Dawson City…Yukon along the highway

Dawson City….Yukon along the highway part 5

Day 20 Mileage 3,755 kms, travelled 207 kms today from Moose Creek campground to Klondike River Campground just outside Dawson City. Today the road was narrower, lots of mountain hills and construction again in several places, slow going but that’s ok we have nothing but time. After checking in to the campsite we toured Dawson City and what can I say about Dawson City that has not been written about thousands of times. The history of this town is incredible.

The city is no where near as vibrant as it was in its hay day but still has the charm of a frontier mining town. I loved the old buildings, some restored and some not so much. It’s been a tough slug for the merchants of this frontier town with covid shutting down the borders for two years. The visitors to Dawson this year was again a little down due to high fuel costs, as high as $2.50/ litre we found. The other problem they face is the lack of workers in all areas from hotel work to retail sales and trades. Stores were closed either early or on the weekends because of lack of staff. I had several job offers, now that’s getting desperate.

The information centre in Dawson was very helpful in directing us to what to see and do while visiting and any tours you want to take are booked there. We found out where we could find a sani dump and free potable water to fill the camper with. The lady who runs the Northwest Territories information centre is a local resident for many years and a wealth of knowledge. If you are travelling the Dempster Highway she is a must to talk to. They have a book of experiences written by those who have travelled it and survived. Dawson City was everything I had read about and now had experienced it…somethings you just don’t get from a book that real life offers.

Day 21

Mileage 3816 kms, travelld only 60.7 kms today from Klondike River campground and toured Dawson City walking some more absorbing the history and culture of the community. Today we took the ferry across the Yukon to the Yukon River Territorial campground located at the start of the Top of the World Highway. We are finding the Yukon parks great as they are first come first served no reservations and they cost $20 cash or $18 when you purchase camping passes from retailers. The parks are clean well laid out nice sites and no hookups just dry camping. We noticed very little generator use in the parks as it is discouraged so everyone can enjoy the quiet found in nature. Most travellers such as us are used to “boon docking”. 

Yes today I bought a gold pan for an investment of $13 which I will never make back, perhaps a tax write off? Again we met a lot of travellers from all over the world, I would say the majority were not from Canada. Travelling by motorcycle, bike and every type of RV possible from a SUV to overland vehicles and monster overland vehicles, stuff we don’t see in Canada for sale. Lent my axe today to two young men from Victoria BC who had ridden bikes from there and were going to ride to the Arctic Ocean, I did mention they were “young” right! Another gentleman in his 70’s such as myself had been pretty much everywhere in Canada and most of the USA canoeing and staying in a tent. He was preparing to do a fly in tour and canoe to the Arctic Ocean…never say age is a factor it’s just a state of mind. When we waved goodbye he said “never quit travelling”.

I’m going to let my photos show Dawson City and area as the history has been told it was our go to place and on that list was the Dredge #4 and the Paddle Wheeler graveyard. These will be featured separately in my upcoming blogs Dawson City was everything I read about and glad we made it here more to come.

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Gerry and Charlotte