territorial Park is sometimes referred to the Patagonia of the north.   I’ve never been to Chile’s Patagonia region to compare, but now can say that Tombstone’s jagged and rugged peaks indeed match its formidable sounding name.   The year before I saw Tombstone on a map and felt its pull … but also felt overwhelmed at the prospect of driving solo several extra hours north of Whitehorse to visit this park when it might be snowed in already, so I didn’t.  This time, I had already almost there to visit Dawson City and there was no snow on the ground … yet!  

My day visit here was on September 22^nd.  By the end of the day, winter’s first light snow storm was gusting through the park.   My car that was caked in a thick coat of highway mud, now looked like a fluffy smores combo with 2 inches of light fluffy snow topping the chocolate brown mud layer. 

Tombstone has an epic looking backpacking route I had been eyeing, however ended up keeping this detour more simple due to the cold weather and lack of planning.   I ended up spending almost one day and an overnight sleep here.  I picked a couple trails off the park map that started on the main road, and decided to hike maybe less than a mile into each trail before taking breaks from the cold in my car.  The rest of my time was spent slowly driving the park and admiring the formidable looking landscapes at pull-off points.   

The first trail I walked hosted an abundance of ptarmigans on gentle slope in a mountain pass.   The winter wind that made my eyes water and hands too cold to keep a camera out, didn’t bother these bird with thick feathers on their feet.   Ptarmigans are famous for appearing nearly invisible when standing against the windswept backgrounds of their high mountain homes.  The large groups of ptarmigans I saw awkwardly stood out, while they were in their awkward transition period changing between summer and winter outfits.  It was a really cool experience to see these expressive feathered celebrities of the North in such large numbers. 

The next day I took a morning walk in the forest that was further down in elevation.  This walk held its own special beauty as the sun caught the frost crystals that coated the forest floor.  

Thank you for keeping me company on this journey! The next stop in these QueerVentures is Whitehorse, another 300 miles south through the remote Yukon Territory.