We make it into the park quite early in the morning. The name comes from the highest peak in the park Mt Tombstone as in fact that is what it looks like.
We drive around the 36 site campground noticing lots of people with dogs, many of a husky flavour and Voilá the most perfect site, very secluded with drop dead gorgeous views to the mountains and valley. A bonus, it is also level, so the kettle won’t be sliding off the cooker !
We start by checking out the Visitors centre and see that dogs are really catered for with a designated parking site.
We want to see how the autumn colours have developed in the valley , so we start with that. Our last time here was in 2014 when an early hit of frost fast-tracked the leaves to go from green to frozen brown.
It is the long weekend , so there are a lot of activities planned by the park rangers, starting today with “The Fungus Among Us -nature walk”.
Annie the ranger is so enthusiastic about her new found passion of fungus identification, that she gets the whole group fully engaged , yelling Fungus out loud as soon as a new one is spotted. This is happening every couple of minutes. There is just enough time to jot down the characteristics of the stem, the gills, the colour, size, sliminess or not, chosen spot for growth all of which contribute to mushroom identification out of the thousands that exist , before the next one is found. It is felt that only 10% of the Yukon mushrooms have been identified and described. It is really fun putting each new find in a brown paper bag with its description note for verification at the Visitors Centre. The mushroom that engages everyone is the interactive “puffer” mushroom which when ripe and ready to give its life for the next generation, on being pressed gives out a puff of spores. The kids love pressing it and it is aptly named “ pêt de loup” in French ( offered by the French Canadian couple) which translates to „wolf fart” .
The weather is mixed drizzle and sunshine so as we go for an afternoon walk by the river, equipped with bear spray we see lots of amazing ground cover with lichen and loganberries that are just about ready for consumption. The walk finishes with a double rainbow on the edge of the valley.
It is so peaceful and stunning, we walk soaking in the smells, the sounds of the river and the feeling of gentle drizzle on our faces.
André finishes off the day by creating a delicious Pad Thai and some Lindt chocolate to top it off.