Dawson City to Arctic Circle and Points Between

July 25 - August 2, 2013
Spending three nights in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, we had a guided tour of the town, went to Diamond Tooth Gerties, rode our bikes, and in general enjoyed this gold rush town.  Gold was discovered here in 1896, and by 1900 Dawson City was the largest city west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco.  Population at that time was over 30,000, and today the population is around 1,875.  Listening to the locals talk about their life both in summer and in winter and the contrast they live is very interesting.  The discussions about winter here and the freeze and breakup of the Yukon River has given us a desire for a SHORT winter visit.

Leaving Dawson City, we took the ferry across the Yukon since there isn't a bridge.  This picture will show you just how small the ferry is.  These are two of the coaches in our caravan.  Most times only one RV was put on the ferry at a time.  About half of our group decided to cross the ferry the night before we were to depart Dawson City.  However, their wait on the ferry ended up being longer than those of us who waited until the next morning because they all left the campground too close together, and they had to dry camp in a pull off to boot.


Ferry Crossing on the Yukon River
 

The Yukon River is the third longest river in North America.  Only the Mississippi and the Missouri are longer.  It is such an important river to this part of Canada and to Alaska.

Now we started the trek on the "Top of the World Highway".  In the last blog I told you we had heard all kinds of stories about this road.  The beginning, while we were still in Canada, wasn't too bad, but when we crossed the border, the road conditions dramatically worsened.  There were some broken windshields in our group, but all in all we made it to Chicken, AK in pretty good shape. 

Made it to Alaska

Top of the World Highway

Chicken, AK is a very small town with a population of 37 in the summer and 3 in the winter.  We toured a gold mining dredge and panned for gold.  The owners of the campground shared their life story with us.  They came as gold miners (which they still do) then bought land and started the campground, restaurant, etc.  One thing to keep in mind in these small towns is people have to be totally self sufficient making their own electricity, purifying their water, and taking care of their sewage.  What a life.  Have now met several in Alaska who live this self sufficient lifestyle.  They are true pioneers.

From Chicken, we drove to Tok, AK the next day.  The road improved marginally, and when we arrived in Tok, the whole caravan had a RV washing party.  From Tok, we moved on to Fairbanks and back to the civilization we know.  Upon arrival, we had an Alaska Salmon Bake at a local attraction and enjoyed evening entertainment at the Palace Theatre--a great comedic look at the history of Fairbanks. 

The second day of our 4 day stop here, we enjoyed a terrific sternwheeler riverboat cruise.  This cruise wasn't like any riverboat cruises we have been on in the past.  The narration told us many details about life in Alaska; we had a float plane demonstration right next to the boat, saw a sled dog demonstration on shore from David Monson, the husband of four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race, Susan Butcher, stopped at a First Nation village and toured the village.  Susan's story is amazing--look it up.


Dogs being hitched up for demonstration

On our free day in Fairbanks, we scheduled a fly/drive trip to the Arctic Circle.   I evidently didn't do enough research on what it was like north of the Arctic Circle this time of the year.  We had brought our winter coats, gloves, hats, etc.  for this adventure.  Now all of Alaska is having unusually hot weather right now, but didn't expect the Arctic Circle to be in the 70's.  Oh well it was still a fun trip and seeing the vastness of the wilderness from the plane was well worth it.

Yukon River from the air.  Haze from forest fire.

The Alaska Pipeline and the road we drove back.

Our plane

Crossed the Arctic Circle

We flew to Coldfoot about 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and came back to Fairbanks via the Dalton Highway which follows the pipeline.  We left Fairbanks at around 1:00 PM and arrived back at our campground at 1:30 A.M.  Yes it was a long trip and the flight was only a little over an hour. 

Fireweed growing in area of forest fire.  Fireweed is the first thing to grow after a fire.  Some mountain sides are totally purple with the flowers.  (Purple Mountain Majesty??)

Sun setting over mountain at around 11:30 P.M.  Still wasn't dark at 1:30 A.M.
 

Bella and Scamp say hi to everyone too.  As you can see, they have made friends on the trip.  There are 15 dogs in our caravan of 20 coaches.  Well off to Denali National Park tomorrow.  Hope it is clear enough to see Mt. McKinley.

Bella and Scamp with Molly and Cody