Day 27

Dawson City, Yukon Territory

We left Five Fingers turn-out at 8:00 this morning. The first 5 miles or so was quite rough. On the way there was a lot of good road, but a lot of it had frost heaves and pot holes. Most of them are marked well, but some you just have to be on the watch for them. My co-pilot was really on the job today helping to spot the dips and holes. Last night a car pulled into the rest stop at about 2:30 and Cindy said there was a sunset at that time. (There was a little bit of a pink hue in the sky.) I woke up at 4:00 and it was starting to get quite light.

We stopped for quite a few photo ops. It is still very beautiful country. We passed through several small towns, that didn’t seem to have much going on. We followed what I think is the Yukon River for a long way, but went over some mountains and followed and crossed several other rivers.

As we got close to Dawson City, The Klondike River was flooding, and in some places got very close to the Highway. At one rest stop, a man driving what looked like a jeep with a small camper pulled in. He told us he was from Austria and his truck had German license plates. He told us that in 2011 he had his truck shipped to Buenos Ares, Argentina. His truck was brand new when he got there, and now had 70,000 miles on it. He had a map on the back that shows he drove down the Pan-Am Highway to the end of the Pan-Am, and had then returned up through South America, Central America, Mexico, The US, and Canada. He had made it all the way to Prudoe Bay, Alaska. When we saw him, he was headed to Winnipeg, where he was leaving his truck and was flying home to Austria. He said he would return later and finish driving across Canada to the east coast, and then have his truck shipped back to Europe. He told us that when he started out, there were 10 vehicles, and he was the only one left. He has been traveling for 2 years, some of it by himself.

As we drove into Dawson City, there were huge piles of gravel tailings. They were remnants of the gold dredging that was done in the last century. Our first stop was the Visitor Center. We got lots of good advice about what to see in town, as well as watching a movie about the gold dredging and the various ways they got through the perma-frost to get down to the gravel where the gold was.

We decided to stay at the Goldrush Campground in the middle of town. With tax, the price for 2 nights is $87.00.

Cindy and I took a little walk around some of the town, and saw some interesting old buildings. Tonight we are going to Diamond Tooth Gerties to see the show that is put on 3 times nightly. At the visitor center they gave us a coupon good for one free beverage. There is a $10.00 per person cover charge, which includes the show. Cindy has read that the show is pretty fun. We were told that the later the show, the racier they get. We went to the 8:30 one. It was a fun show, and we enjoyed it. There was an RV caravan at the show, and they are going over the Top of The World Highway tomorrow. They have to leave their campground at 7:00 am and get ready to go over on the ferry. I’m glad we are not going tomorrow, and glad we are not in a caravan.

After the show, we went to the Dome Road to see the view of the town and the immense views of the mountain ranges that seem to go on forever. We could see across the river and see the Top of The World Highway as it goes over and around some of the mountains. On the way down, we had to have our sunglasses on. It was 10:15 at night. Right now it’s 10:30 pm, and the sun is about where it would be at 4:00 in the afternoon at home.

Tomorrow we are going to see some more of the town. 

Thanks for visiting.