Satellite
  • Day 23

    Dawson City via the Klondike Hwy

    July 8, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Got a pretty good start on the road today because we could not find a local bakery to slow us down with a decision; and frankly we did have half of the dinner plate size cinnamon roll we had bought yesterday!

    Fortunately about an hour up the road we got to Moose Creek lodge, so "quaint" that two different tour buses stopped by while were were there! You know how we tourists love our "undiscovered" little outposts. Wonderful sausage roll, strawberry-rhubarb tart and of course, coffee!

    Oh, did I mentioned the grizzley we are almost certain we saw. It was brown, and it was large, but we were doing 60 mph and were still looking for a bakery. Pretty dang sure it was one...we ran into a couple of 70 plus, silver hair ladies touring on their three wheel motorcycle that confirmed the sighting! They also asked if we saw the moose. Sadly we seemed to have missed that, I was probably busy reading the current description out of "Milepost" regarding this leg of our trip. It did have a picture of a moose, so I guess that counts? Also the ladies very generously sent me a picture of the grizzley we are pretty sure we saw!

    Drove through the smoke of the ongoing fire that is just south of Dawson. We were close enough we could clearly see the fire line and lots of smoke. There is still discussion that this highway we are on will be closed in the next day or two depending upon wind direction.

    Arrived safe and sound in Dawson and hit the Visitor center, Heritage center for the local First Nation, and just walked some of the old streets. This is a city that once was home to 30,000 during the Klondike gold rush in approx 1896. Currently home to about 1,800. But they have worked with the federal, territorial, and municipal authorities to save and slowly renovate some of the buildings. All the streets are hard pack gravel and dirt, sidewalks are wood...and a lot of buildings are sort of shuttered. Slowly key properties are being renovated and operating with local retail business. Sort of, kind of, like Virginia City. But this place is not that accessible, and has about a 3 month season!

    Got back to our RV park, a gravel parking lot at one end of town that was in full sun and it only had 15 amp service so no AC in the 85 degree end of day....I know 85 degrees does not sound hot but in a box with only fans it does get warm. I went to bed with a cold wash cloth, and my little personal 4" fan pointed at my face. And don't forget we have to cover the windows to get some semblance of dark to sleep with since the sun is still up until 11 p.m. Probably our warmest night out and look how far north we are! Have not worn a long sleeve shirt since Vancouver! But we both actually slept well, probably because I take Benadryl every night to help with my mosquito bite reactions.
    Read more