Slept right through til 7 am this morning ! That’s a first –
I must be getting used to this permanent daylight ! Had a lazy Saturday in Dawson, and then
today drove from Dawson City to Whitehorse – Nothing stunning, but a really
pleasant days drive – Made even better by having some new Moody Blues CD’s to
listen to that I had forgotten about !
Oh, and I found a packet (edible) of Wine Gums at last (although most of
them were green ones L
), so a good day was assured. The fact that
the scenery was great only made it, well,……..better !!!
Yesterday (Saturday) was a lazy day in Dawson. It was a fine morning, and I
went down to the 1st ever Top of the World Highland Games (!!) that
were being held, but they didn’t look overly exciting, so I spent most of the
morning washing the grime and mud from yesterday’s Top of the World Highway
drive off the car – It was so bad I couldn’t even get in the car without
getting filthy !! By the time I had done that, and a bit of sewing of my car
shower cape which was starting to suffer from frequent use, and caught up on a
few other things, it was lunch time. So
I walked back in to the Highland Games which had picked up a little, and spent
the afternoon watching a few Canadians with Scottish names wearing kilts toss
cabers and throw weights over bars. Of
course there were the obligatory pipe bands from various Provinces doing their
thing – It was actually quite a pleasant way to spend the afternoon, especially
since it didn’t rain all afternoon !!
Once they had wrapped the Games up, I went into town and did
some grocery shopping for my journey tomorrow to Whitehorse, and then took
myself on a walking tour of the town, using a guide published by the
Information Centre. I have done this in
a few places now, and it is really fascinating seeing some of the original
houses from 1898 and the Gold Rush not only still existing, but in a couple of
instances still being used !
Unfortunately in the early days they didn’t realise that if you built on
permafrost, and then heated the house, the permafrost would eventually thaw and
your house would start to sink into the ground ! I saw evidence of this in
Siberia when I was working in Russia, and it was the same here. So some of the building can be seen in the
photos to be at very odd angles – Including St Andrew’s Church which I put in
for family reasons because my Dad used to be the Vicar of St Andrew’s Church in
Plymouth in the UK, (If any of you were wondering !!).
When I parked in town, I was chatting to some people who had
gathered round the car and 3 local lads came up on their bikes – wanting to
know if any of us were tourists !!
Turned out they were on a treasure hunt for school and one item they had to get was
a photo of a foreign $50 bill – So I found an Aussie one which they duly took a
photo of and went off happy. Hope you
won, guys !!!
And apart from the main road around the edge of town, which
is actually the Klondike Highway, none of the other roads in town are tarmac –
They are all still dirt with wooden sidewalks to keep you out of the mud ! Skagway had the wooden sidewalks, but their
roads were tarmac – Dawson City really is just like it used to be !! And yes, I did go and investigate the Sour
Toe, Ian, and decided that I really did not need that experience !!! Ha ha.
At the end of my about 2 hour walk around town, I ended up
(on purpose !) at a local restaurant serving halibut and chips ! I just didn’t feel like another can of stew
again, so splashed out on the halibut and a couple of beers. And very nice they were too !! I then drove home just as it started to rain
– and just next to where they had held the Highland Games I had noticed a sign
up a side road with a picture of a camera on it denoting “Scenic”. So up I went and it was great – about 10
miles that were almost as good as Pikes Peak in Colorado !! Well, it was raining, so I had to go fast so
I didn’t get wet !!! Rofl. By the time I got to the top it was
pouring, so I quickly put the roof on, took a couple of photos of what would
normally be a gorgeous view down over the whole of Dawson and the Yukon River,
and then went back down the hill to the campsite in the rain !! And straight into my tent and to bed – Not much else you can do when it is raining
!
As I say, woke up later than usual this morning, and the
rain had stopped, although the tent was wet so it took longer than usual to get
the worst of the water off, and get packed up.
A couple from Quebec came over as I was packing up, and I found my
French was a little rustier than I thought !! By the time I was ready to go at
about 10, the sun was actually out, so off came the roof ! (Duh !). While coming back from my shower I got
chatting to a couple of Harley riding guys from Kansas, Gerry and Tony, who
were just leaving and heading the same way. And so off south down the Klondike
Highway – I felt really good this morning, aided by the Moody Blues and the
wine gums, and with the roof off, it was a great start to the day.
The first part of the road had lots of gravel piles beside
the road, and it took me a while to realise that they were the remnants of Gold
Dredging all along the river beside the road !
You forget just how real, and indeed ongoing, the search for gold is –
Especially at current prices ! It isn’t
just something that finished in 1910 – people go searching for gold at weekends
here as a hobby. A little later I came
upon a bridge under repair with traffic lights directing the traffic (what
traffic ?? Rofl!) Despite the lack of
anything coming the other way (or even going my way !!), I was fascinated by the
fact that there was a timer under the lights, which told you how long it would
be till the light turned green – Which was the first time I have ever seen
that, and thought was jolly decent of them !!
It counted down (was about 120 seconds when I got there), and sure
enough when it hit 0, the lights went green !!
They should have those at ALL road works so at least you know whether
you have tome for a sandwich before the light goes green !! Very impressed – Doubly so considering the
location for this masterpiece of technology !
(Ie the middle of no where, powered by a solar panel !!)
Then we passed the turn off to the Dempster Highway – The “other”
way of getting to the Arctic Circle in Alaska.
But it is all dirt, and is some 400 miles to the circle, so not on my
agenda this time, although if I came back in a more suitable vehicle, it would definitely
be on the route, with a trip up to the village of Inuvik much talked about as
worthwhile.
Shortly after that I saw my first Lynx cross the road in
front of me – Naturally the camera was off, so by the time I was ready, it was
gone. But definitely a lynx. About 15 minutes later another one ! Same
result ! Then I stopped at a layby with
a view, and found as sign telling me that this valley was called the Tintina
Trench, and for thousands of years has formed
an avenue through which a lot of wildlife migrates through the area –
And is particularly known for its large Lynx population !!! So that justified my sightings !!
All along the road, it is getting so lush and green now as
it warms up. And alongside the road
today was an almost continuous garden of wildflowers, as though someone had
been out and planted them. Mostly purple,
and according to a pamphlet I got, it is Bear Root or Indian Potato. But yellow (mostly dandelions) and others as
well, making an almost endless flower garden beside the road. Very different from the snow, ice, and
nothing that was beside the road here when I went north 6 weeks ago !!
After a while Tony and Gerry caught me up on their bikes
(they must have stopped for gas because they left before I did ?) and for a while we went in convoy, weaving
through the frost heave and bad spots on the rod (all very well marked – You just
don’t know how bad each will be !!). They
then turned off at Moose Creek, while I continued on.
I think it was after the Mayo turn off that the black clouds
started to look ominous, so eventually I decided to put the roof on – And once
again I was just in time, as not 5 minutes later I was in a big downpour ! Alaskan / Yukon weather is VERY unpredictable,
but I am starting to get quite good at working out when the rain is just a
shower, or when it really is going to be a serious cloudburst ! Nice to be good at something for a change !!.
The Stewart crossing over the (surprise) Stewart River, and
then the Pelly crossing were both over fine bridges, and then after that we came
back beside the much bigger Yukon River again, and travelled beside it as far
as Five Finger Rapids. This was a big
signed Layby, so I pulled over and found it entailed a round trip hike of about
an hour, down a long steep stair case down the side of the mountain initially,
and then a hike on a narrow trail through the woods. But I needed the exercise so set off, with my
car about the only car in the car park.
Nice hike, and the Five Finger Rapids are quite special – the river being
divided into 5 channels by rock formations, and naturally the water flows a lot
faster through these restricted openings. Apparently until about 1910, the paddle
steamers didn’t have enough power to get through here, so they had to winch
them through, and a number of vessels smashed on the rocks and sank ! Eventually in about 1910, they dynamited some
of the rocks to make one channel about 20 ft wider, and this slowed down the
speed of the river through there, thus enabling most paddle steamers to make it
through without winching. Still
incredible to see and understand yet another of the challenges the prospectors
had to go through to get up the Yukon River to the gold fields.
After that, the land was more rolling hills and forest – nothing
startling, but very pleasant, and there were frequent heavy rain showers alternating
with sunshine which served to keep one concentrating – it is far harder to pick
the road conditions and severity of the frost heave when the road surface is
wet. Fox Lake was impressive enough, but
for much of the last 40 kms into Whitehorse we ran along beside the enormous
Lake Laberge. And although much of the
snow on the mountains has now melted, it was nice to see a few snow covered
peaks again in the distance – Presumably this is the southern end of the Kluane
National Park, and then the Chilkat Mountains which formed the backdrop for the
stunning drive north I had a few weeks ago when I drove from Haines to Haines
Junction.
Saw no other wildlife all day – Apart from ground squirrels
scampering across the road at regular intervals. People on their way north that I have met in
the Whitehorse campsite tonight say they have seen quite a few bears and moose
today, so hopefully tomorrow will see a
little more action on the animal front !!
Dropping down the last 20 kms into Whitehorse, the
temperature increased quite quickly, and by the time I was in the campsite I
had to take off all my thermals which I seem to have been wearing non stop for
the past 3 ½ months !! Is summer really
here at last ? Hmmm – We shall see –
Right now, it is raining !! But the
campsite has a great little open but covered area with an open fire, and old
couches and chairs, where I can sit in the warm and dry and do my blog !! Excellent facility !! It was closed when I came through before, but
is actually not only one of the nicer sites, but also the cheapest, and
focusses total on tents – No RV’s at all, so we are not treated like second
class citizens like at some RV places where they stick the tent area on gravel
down near the toilets !!
Tomorrow I will head towards Watson Lake on the Alcan – I travelled
part of this road on the way north, but it was raining and pretty miserable, so
hopefully we will get some sun, views, ad wildlife tomorrow !!
