Trapped in Dawson City… Almost

We got up early and drove the remaining 70 Kilometers down the Dempster Highway. It was a nice drive with misty covered mountains and stretches along the North Klondike River. Sarah said, “I’m done with the Dempster,” so we drove down the Dempster and then got on the Klondike Highway for the short stretch Northwest to Dawson City.

We got into Dawson City early and planned to stay at a campground right in town. When we arrived, it was before checkout, so sites weren’t available. We parked our truck and went for a walk around town. It was a walk through history. Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush and the town obviously embraces that part of their history. To this day, even new construction has to look like it may have been built in the 1890’s. Needless to say, it is a picturesque town.

We walked the riverfront, which is between the Yukon River and main street. The trail is built on a berm that now protects the town from yearly flooding. The SS Keno is a sternwheeler that has been restored and placed up on the breakwater. We went to the beautifully restored town hall, which is now a museum. Everywhere in the town of 1,600 people, the effect of the money brought in by the continuing gold mining is visible, it is clearly a very wealthy town for it’s size. And now the town is a tourist magnet driven mainly by the romance afforded the gold rush and the Yukon by famous authors such as Robert Service and Jack London. I know that the writing of Jack London was a reason I wanted to visit Dawson City.

The first day in Dawson was hot and sunny, so the open gravel lot that was the campground in town was hot, since there was no shade. It is mainly designed for people camping in RV’s not tent campers. We didn’t spend a lot of time in camp, so it wasn’t terrible, but after weeks of camping in secluded places, it was a bit of a shock. It was convenient to be right in town, but if we had to do it again, we would have stayed at the Yukon River Government Campground both nights in Dawson City.

While walking around Dawson City, we smelled the most amazing smells from the restaurants in town. We decided to eat at Sourdough Joe’s. It was good decision as the food was amazing.

In the evening of day 1, we walked up to the edge of town and visited the cabins of both Robert Service and Jack London. It was nice to visit the sites in the evening when there was no one else around. Dawson was a busy place and so avoiding the crowds was a bonus.

On day 2 in Dawson, we awoke early and got going. We went to the Visitor Center and borrowed some gold pans. Then we drove out to the Free Claim #6, on Bonanza Creek, which was where gold was discovered to spark the gold rush. It was originally named Rabbit Creek, but after gold was discovered, it was renamed. We panned for gold among the other Cheechako’s (Newcomers). I did not have the patience for gold panning, but Sarah and the girls worked hard to try to find some real Klondike gold. Olive, especially, dreamed aloud of striking it rich and selling the gold to the local jewelry stores.

I can’t stand in a trout stream too long before I start to wonder what kind of fish may live in the creek, so, while Sarah and the girls panned for gold, I went up stream and caught a few Grayling. We visited the Discovery Claim National Historic Site, which is THE spot where the gold rush began. There is an interesting interpretive trail, which tells the history of the area. From panning to huge dredges, mining evolved and Dredge #4 National Historic Site shows what industrial mining became. These dredges floated around in man made ponds/canals and dug up the earth in search of gold. The tailing fields go on for miles around Dawson and beyond.

Amazingly, active, modern gold mining is still occurring in this valley, so we had to dodge large mining equipment while driving the gravel roads in the area. One thing that is often overlooked when talking about the gold-rush and gold mining in the area in general, is the level of environmental damage that mining created in the area. Everywhere you look, you can see that the land has been forever modified by the sheer amount of earth that has been moved by generationally more massive mining operations.

Entire mountains have been cut away in the quest for gold. The girls were amazed to see the modification of the environment around Dawson City. Although nature retakes much of the areas where mining operations have ceased, the scars are still evident. Both Olive and Petra decided that they would not support gold mining by abstaining from owning anything made of gold in the future. Ah, the surety of youth.

When we went to the Dawson City Visitor Center in the evening of day 2 in Dawson, to return our borrowed gold pans and our broken dreams of striking it rich, we learned from the people there that there was a wild fire about 70 miles south of Dawson nearing the Klondike Highway. The latest information on the fire was that a road closure was imminent on the Klondike Highway, which is the route we needed to take to go to Whitehorse. Man, we just couldn’t buy a break from these Canadian wild fires.

On our second night in Dawson, we decided to stay at the Yukon River Government Campground which was only about 2 KM from downtown. We moved to the shaded, wonderful campground. To get to the campground, you take the free ferry across the Yukon River to the campground. The ferry runs 24 hours a day and can be taken on foot or by vehicle. We spent one night at Yukon River Campground and after a long day of tromping around the gold mining fields, we were all tired.

We determined to get up early and make a break for Whitehorse to try to beat the fire and the road closure. Fortunately, we fell asleep to the sound of rain on the tent. It was the first rain we had seen in weeks. We got up early the next morning and broke camp. In the early morning mist, we hiked out to the Sternwheeler Graveyard, which is about 1 KM down river from the campground and is the resting place of at least three huge sternwheel paddle boats from the gold rush era.

It was amazing to see the remains, especially in contrast to the renovated versions that are now Historic Sites in Dawson (SS Keno) and Whitehorse (SS YUKON). It was amazing to wander through the wreckage as the, once glorious, steam ships were reclaimed by nature and chaos.

We hit the Klondike Highway early, bound for Whitehorse. Luckily, even though the smoke and ash was heavy along the Klondike Highway (Sarah and the girls donned N95 masks for a short stretch), we were able to make it through the fire area and when we arrived in Stewart Crossing, about 90 miles south of Dawson City, we knew we were not trapped. We continued South toward Whitehorse.

More soon.

~ Umingmaq