Getting ready to ride on Montana Mountain.

Ending our ride right on the beach by Bennett Lake.

Her first catch! A beautiful 5 lbs lake trout! She got a second one that was a little smaller!

Hiking up Nares Mountain. Steep, but beautiful!

Mountana Mountain is a mountain biking mecca and people come from far away to ride these beautiful trails. Be warned though, that this is not the best place for a beginner rider. The riding is technical and steep in places, but there is plenty to keep the comfortable intermediate busy. For a longer ride, ride Mc Donald Creek or Nares View. For a quick afternoon ride we like to combine Maggie's Run, Sporting Wood, upper Dei Kwan, Sam McGee and AK DNR (then Mossy all the way to the beach on a nice day). Another good combo is Holey Roads, upper Dei Kwan, Lower Wolverine and Fox. Upper Wolverine will delight the more advanced riders, so will Black Bear and Goat. You can shuttle up or ride the nice uptrack (or do a bit of both!). Get more info on the trails here.

There are two places to camp in the area (on top of an ugly pricy RV park): the Carcross campground is right in town, but in a nice wooded area (that's where we like to stay, riding and walking distance from everything, good cell signal, free wood, included in our Yukon camping pass). There is also a new territorial campground 10 minutes out of town called Conrad. It's also treed and more quiet, but there is no cell signal and you need to drive to get anywhere.

There is the famous Carcross desert where every tour bus coming from Skagway (AK) stops, but there are also some beautiful (and hard!) hiking trails that rewards you with beautiful views of the area after only 10-15 minutes of hiking (no need to go all the way to the top, but we highly recommend it!). I especially recommend you hike Nares Mountain, Caribou mountain or Sam McGee (also called Mountain Hero), 2 km passed Conrad Campground. Bring your bear spray and make lots of noise, we have seen bears on these trails every year we came to hike them.

Carcross is a really cute little town with one of the most beautiful (although often very windy) beaches in the Yukon. The new Carcross Commons is a cluster of tiny houses with Tlingit-inspired facades featuring artisans, an amazing coffee shop, a gelato shop, an authentic maple products shop, a bike shop and lots more. There is also a delicious restaurant called The Bistro.

There isn't much in terms of supply in Carcross. A corner store with pricy crappy food, a laundromat at the RV park (and that allowed us to fill our water jugs there) and dump and fill for $10, no propane, so make sure you come prepare and grocery shop in Whitehorse before coming.

By the way, for those interested, I think my love affair with the Fujifilm x-100t is already over. I miss the bokeh of my Nikon 24-70 mm (on the D700). I know I cannot ask this little camera to do it all well (as my friend Michel says, it's not a grand piano, it's a synthesizer, it doesn't do everything, but what it does, it does well). It's a great second camera, but since I cannot afford 2 cameras, I'll go back to my super heavy work horse. Maybe the xt-1 + the 56 mm f 1.2 would be the answer, but I would need at least another lens (23 mm?), which adds up...

Lots and lots of giggles! That time, they had tricked me by jumping down the cliff to a ledge, while they threw a big rock in the water to recreate the impression that they had fallen into the river. They thought it was hilarious to see my reaction.… — Lots and lots of giggles! That time, they had tricked me by jumping down the cliff to a ledge, while they threw a big rock in the water to recreate the impression that they had fallen into the river. They thought it was hilarious to see my reaction. There will be revenge.

I love camping in the Westy with these 3. They truly are a joy to be around these days!

The smell of wild sage on the cliff by the river just across from our campsite. I couldn't resist lying down in it while soaking up the morning sun.

By the time we got everybody fed and organized, it was 7:30. We debated not going, but it was so nice out and we knew we would not run out of light. We drove from the campsite to Kusawa Lake, brought the canoes down and started building the raft. We pushed it in the water a little after 8:30 pm. Chris gave us a little crash course/refresher on moving water, a bald eagle was spotted on a nearby tree, the sun peaked from behind the clouds and streched its amazing late summer night light on the mountains. I couldn't stop smiling. Laughter erupted as we hit the waves and water kept splashing us. There were some sea salt chocolate and chips. Some hummus and carrots too. Another bald eagle. Lots or fishing, wet girls lighting a fire, too many smores and a very late night in bed.

The next morning brought pancakes and coffee by the fire and a fishing and blueberry expedition. Hats that became pails, a lesson in fly fishing, a river crossing up to the waist, a scratchy alder bushwack on river cold legs; some cranberries were found (almost ready!). And more laughter too. It was just the adventure we needed.

Mountain biking, hiking and fishing in Carcross, Yukon

A canoe run down the Takhini River