20030711                  Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 11, 2003
Friday


Start:   High Country RV Park, Whitehorse YT
End:     Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
Miles:   330
Hi Temp: 84.6
Lo Temp: 52.2


The day started cool and stayed comfortable. It was clear this morning, but clouded up as the day went on.

We started at 8:30am and were on the Klondike Highway (YT2) by 8:45. There wasn't much to see today. Most of this distance is the standard ground up here - almost a sand base, with rocks and gravel under that.  The trees are black spruce, aspen and some lodgepole pine.  None of these trees grows very high, because they have a short growing season and not much moisture.

We saw no wildlife bigger than a ground squirrel.  Even the birds were scarce today, except for magpies.

We traveled along at a pretty good rate and reached here at 3:00pm.  There were four stretches of road that were graveled over, perhaps with the idea to pave over that.  In these areas, is was terribly dusty and visibility was very limited.

But we got here and checked into the campground. The reason for the name is that the Guggenhiemers owned this patch during the gold rush of '98.  Then we went into town to look around.

After wandering through a bunch of stores and re-acquainting ourselves with the town, we went to dinner at TJ's restaurant in the Triple-J Hotel.  It was good, but the service was a little shaky.

We came back to the trailer with the idea to go out into Tombstone Provincial Park tomorrow. 

Then we settled in.  Dolores has two channels on the TV; CBC and the First Nation station.

I wonder what sort of "night" we'll have tonight, now that we're at least a couple of hundred miles north of Whitehorse.

20030712                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 12, 2003


Start:   Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
End:     Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 73.8
Lo Temp: 55.0


We got up early today and were on the road (truck-only) before 8:00am. It was cool and cloudy, so we were appropriately layered.  We brought lunch, water, and Off.

We drove 25 miles south of Dawson, then up the Dempster Highway that eventually gets to Inuvik, Northwest Territory, above the Arctic Circle. But we only wanted the first 50 miles, the part that contains Tombstone Provinicial Park.

We arrived at the Interpretive Center (co-located with a campground), some 40 miles in.  Enroute, we saw some squirrel and a porcupine that crossed the road in front of us.  We met the naturalist there (Julie) and waited for her to start the morning "walk". While waiting, Dolores shot pictures of wildflowers around the campground. We also looked through the interpretive center (small, so that didn't take long), and Dolores bought a pin.

Then Julie started her walk. She's been around this area for a long time and knew almost every plant and bird as we walked a short U-shaped trail out from and back to the campground, taking about 45 minutes. She explained all the flowers to Dolores as Dolores took their pictures. She also talked about the area and which bears are where this year. People have seen grizzly and several black bears (not around the campground) as well as Dall Sheep and other critters.

We went on north (continuing going toward Inuvik) and over the summit at North Fork Pass (the road initially follows the North Fork of the Klondike) at 4,300'.  At our latitude (64 north) and that altitude, we were beyond the tree line and on the tundra (permafrost underneath a moss/lichen/plant base) whenever we stepped off the road.

On we went, finally stopping just past Chapman Lake (73 miles in from the junction) which is just beyond the northern boundary of the park.  Then we came back, taking pictures of things as we saw them.

Back at Two Moose Lake, we saw a moose (our first this trip) right on the edge.  Then we saw the second moose, in the middle of the lake. This one was tall enough to stand in the middle, put his face down, and get some aquatic growth, raise his head and eat it. He did that repeatedly while we watched and shot pictures. The first moose ate willow leaves for a while, then got into the lake and ate vegetation around the edge.

Seeing the moose gave us the bragging rights that, in one day, we had seen Moose and Squirrel.

A little later, right at the summit of North Fork Pass, we saw three foxes.  They were beautiful in their light brown coats against the green of the brush.

Back we came, down the Dempster Highway. Except for the first five miles, it's all gravel - 400+ miles of it.  But the gravel isn't bad; you can do 50mph or so in most places.  There's one service and fuel place, 237 miles in from the junction; the next one is Inuvik (the end of the road). You're advised to have four good tires and two good spares and plenty of fuel.  In winter, you'd better take full survival equipment for 50 to 60 below zero temps.  The road is in use all year, but for a few weeks in spring and fall, you can't get all the way to Inuvik due to the water surface transitioning from one state to another. Ferries are used when the river is water, but you drive across the ice once it gets thick enough.

Another time, we might take this road. I don't want to go any farther on it this time, since the rear tires don't have much tread left (I'm planning on replacing them at Anchorage or Fairbanks). It would certainly be an adventure.

When we got back to the Klondike Highway, we turned and came back to the campground.  We noted that we needed a couple of items, so we went to town and got them, then returned. We imported 165 pictures from the camera into the laptop and went through the process of eliminating not-so-good pictures, and naming the files appropriately for those we kept (85).

Then we relaxed until dinner time.

20030713                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 13, 2003
Sunday


Start:   Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
End:     Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 74.1
Lo Temp: 55.0


We woke up late after going to bed a little late.  But we knew we didn't need to get up early.

We had our breakfast and coffee in the little house in the gravel campground where all the gold was mined.

Then we went to Saint Mary's for church. The same priest is here as when we last attended, two years ago. Again, he made everyone welcome, gave a great homily with a Yukon theme, and (I think) gave everyone a wonderful feeling with which to start the week.

After that, we drove up onto Midnight Dome, where we took pictures of the surrounding territory. It's at some 2,900' and gives a great view up and down the Yukon and it overlooks the city.

We came back to the little house for lunch.  Then we went on a loop drive of some 65 miles through the old gold fields. It starts at the campground we're in; the creek that passes by behind the campground is Bonanza Creek, and the big discovery was made upstream about 12 miles. The road branches there, the loop drive going onto something called an "unmaintained road" for most of the rest of the drive. It can't be totally unmaintained, since it services all the mine claims, many of which are still active and require this road.

Eventually, after much winding and climbing, we came to King Solomon's Dome, at 4,000'.  The views from here were gorgeous - range after range of hills going to the horizon.

Then the road winds downhill into Hunker Creek and back to the Klondike Highway, passing many mine claims and sites on the way.

We went downtown then, and paid our way into the First Nation Cultural Centre. The "First Nation" is the native population, or at least those who were here pre-1500 or so. This centre was still under construction when we were here last.

First we saw the history placed on the walls, mainly of a lady who lived until the 1950's and was much revered.  Then we saw an modern interpretive dance done by two young ladies in front of a screen onto which was projected re-inforcing pictures, such as the river with ice floes or woods with wolves.

We toured the gallery last, and had just begun when an escorted tour came along behind us.  So we let them catch up and joined the group. Again, the recent history of the clan was presented and what they are doing to preserve their history and heritage.

We left. I took some pictures of the Yukon. We walked into the Information center just in time; a brief but heavy rainstorm came by.  We watched some slides of a presentation on Dawson and the rain ended as quickly as it started.

We shopped our way along Front Street and bought me a tee-shirt. Then we shifted to Second Street and bought some things for Christmas presents.

Then it came to be 6:00pm and we visited the Jack London Grill in the Downtowner Hotel.  Dolores had salmon, and I had arctic char. The food was good; the service was a little shaky by a new server. It was understandable, given there was a group of German tourists eating and a Holland-America tour group filling the bar waiting for their dining time of 7:00pm.

We came back to the little house.  I took the laptop to the head-shed (office) and got the e-mail.  I also looked up the weather for tomorrow.  It looks promising; Dolores has vowed not to move unless it looks good enough to get good pictures on the Ridge Road to Alaska (part of the Top-Of-The-World Highway).

Now the computer chores are done (73 pictures today transferred to the laptop and labeled) and it's time to settle in.