Well we made it off the Dempster Hwy without further incidence. We left our campsite at 9:30 am and got to the paved road at 1:45 pm. What a relief! I got great pictures of a moose family. There were 2 adults (females) and two babies. When we stopped the smaller of the two headed up over the riverbank and into the woods. The other adult stayed with the small calves. They couldn't get up the bank in that area. The mother tried to nuzzle them up but it didn't work. We didn't want the mother or babies to get too stressed or injured so we moved on.
Once we got back to the main highway we gassed up at the unmanned gas station. It was a breeze this time because Bob had already had his gas operators safety certificate! We headed off the last 25 miles towards Dawson City. We were both struck by the long mounds of high gravel and stones (tailings) left over by the river dredging for gold. It was not a very appealing remnant of the gold mining era. Though mining still goes on it has much stricter environmental rules and regulations. Just before town we saw the tire store on the right. The moment of truth concerning our peace of mind was at hand. They had no tires to fit our truck. The helpful clerk called two suppliers and neither of them had our tires in stock. It would take 1 -2 weeks before we cold get them. We went with Plan B, head over the top of the world highway on to Chicken and then Tok, and get tires there.
A tire through them would cost at least $350, mounting not included. After talking to several people about our planned route Bob felt pretty confident about this choice. The 100 miles of the Canadian section of the "Top-Of-The-World" highway is mostly paved and in good shape. The 50 miles of unpaved U.S. Roadway into Chicken is very rough. A couple at the info Ctr. who had just come over that way said it was like they had laid a base coat for a road. Fist size rocks with no cover layer. They said it was very slow 10/15 mph, but we should be OK. We got directions to a truck/RV wash and took off the heavy layer of filth and grime off the truck. Not bad for $1-3 minutes of power-washing (no soap). After 4 or 5 Loonies($) things were looking much better. We took a quick run into town to get oriented. A neat little town with many very old buildings. The Provence is pumping in a lot of money to save old buildings and make the town more attractive. (tourism) We headed to our $12/night Provincial Campground for dinner and sleep. The next day (5/30/14) we made a substantial breakfast with the fresh spelt bread triangles from yesterday's bakery/grocery stop. With scrambled eggs, juice and perked coffee, it was delicious as well.
Next we were off to that tire store to pick up our rim. For $8 we had the remains of the tire stripped off making it much easier to handle, and less smelly as it had to travel on the floor inside the camper. Then we headed across the road to a campground that had public showers and laundry. Very clean! For 1 or 2 loonies we had nice hot showers. Refreshing! We then headed downtown to the river-walk and window shopping. We saw the sign for the Dome Road so we headed up there first. From the top there was a nice view of the town looking northwest, the view of the Yukon River was beautiful.
this last picture shows some of those tailings at the bottom. Worth the trip up! The Klondike river was just below(South-east) and barely visible (it is what we camped alongside.) Downtown we walked along the river and checked out the Ferry Crossing (for tomorrow).
We splurged for lunch at Sourdough Joe's for wonderful Alaskan Seafood Chowder (salmon, cod and halibut in it) and 2 Halibut fillets crispy fried with hand-cut fries and coleslaw. We shared 1 serving of each and still could not eat it all! Absolutely delicious. After lunch we cruised through town and got more pictures.
Diamond Toothed Gertie's (a can-can dance hall and gambling saloon),
Robert Service's cabin(a famous poet that spent 5 years here), and Jack London's cabin and museum. That was enough for the day and we headed back to the campsite and lit a nice fire. We kept it going for 5 hours and I cooked our hamburgers over the fire. They were excellent with mayo, lettuce and tomato on the spelt bread. Tomorrow AM we catch the ferry (free) and head to Chicken, AK. Just another 150 miles of rough road to worry about another blowout.
Once we got back to the main highway we gassed up at the unmanned gas station. It was a breeze this time because Bob had already had his gas operators safety certificate! We headed off the last 25 miles towards Dawson City. We were both struck by the long mounds of high gravel and stones (tailings) left over by the river dredging for gold. It was not a very appealing remnant of the gold mining era. Though mining still goes on it has much stricter environmental rules and regulations. Just before town we saw the tire store on the right. The moment of truth concerning our peace of mind was at hand. They had no tires to fit our truck. The helpful clerk called two suppliers and neither of them had our tires in stock. It would take 1 -2 weeks before we cold get them. We went with Plan B, head over the top of the world highway on to Chicken and then Tok, and get tires there.
A tire through them would cost at least $350, mounting not included. After talking to several people about our planned route Bob felt pretty confident about this choice. The 100 miles of the Canadian section of the "Top-Of-The-World" highway is mostly paved and in good shape. The 50 miles of unpaved U.S. Roadway into Chicken is very rough. A couple at the info Ctr. who had just come over that way said it was like they had laid a base coat for a road. Fist size rocks with no cover layer. They said it was very slow 10/15 mph, but we should be OK. We got directions to a truck/RV wash and took off the heavy layer of filth and grime off the truck. Not bad for $1-3 minutes of power-washing (no soap). After 4 or 5 Loonies($) things were looking much better. We took a quick run into town to get oriented. A neat little town with many very old buildings. The Provence is pumping in a lot of money to save old buildings and make the town more attractive. (tourism) We headed to our $12/night Provincial Campground for dinner and sleep. The next day (5/30/14) we made a substantial breakfast with the fresh spelt bread triangles from yesterday's bakery/grocery stop. With scrambled eggs, juice and perked coffee, it was delicious as well.
Next we were off to that tire store to pick up our rim. For $8 we had the remains of the tire stripped off making it much easier to handle, and less smelly as it had to travel on the floor inside the camper. Then we headed across the road to a campground that had public showers and laundry. Very clean! For 1 or 2 loonies we had nice hot showers. Refreshing! We then headed downtown to the river-walk and window shopping. We saw the sign for the Dome Road so we headed up there first. From the top there was a nice view of the town looking northwest, the view of the Yukon River was beautiful.
this last picture shows some of those tailings at the bottom. Worth the trip up! The Klondike river was just below(South-east) and barely visible (it is what we camped alongside.) Downtown we walked along the river and checked out the Ferry Crossing (for tomorrow). 
We splurged for lunch at Sourdough Joe's for wonderful Alaskan Seafood Chowder (salmon, cod and halibut in it) and 2 Halibut fillets crispy fried with hand-cut fries and coleslaw. We shared 1 serving of each and still could not eat it all! Absolutely delicious. After lunch we cruised through town and got more pictures.
Diamond Toothed Gertie's (a can-can dance hall and gambling saloon),
Robert Service's cabin(a famous poet that spent 5 years here), and Jack London's cabin and museum. That was enough for the day and we headed back to the campsite and lit a nice fire. We kept it going for 5 hours and I cooked our hamburgers over the fire. They were excellent with mayo, lettuce and tomato on the spelt bread. Tomorrow AM we catch the ferry (free) and head to Chicken, AK. Just another 150 miles of rough road to worry about another blowout.
I love Dawson. Can you just picture this town back in the gold rush days? It was the largest city north of San Francisco, CA.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed it immensely! I too love to imagine what it would be like back in time...
ReplyDelete