Day 38: Dawson City, YT (UPDATED)

May 22, 2014

Spent the day hiking, touring and panning for gold in the Yukon. Internet is slower than slow here so no pictures until we can connect better. We plan to head towards Chicken, AK on the Top of the World Highway tomorrow.  Prayers will be appreciated.

Probably no Internet tomorrow night. Will catch up and add pictures later.

UPDATE:

It was cold here again this morning – in the 30's but went up into the 50's later in the day.  Mostly cloudy and some wind.  We decided to spend another day in Dawson City – doing some of the tourist things.  So we again have very, very slow internet and I suspect this will not get posted for several more days.  Right now we plan to leave here in the morning and travel over the Top of the World Highway, through US customs to and then on to Chicken, AK.  We know we will not make it to Tok tomorrow – just too far based on our current knowledge of roads.  We do now feel confident that the US Customs office is open and we will be able to get through. 

So today we first went to the campground office and extended our stay, moving to a full hookup site.  If we don't have full hookups, we have to pay for water to dump/rinse the tanks and potable water for our drinking water tank.  We figured we might as well pay for full hookups and do a little laundry while we are here.  We then went to the Visitors Information Center in “downtown” Dawson.  They have some good information/displays and historical information.  There is a free walking tour at 0930 daily for those following us.  The Canadian Parks are restoring a number of historical buildings from he gold rush days. The rest of the businesses in town are “remaking” themselves in a more period appearance as well.  It's sometimes difficult for us to know if it is a restored building or a new building.  Anyway – quaint little town with all sorts of tourist type shops to go along with the historical locations. 

We then crossed the Yukon River on the ferry that we will be putting the motor home on tomorrow.  This is not one of the large Alaskan Marine Highway ferries.  It is quite small.   

There is a small government campground across the river that we drove through and then did a short hike to the  old paddle wheeler graveyard.  We could identify 3 vessels slowly rotting away along the shoreline and up into the woods.  Interesting.  These vessels were probably quite nice in their day.  They were pulled up on shore at the end of a season and were never floated again.

Back across the Yukon we then explored the downtown area/buildings and found a bakery and ice cream shoppe. 

There is also the restored Palace Grand Theater, the cabins of Jack London and Robert Service available for viewing along with many other buildings and things to do.

After lunch we went above the town to the Dome.  It is the highest place in the area at 2900 ft. and you can see the entire valley below from on top – the Yukon River, Bonanza Creek, Top of the World Highway (which we will be on tomorrow) and the Klondike Valley. Wish we had blue sky for the pictures but the view was awesome.  There has been a summer solstice midnight sun festival on top of the dome since 1899. 

click to enlarge pictures

We then went out the road that runs along Bonanza Creek.  Bonanza Creek is where the first gold was found that started the Klondike Gold Rush.  There is still a large dredge there – Dredge Number 4, the Discovery Claim historical site and a public claim where anyone can pan for gold.  

Dredge #4

We know a Cat technician who could have this Cable-Cat going in no time

So yes, we panned for gold today in the same icy creek as the folks did in 1895.  We used pans given to us as a retirement gift by a very thoughtful person. Alas – we did not find that huge nugget for which we sought, but we had fun anyway.   

We may get to pan on the Top of the World Highway tomorrow, depending on which campground we choose. 

A good southern, home cooked vegetable dinner finished off our day and we now have to get things ready to roll tomorrow.  Say a prayer for us as the next 100 miles or so can be treacherous, although wonderful from what everyone tells us.