Mike & Kris - Enjoying The Ride

Canada is so big! It’s hard to believe that we had been driving since the end of May and had not even reached the Yukon Territory yet, let alone Alaska. But there were so many cool things to see and do while in Canada and it has been easy to “enjoy the ride”.

After we left the Liard Hot Springs, we continued on the Alcan Highway to Watson Lake, BC. They have created a “signpost forest” along the road. People from all over the world have stopped on their way through and posted a sign from home.

We spent a little time looking over all the signs and found a spot for our own sign.

Then we made our way to Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory-yes, we were finally out of BC and into Yukon Territory.

Whitehorse is the largest town we have been in for awhile with a population of about 28,000 people. We took a great tour of the SS Klondike, a stern-wheeler river boat that traveled up and down the Yukon river from Whitehorse to Dawson City from 1929 to 1950 until the highway was built.

It was the main source of transportation for people and supplies during this time. It was unbelievable how much wood it took to keep it going and even how they got it into and out of the river every winter. The Yukon River freezes every winter and so they pulled it out sideways using logs to keep it off the ground. While here we also spent a bit of time hiking around an area called Miles Canyon.

The Yukon River is a beautiful green/blue color here.

While planning this trip we had decided we wanted to see Dawson City and also travel on the Top of the World highway. So just outside of Whitehorse we left the Alcan highway and headed even further north.

Dawson City is worth the effort to get here! A small town with just around 2000 people but packed with history and stories. The roads in town are all dirt and the sidewalks made of wood.

They have so many historic tours in town it’s hard to decide what to do first. We did the historic walk which gave us tons of background information.

We learned that Dawson City became a town with the discovery of gold in 1896 but the gold rush only lasted a few years.

The town grew overnight to about 40,000 people and then shrunk back to as few as 500 people after everyone moved on to the next discovery.

However, after the pan miners left, the larger corporate mining companies moved in and we learned about this by visited Dredge #4. It was one of twelve Dredge’s that operated during this time and each one moved over 30,000 cubic yards per day.

The machinery was amazing but what was more amazing was the ingenutity of the workers and how they kept it all operating so far from civilization. We also toured the Bear Creek Compound which was also a historic site near Dawson City.

This is where the mining company headquarters were located. It was essentially a company town where they had houses for workers, the gold room (where they processed and melted down about 4 lbs of gold every 3 days), a blacksmith shop, and a metal shop to name just a few.

They have preserved so much history in this place.

They also were having an art fair in town while we were there. We wandered around and found Lumin Studio where they teach glass sculpture. They were letting people give it a try so Mike signed up and created a bird paperweight. Super fun activity.

Other Dawson City activities included a drive to the top of Midnight Dome overlooking town, and free gold panning on Discovery Creek.

We didn’t try our luck on this trip–saving it for next time!

Finally, we went out for a drink at the local hotel and found another interesting event. It seems that a some point during the long winters with not much happening, the townspeople decided it would be interesting to have a challenge unique to Dawson City. They came up with the Sourtoe Challenge. “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe”. You basically get a shot glass with whiskey and a human toe in it to drink. (You are not allowed to swallow the toe!!!)

Mike, who is never willing to back down from a challenge, accepted, and we have the pictures to prove it. Ewwwww…

When leaving Dawson City we needed to get to the other side of the Yukon River and there is no bridge. So from mid-May until mid-September, they operate a ferry.

So, yes, we loaded our fifth-wheel onto the ferry for a ride across the Yukon. Only two RV’s fit at a time but we were there early so no wait. The day before we saw people waiting over 4 hours to catch a ride. BTW, the ferry operators were super impressed with Mike’s driving skills! They told him he was, by far, the best RV driver they had seen all season!!

Once across we headed up the hill to the Top of the World highway. It is paved from just a few miles and then it is dirt/gravel for over 100 miles. It is a slow drive but beautiful.

Our only complaint was that we saw only 1 animal the whole drive and it was a porcupine. After you cross the border into Alaska they road is pavement but full of pot holes and frost heaves so the gravel was actually a bit easier.

The first town (27 residents) is Chicken and it is a welcome stop for a coffee and treat but not much else.

After another 100 miles we made it to Tok, Alaska which is back on the Alcan highway. While here we rinsed off the pickup, competed in a pancake toss, and relaxed a bit.

Tomorrow we are headed to Fairbanks.