Month: June 2017

The Dempster Highway is mostly gravel, and lots of shale pieces that make their way to the surface to slice your tires. It is also 750 km to drive up to Inuvik, a trip that will take two days of driving in each direction. The second day includes two car ferries to cross the Yukon River since there are no bridges built. Although it was appealing to Joyce to make it to the Arctic Circle and Inuvik, we decided not to make the trip and risk either tire or windshield damage. Instead, we compromised with a trip to Tombstone Territorial Park, just 70 km up the highway. We saw few vehicles at this time of the season but we had a nice, sunny day for driving and some nice views of Tombstone Mountain.

We also took advantage of a ranger-led hike after lunch to see wild flowers and edible plants. It was a great, educational experience and we collected some Labrador Tea leaves and spruce buds which we then attempted to make tea with. It wasn’t the most flavourful; not sure if we didn’t have sufficient leaves, or if it is a milder tea than we are used to.

Our campsite we’ve been staying at is full of mosquitoes. We certainly can’t have campfires here; it is a boggy, swampy area so we aren’t surprised by the bugs. However, there weren’t a lot of choices in town. Mostly gravel parking lots either right in the centre of town, or right beside the highway. We moved across the river to another government campground. This one is much larger and right on the Yukon River. The mosquitoes were much less and we enjoyed campfires. The only downside was having to take the ferry back across into Dawson. However, it is a free ride, constantly running 24 hours/day and if you chose your time right, there isn’t much of a line up.

Next, a drive up Bonanza Creek Road to see historic mining as well as modern day operations….

After an overnight at Pelly River Crossing, we arrived in Dawson City. We located a campground on the edge of town that was a government park. The price was right, so we parked the trailer and headed into town. Dawson is definitely an historic gold rush town, situated where the Klondike and Yukon Rivers meet. The streets remain dirt and many of the buildings have restored fronts on them to look like they are still in the gold rush days.

Originally the capital of the Yukon, Whitehorse took over from Dawson in 1953, as it was on the railway, had a large airport and was much more the hub of activity. In the early 1960’s, Dawson was declared a National Historic Site of Canada and as a result, many buildings have been restored or reconstructed or stabilized. It is a busy tourist hub and includes famous residences of Robert Service, Pierre Burton and Jack London.

One of the most interesting sites as we arrived in Dawson was the piles and piles of rocks on both sides of the highway. These piles, are from the tailings left over from the gold rush days as the gold miners attempted to make their fortunes. They stretch for miles and complete subdivisions have been built on them.

No trip to Dawson is complete without a visit to Diamond Tooth Gerties, a licensed casino with Klondike gambling tables as well as slot machines. It has three nightly cancan-style shows and we visited it twice to see the earliest of the three. The last one doesn’t start until midnight and although we did stay up past then one night, it was for a different purpose – to see the sunset at midnight from Midnight Dome.

Being as close to the summer solstice as we were, we were fortunate to see the sunset after midnight one night when we suddenly decided at 1130 to drive up Midnight Dome Road. We arrived in perfect time to see the sun just before it set and to watch it go down. When we arrived at the top, we were surprised to see people actually camping at the top of the dome – just pulled over in the campers at the side.

We’ve seen a number of places along the roads in the Yukon where people have done this. No services, but sometimes the most awesome locations. This rig was from a German couple who were travelling around the world in it – they had been in North America for a year already and after heading south for the winter, they were heading to South America for their next continent, having completed Africa, Europe, North America already.

Obviously with our 28′ fifth wheel, we can’t go off road just anywhere, but it is definitely something to consider depending on the ease of access and how busy the road is!

Tomorrow – driving the Dempster….