Much Ado About the Roads (Sunday, July 19, 2009) There were two caravans staying at Pioneer RV Park at the same time, both were traveling the same route today, and the other caravan was departing this morning at 7 AM. Consequently, we departed early to buy gasoline and get ahead of the crowd—it was a mistake. First, no gasoline stations were open before 7 AM, and second, most of the other RVers were in a much bigger hurry than us, and most passed us on this leg. This was a long leg, some 334 miles, and much to our surprise, several miles of washboard gravel. Of course, there were frost heaves, but they were insignificant compared to the gravel roads. This was also one of the worst Sundays in which to travel north to Dawson City as Dawson City was wrapping up their very popular music fest, and the traffic heading south were full of folks in a hurry to get back to Whitehorse. Consequently, much gravel was thrown by oncoming traffic. Two windshields in our caravan were damaged by the same oncoming pickup truck. Fortunately for us, we suffered only a tiny scratch in our windshield where that same pickup threw a piece of gravel, bouncing it off our windshield. Quite distressing was being passed ny another RVer—a Fleetwood Southwind, towing a Chevrolet, with Florida handicap license plates—traveling about 60 mph on gravel. He missed our mirrors about 12 inches and threw gravel everywhere. He’s an idiot, and hopefully, we’ll not have to deal with him again; he threatened several other RVs and their passengers by his reckless actions. The Yukon has been a bit of a disappointment for us in terms of animal sitings—we only saw one fox today on the whole way up to Dawson City. We did stop and take a picture at Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon River.

As we approached Dawson City, we were amazed by the gold dredging tailings; there were miles and miles of them as high as could be piled. We arrived in Dawson City about 4:30 PM, filled up with expensive gasoline, found our parking spot for the next 4 days, cleaned the inside of the motorhome, rinsed the dust off the Saturn, and had dinner. Kay played cards with some other caravaners, and I went to bed early after a stressful day of driving.

PS: The Frantic Follies last night in Whitehorse were a hoot. We really enjoyed the singing, dancing, story-telling, and funny jokes. We’d definitely do it again.

Dawson City, YT, Day 2 (Monday, July 20, 2009) Dawson City is a unique Klondike town, located at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, and retains much of its character with gravel streets and many restored buildings. It has been designated a Parks Canada National Historic Site. Because of the music festival, it was still teeming with young folks, and made more crowded by two RV caravans. Our first stop was at the Dawson City Museum in the old, restored government building. It features artifacts from the post-ice age through the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. After lunch, we visited the Robert Service cabin and heard a great one-hour biographical interpretive program with sketches of Service’s life and recitations of several of his poems; another well-done Parks Canada program!

Next was a visit to Jack London’s cabin which was a bit of a disappointment after the great interpretive program regarding Robert Service. We walked several of the streets of Dawson City, admiring the old buildings, both restored and near dilapidated, returning to the RV Park for a restful evening.

Dawson City, YT, Day 3 (Tuesday, July 21, 2009) Happy birthday, Carma. This morning saw us off to the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre, providing insight into the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation People. This was an OK trip, and we learned about the customs and culture of this First Nation people, and their integration into European Society brought on by the Klondike Gold Rush. The tour leader, Tish, was the great granddaughter of Chief Isaac, the most respected chief of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Trof; Tish made bannock bread for sampling, the highlight of this program. After lunch we drove to the Midnight Dome, a high mountain, perfect for viewing Dawson City, the Yukon River, and the surrounding area.

Last evening, we saw people parasailing off this mountain. Bonanza Creek, where most of the gold panning was and still is occurring, was obvious by all the tailings. After descending the Dome, we drove along Bonanza Creek, seeing all the claims, old and new machinery, Dredge No. 4, and current panning operations. Neither of us panned for gold. In the evening, we visited Diamond Tooth Gertie’s saloon, dance hall, and gambling casino, primarily to see the cancan girls. As it turned out, the 30-minute program featured singing by a female playing the role of Gertie and a male counterpart, with the 4 cancan dancers dancing between songs. All were very good; the female singer had a great voice, and the cancan dancers were excellent. Diamond Tooth Gertie’s is owned by the city of Dawson, and leased by the Klondike Visitor’s Association. All proceeds are used to promote the Klondike. It is the oldest casino in the Yukon.

Dawson City, YT, Day 4 (Wednesday, July 22, 2009) Happy birthday, Dick. The men in our group cooked breakfast this morning, with a menu of scrambled eggs, monkey bread, bacon, sausage, and pancakes; I was elected to make and flip blueberry pancakes. It was a fun event, followed by a speaker from the RCMP—a lady officer! She was very informative, telling us of her career, the multitude of responsibilities assigned to the “Mounties”, and stories of their activities in the remote north.

This is our last full day in Dawson City; tomorrow we enter Alaska via the Top of the World Highway, gaining yet another hour since Alaska is on Alaska Daylight Savings Time. Consequently, there is much trepidation because of crossing the Yukon via the ferry, and horror stories about road conditions. Much of the Top of the World Highway is gravel, very high and sinuous, absent guard rails, and has soft shoulders that cause some RVs to tip over. Several of the other RVers are having panic attacks, but we’re pretty much taking things in stride. After seeing RVs disembarking from the ferry, all without towed vehicles attached, we did remove the tow bar from the motorhome to prevent it from dragging and being bent or torn up. Several of the big rigs are leaving tonight to avoid an early morning crossing (they are crossing tonight to get it over with, more than likely). I drive so slow that everyone passes us anyway, so we’ll be among the last to leave.

After readying the motorhome for the expected worst leg yet, most over gravel, we headed downtown to see a short play in the Grand Palace, followed by a film which chronicled the last paddlewheel boat’s (SS Keno) journey down the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson. Parks Canada has done a great job in providing interpretive programs in Dawson City, and the city as a whole can be considered a Canadian national historic site.

Our Recommendations for Dawson City, YT Dawson City is one of the neatest towns we’ve ever visited, and is definitely a town for walking. We definitely recommend visiting the Dawson City Museum, and just walking the streets of town. While we didn’t know about it, we would have purchased a 3-event Parks Canada ticket which would have allowed us to do 3 activities for the price of 2. Our 3 would have included a walking tour of the town, a visit to Dredge No. 4, a visit to the old restored Commissioner’s residence, or the short play. As it was, we did not do the walking tour, the dredge visit, or the Commissioner’s residence visit. Also, the Robert Service program was great, and well worth the time. A trip to Midnight Dome is also a must do. We’re glad we came to Dawson City, but having said that, we probably wouldn’t do it again because of the wear and tear on the motorhome and car, but who knows?

Kay’s Take This is a really interesting area and it’s admirable that the community is restoring so many buildings preserving the spirit of the Klondike gold rush and the stories of that era. These folks were definitely independent pioneers to survive winters of 40+ below and summers of high 80’s. One fun event was Tuesday night at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. This is the only ‘gambling’ hall in the Yukon Territory. The show was excellent—the main madame had a wonderful mezzo soprano voice and the dancers were fantastic. They were better than the dancers with the Rockettes we saw in Branson at Christmas. The young man who played the ‘feller’ had a good voice also. The place was packed during the show – downstairs and upstairs in the balcony. I hit the slot machines as usual and in 30 minutes or less had won $36. We did carry two of our RV ‘neighbors’ from the caravan to the show also. They are traveling without a ‘toad’. Another funny incident: I was waiting on a certain slot machine and began talking to two ladies, one of whom was on the machine I wanted – she was losing pretty quickly. They were fun and asked where I was from after visiting for awhile. Turns out they were from Flippin, AR!! (about 30 min. from us) They were on a land excursion with Holland America after doing the inside passage via cruise ship. What a small world is really is! Go figure! Oh, yes, today is Dick Todd’s birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DICK!!

Campground Bonanza Gold RV Park, Dawson Creek, YT, is pretty typical of RV parks in the Yukon—gravel parking pads, with decent electric, water, sewer, cable, and wi-fi, though the wi-fi is sporadic. We opted not to use the showers or bathrooms. I would stay here again, but would first check out Downtown RV Park where everything is within walking distance.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 12,877.6

Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST

Ending Mileage: 13,211.5

Ending Time: 4:30 PM PDST

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 333.9

CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,820.0