Whitehorse and Dawson City

(posted from Dawson City Campground, Dawson City, Yukon)
(this post covers 3-5 July, 2008)

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Saturday, 5 July-

After a restful night at our little campsite on Tatuch Creek we headed for Dawson City. We took advantage of the many pull-offs at viewpoints to look out the ever-fascinating Yukon, Stewart, and Klondike Rivers.
We made it to Dawson by 1500, first viewing a good gold-rush historical film at the visitor’s center. We crossed the street to the North West Territories visitor’s center and spoke at some length with staffer ‘Reija’ about the nearby Dempster Highway up into the NWT and to the Arctic Circle.
We then began walking the length and breadth of town on the wooden sidewalks and dirt streets. We bought some salad fixings at the Bonanza Market (everything seems to have a gold-rush name here) and circled back to the van for supper. Afterwards, we walked more, this time checking out the gambling hall, Robert Service’s cabin, Jack London’s cabin, the Westmark Hotel, and the riverfront area.
Mocha Joe then carried us to our campground east of town. We tried to find a freebie but the town keeps a close eye on the tourist dollar and doesn’t permit overnighting. On the way in we had driven through the government campground about 11 miles out of town and that would have been okay but we learned one of the commercial campgrounds closer in has better facilities (including wi-fi) for the same price ($12).
We spent the evening reading through the brochures, updating the blog, and surfing the net. I see gas is $7.50 a gallon at the one station in town but only $6.50 a gallon a few miles out. Such a bargain!

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Friday, 4 July—

Happy Independence Day!
At the visitor’s center yesterday we learned we could get showers at the Robert Service campground for just $1 so we started today off with showers instead of our normal basin-and-washcloth routines. (I wish someone would convince Wal-mart to put in free shower facilities but that’s not likely, is it?)
We visited the Yukon Art Centre, a very impressive facility overlooking town. We enjoyed the art but there wasn’t enough of it — just one large room. Next door, though, is the Yukon Archives, where we saw an excellent exhibit of period photos of the gold rush. The Research Room wasn’t open until late today but that would be an interesting place to spend a few days poring through their records. Maybe next time.
Back in town we went looking for a shirt for me. I foolishly thought I’d be fine without a long-sleeve shirt this trip but regretted that decision when the mosquitoes went for my arms on our walk at Watson Lake. You’d think we could find a cheap long-sleeved shirt at Wal-mart but there was nothing under $20. We finally came upon the ‘right’ one at Mark’s Work WearHouse on sale for $11.
That afternoon we drove south of Whitehorse to the little community of Macrae and the Yukon Artists @Work co-op. We found this little gem as the on-again-off-again rain was making a mud-hole of the approach road. Our muddy road threaded its way through junkyards, each a testament to the marvelous variety of vehicles passing through here, some of which, sadly, have met their end at Whitehorse (I can’t resist an interesting junk-yard). The artist’s co-op was in the back of a large industrial-looking building beside a car-painting shop (Why in the world would you put a car-painting shop back a very dusty/muddy dirt road?). We were a little reluctant to enter but signs assured us a gallery lay ahead so we continued. But once inside, we found it modern and beautiful and filled with unique and inspiring art works. For some reason my eye is drawn to lino-cuts and there were several beauties of those.
To that point we had been checking off a few last things we wanted to see but now it was time to get on with our trip. We drove back down town and gassed up ($5.80 a gallon here), took advantage of the free “sani-dump” (dump station), and pressed onward.
Just outside Whitehorse we turned off the Alaska Highway and onto the Klondike Highway, rapidly losing the vestiges of the city. At Lake Laberge, we drove back the dirt road to Mom’s Bakery, where we bought good sourdough bread and yummy raspberry and pecan tarts. We stopped briefly on the marge of Lake Laberge to see the site of the disposition of Sam McGee’s remains*.
We drove north for another hour or so to Carmacks where we asked whether there might be informal campsites ahead and learned there was one below Five Fingers Rapids. We found the turnoff easily and settled in for supper and the night.
While Labashi prepared supper I sat in the front reading a map when I saw a motion ahead of the van. A red fox came trotting down the road, right up to the van. It never looked up, it just passed the right side, went behind the van, then turned and studied the van for a moment before trotting off. We suppose it was drawn by the smell of our supper cooking.
We spent the rest of the evening reading and blogging.

*The Cremation of Sam McGee (by Robert Service)

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

(This is the opening stanza of the very long poem. Please Google for the entire poem; it’s well worth your time)

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Thursday, 3 July-

This morning we toured the S.S. Klondike, a 1930’s-era sternwheeler which carried freight and passengers between Whitehorse and Dawson City. It carried over 200 tons of freight at a time, drawing only 42 inches. The Klondike made 10-15 trips over a season of about five months, then was laid up (along with other sternwheelers) in ‘the shipyard’ northeast of town. In the spring after ice-out, the boats would be launched sideways down the ways. The trip to Dawson City would take one-two days (with the current) and five-to-six days back (against the current). The steam boiler would eat wood at a prodigious rate and the steamer would have to pull alongshore at ‘wood camps’ every fifty miles. The wood camps were remote outposts solely for cutting wood for the steamers.
The Klondike is immaculately restored but of course we didn’t have the heat, the vibration, the smells, of what it was really like back in the day. I’d love to take a trip on a real working sternwheeler.
We next spent a few hours at the Backerei Kaffee Haus, both for their speedy wi-fi connection and their excellent mochas and smoothies. I posted a blog entry, checked our message machine and replied to emails while Labashi planned our next few days.
Late in the day we went to the Whitehorse Library where I read an excellent outdoors magazine called ‘Explore’ and the Whitehorse Star newspaper. I also picked out three books from the sales shelf for later reading.
We drove to nearby Rotary Park and had supper, then read and took a short nap. One of my books is a biography of Jack London and it’s excellent. But even a good read can’t keep us awake when our confused bodies want a nap. The very long days have mixed up our internal time clocks and we find ourselves wanting an afternoon nap even though we had an excellent sleep last night.
Two years ago we found the “Earl’s” upscale restaurant chain in Jasper and Banff. We loved their food and were very happy to find one in Winnepeg last summer. So guess where the Earl’s is in Whitehorse? Right across from the Wal-mart. So it was fated that we would visit Earl’s before leaving Whitehorse and tonight was the night….but just for dessert. I had one of their excellent chocolate martinis and Labashi had a slice of coconut cream pie before we returned to the Wal-mart parking lot and our books, reading until the twilight finally turned too dark to read by—around midnight. (No wonder we want to nap in the afternoon!)

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