Heather's Quad Ride

Good morning to you....
I survived. Phyl and Doc purchased a quad ride for myself as a retirement gift. Regardless of the desire to get up on top of Sunshine mountain and take a million photos I definitely had big big reservations. We have had the pleasure of a visit from a 2nd cousin and her hubby from Oregon that had that same desire to travel to Sunshine Mtn and maybe get muddy in the process...Immediately I was worried about holding them back. But Ray Henderson from The Bears Den B & B and ATV tours in Faro Yukon had the solution. We started up the mountain with the spring chickens on two quads and Ray and myself rode a Rino. What fun. I was so thankful I conquered those fears and did it...It was the most fun....The top of the mountain is another whole world...Can you imagine the peace and quiet? The journey up was an experience in itself. I had the advantage over the kids because Ray sitting beside me gave me a running commentary regarding the area, mine, animals, even down to recognizing individual "poop" very very informative.....
Alan and Suzanne (the spring chickens) have had very little luck in seeing some wildlife making it a priority on this trip...The first thing we saw by the mine road was a young cow moose, I was sure their luck had changed. On the trip up the mtn. we scared this cow off the area, but on the way down she calmed down and the meal was more important.



At times I had a tough time distinguishing whether we were travelling on a creek or a trail but that turned out to be part of the charm.

Always on the look out for the flowers of the area I found the trail strewn with the elusive cotton grass, finally. I had found a wee patch on the North Canol Rd. but not as plentiful or as large as up here...Beautiful... I found numerous flowers up on the mountain that we cannot identify. For the first time I found some White Mountain Heather and tiny bunches of Pink Moss Campion huddled from the wind in little cavities in the rocks.


I took every opportunity to wander around by myself up there in that other world, looking for everything I thought was a new plant. I just told everyone to yell when they wanted to go again....We got along just fine up there. It rained at one point just long enough to get the butt wet but as soon as the sun came out everything dried up appropriately.



Suzanne started out on the trip a rookie quader with Ray's and Alan's instruction she quickly gained confidence needed to conquer those boulders and on the way down you could read her facial expressions expressing the fun she was having.













Ray and Tina Henderson offer a great service for visitors of the Yukon an opportunity to see the real picture. One of the daily comments was How many people have seen this...How many people have actually set foot on the top of this mountain...I am glad I am one....
I want to thank Ray, Suzanne and Alan for a great day.


We had lunch at an outfitters camp and headed further downhill....At Suzanne's request to get muddy, Ray took us down to the Pelly River by Faro town site. And muddy we got....yes including me...I had Ray deposit me on the side of the mess to "take photos" but that wasn't enough for them, I was encouraged to participate and as Alan said...I didn't come this far not to.



So down to the river we went I laughed so hard at Ray.....Watching Suzanne, Alan & Candace (Ray's daughter ) take trip after trip into the muck I turned and saw Ray all by himself in the Rino go for a dip.....In my opinion the biggest splash of the day. A big kid at heart.











Now Heather's turn....can you tell if I had fun or not?














It was such a grand day sharing good times. I lost my voice at one point, perhaps backseat driving to much or yelling when Suzanne went into the trees on three wheels or laughing so hard listening to Ray's laughter (a most unique laugh, the type that makes you laugh before you know what's funny).
I have a to do list of things I don't want to miss in life, good start don't you think?