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20050623 near Dawson, Yukon 49/69 Cool, rainy, improving to clear, sunny, breezy. Picture Link
We're camped at the Klondike River Lodge (63.99N, 138.75W) at the start of the Dempster Highway, ready to go tomorrow morning.
We got up normally, ran into Mayo to top off the fuel, and headed for Dawson. Just before we got back to the Klondike Highway, we saw a mommy moose and baby moose coming onto the road. They turned around. We approached cautiously and saw them heading even deeper into the woods.
Here at Klondike River Lodge, we unhitched the trailer and connected it to park power. The owner here at the Lodge said it snowed yesterday a little ways out the Dempster, and that it snowed at Inuvik, but in general the road is in decent shape. A lady we ran into said they'd just returned and had a lot of mud where the road-work crews were keeping the dust down by watering the road (they do a lot of this). Others who came in during the day used the car-wash to remove varying degrees of mud from vehicles.
We drove into Dawson (many call it Dawson City to differentiate it from Dawson Creek BC at the start of the Alcan Highway. We had a light lunch, then walked to the Northwest Territories building. They put this place here in the Yukon to educate the tourists about the province next door (NWT) and to help those headed for Inuvik or driving out the Dempster Highway.
The young lady there ran a ten-minute video for us and reviewed the weather-prophets outlook for the next several days (sunny to partly cloudy, no rain). We ran into a person from Arkansas who had just arrived from Inuvik yesterday, before the snow. He had a dusty trip with no tire problems because he bought some eleven-ply (one Kevlar) tires for the trip.
We decided we'd go ahead and try for it, leaving tomorrow in hopes we get dust rather than wet.
Then we stopped at the General Store for Windex. We came back to the campground and washed the truck to get the dust/mud off it from Keno Hill and the Duncan Creek Road yesterday. It didn't take too long.
Then I decided to check the pressure in the spare tires of the truck. Good decision. Bad timing. Should have had it done in town. The spare in the truck bed was no problem to get to, but it was a little low so I added air to it. The one under the bed nearly did me in.
The tire is held up by a bar with a hinge on one end and a nut with an eye on it threaded onto a vertical rod on the other. One takes a straight rod of some sort (tire iron or similar) and twists the nut down the rod and off, whereupon the tire falls the rest of the way if you're not wary. It was necessary to perform this action because the air valve was on the top of the tire out of reach. That wasn't the problem. The tire didn't have enough pressure to suit me so I added air to it. That wasn't the problem.
The problem was getting that damn tire on the bar and levering it up so that I could thread the nut onto the rod and twist it up again. It wouldn't stay in place on the bar with the valve down. I tried it several times. Finally, I put it on the bar with the air valve up and put a hydraulic bottle jack under the end and lifted it to the point where the nut could be threaded onto the rod. Then I ran it up the rod and finished.
This last paragraph makes it sound a lot easier than it was. The tire weighs 50 or so pounds and there's not much room under there. Also, I put a full-width rubber barrier flap under the bumper to keep rocks from bouncing up to hurt the trailer, which restricted it even more. The sand-on-cement workspace didn't help.
The next modification I make to this truck will be to install a spare-winching arrangement from the 94-98 series pickups that makes this much easier.
I changed clothes because the dirt wouldn't come out and then cleaned me. For the rest of the afternoon, we sat around and read and did other little things. I took pictures of the lodge and the signs at the start of the Dempster. I fueled the truck for the morning, including topping off the extra five-gallon container. I sat outside in the breeze and read. We did an easy chicken with rosemary and salad for dinner.
Campground power here is very low voltage (110 with nothing running, turning a fan on takes it to 105, and turning the hot water heater on puts it around 100). I wonder what gauge wire they ran out to these campground receptacles - the main can't be the problem because it's hydro off a dam back at Mayo with diesel backup here.
I told Dolores I was going to go to bed early tonight to get a good start in the morning. She said something about not worrying about going to bed before sunset, because that will be real late. It's 9:45pm now, I think I'll try it.
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Here, we take a side trip and return to Dawson
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20050624 Eagle Plains YT 40/67Clear, cool in AM, warmer in afternoon.
Well, we got this far. Two hundred twenty four miles in six hours, forty five minutes. Average speed just over 33 mph.
We unhooked and left the Lodge just before 7:00am and headed northeast. After a couple of miles, the pavement ended. We still traveled along at 40 to 50 on a good gravel road. We kept on going and passed Tombstone Provincial Park but didn't stop, planning to do so on the return.
We stopped at Two Moose Lake but there were no moose, unlike our last time here when there were exactly two moose in Two Moose Lake. The road got a little worse, but not too bad (35-45).
We went over North Fork Pass at 4200' and down the other side without problem. Dolores had me stop several times to take pictures of flowers and tundra species.
The animals were scarce today, just a few rabbits (arctic hare) and smaller rodents. Several terns and a few white swans.
About 125 miles along the road, the maintenance of it took a real dip requiring us to slow down. From then on to here, we bumped and jumped over the rocks and holes in the road at 25 to 40 mph.
Only one car overtook us today and we overtook no one. We met perhaps 30 vehicles. About half of those seemed to be Yukon government owned. Not much traffic up here. We met two trucks going like mad southward and saw one truck dead (hood open) by the side of the road.
There are four forest fires in the vicinity, we're told by staff here. We passed by one small one that was about 3.5km east of the road. We couldn't see the flames but we could see the smoke as it began to rise into the sky. The government is starting to fight that one to prevent the road being closed.
We arrived here about 1:45pm. We fueled up for tomorrow (77 litres for $92.40CDN)(US$3.67/gallon). Pricey.
We plugged into the electric bar and found adequate power. In this sort of operation, outlets are placed along a 4x4 or 6x6 timber along one side of the lot. Everyone backs in perpendicular to the "bar" and connects to the outlets. They run the place off a generator but I haven't found out the details. There are two fifth-wheel trailers here and a Class C and several truck campers and a couple of flat-face trailers, but no big Class A motorhomes.
Eagle Plains Services consists of a one-bay garage and gas/diesel service, motel, campground, and dining room/lounge. It is the only entity in the town of Eagle Plains, YT (pop. 8). It's all on the top of a hill with a great view of the territory. There are mountain ranges in the distance all around. You can see the smoke of some of the forest fires to the east and south. There are a few fluffy clouds but the sky is the thin northern blue otherwise.
There's a compass of rocks painted white out front showing where true north is, and a plaque with the details: 66* 22' 17"N, 136* 43' 23"W, altitude 650 meters or 1958 feet.
After setting up, we went to the dining room because we were tired of the road and the truck. We had simple meals that were quite adequate. Then we returned to the trailer to clean up and do photographs (142 of them) and so forth. We might go to the lounge for a bit later. No radio or TV out here (satellite TV in the motel). There are several trucks and a bunch of cars in front of the motel - I suppose some are staying and some are just here for food.
We'll go to bed early again tonight. There won't be any sunset to speak of this close to the circle. Tomorrow, we'll hook up and go to the Arctic Circle (21 miles by road) and take the obligatory pictures of ourselves and the equipment. We'll probably continue beyond (that last 50 miles was hard), but we're holding that decision for then.'
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20050625 Dawson City YT 40/80 Clear, cool in AM, warmer in afternoon. Picture Link
We popped up and got underway without breakfast, heading for the Arctic Circle. It didn't take too long to get there. The breeze was brisk out of the east and the temp was in the high 40's. Dolores set to taking pictures of flowers around the marker at 66* 33'N.
Another couple (from Elgin, IL) was there taking pictures so we waited on the sidelines. They left after a bit, so we pulled the rig closer to the marker and took pictures of our own, including one of both of us using a tripod and delayed shutter.
Afterward, we scooted back into the truck and looked at each other. Dolores said, "Well?". I told her I really didn't need 27 more hours (10 to Inuvik, 10 back to here, 7 back to the Klondike Hwy) of beating myself and the truck. We agreed we'd seen enough and to return to Dawson City.
We turned around and bumped our way back toward Eagle Plains. We came around a bend and saw a blob in the road. As we caught up with it, it turned toward the side of the road. Then we could tell it was a fox with a rabbit in its mouth. We stopped and the fox got back into the middle of the road heading south. We increase speed and the fox grudgingly went to the side. That fox wanted the right of way, period.
In Eagle Plains, where we stopped for breakfast (excellent). I called the RV park in Dawson and changed our reservation to begin today. We bought a couple of souvenir items. I discussed the fox with one of the staff who knew immediately which fox this was; the pair has been there all winter feeding on downed caribou. Hardy little creatures.
We topped off the fuel and headed back to Dawson.
The close-to-the-road forest fire was not as active and we couldn't make it out like we did yesterday. The wind from the southeast blew smoke from that major fire miles and miles away up here and all over the region.
We overtook an animal headed down the road southward that proved to be a badger (we think). We couldn't get a picture in the time it gave us, so we won't have the opportunity to get outside opinion.
After 100 miles at 30 or so, the road started improving and so did our attitudes. We started down Seven Mile Hill and discovered the plug to the trailer had slipped out, leaving us with no trailer brakes. We stopped and fixed that. That plug has needed replacing for some time, so I'd best get to it.
We met a lot of vehicles today (Saturday). The RV types were still mostly Class C's and truck campers, but one Class A with toad (towed) vehicle made its appearance, heading gingerly northward.
We were clowning around about not seeing moose today as we approached Two Moose Lake. There was one moose in Two Moose Lake. We watched the big ugly thing for a while as she stood in the middle of the lake, putting her head underwater for about a minute, then coming up and chewing the pondweed they like that grows on the bottom. Only a mommy .....
After taking pictures of the moose, we headed over North Fork Pass (pictures) and dropped down into Tombstone Provincial Park and the Dempster Interpretive Center. D took more pictures while I took the binoculars to the surrounding mountains and found nothing.
Some time after that, the road turned to blacktop. I accelerated to 90kph, the speed limit, which we had not been able to attain for two days as we burned up the final few miles to the Klondike Highway Junction. We turned right, drove 30 more kilometers into Dawson, turned right on Fifth Avenue and proceded to York Street and the campground.
We checked in for three nights. While I slowly set up the poor dirty rig in this campground, Dolores checked on church times. We decided to extend the stay to four nights and worked that with the staff. Dolores scorned cooking, so we changed to go to the Triple J's dining room which has been good to us in the past. It wasn't bad tonight either, as the food was good and the service was wacko, due to the inexperience of the new waitstaff for the summer. We found them funny and kidded along. They get younger each year.
Most of the other folks in the dining room were wearing nametags from some travel service. We talked with one lady, who said she was from a town in Minnesota near Fargo ND. Dolores then noticed that a lot of the men were wearing both belt and suspenders and giggled. I told her that wasn't unheard of in the upper midwest and that they were probably fairly successful farmers or farm-business people. She giggled some more.
We returned to the little house in the campground filled with other rigs. I talked with one caravan leader, who said he was leading a Winnebago/Itasca caravan around the Yukon and Alaska. He said they're heading west over the Top-Of-The-World (TOTW) highway to Chicken and Tok tomorrow (early). Good - they'll make enough noise to get us up in time for church what with maneuvering out of the tight spaces and hooking up toads.
The Winnebago folks are along the front fence. Along the back fence is a set of 15 rental Class C's caravaning together. I couldn't find out much about them. The rest of us appear to be independent.
The campground supposedly has "Wifi" internet. We were able to see that there was a signal but it wasn't strong enough for us. The staff says it doesn't go very far. We'll investigate tomorrow.
We did computer games and walked around and talked with people (very pleasant evening - 66 at 10pm). Now it's 11:20pm and the sun is still in sight. People are still walking around and talking.
More tomorrow.
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20050626 Dawson City YT 47/78 Clear, cool in AM, warmer in afternoon, small shower.
We didn't do much today. It was a gorgeous day.
Dolores walked the one block to church then stayed for coffee afterward. She picked up some good hints on fishing in Homer that we might use.
We talked with Wyatt and Susan and Bill and neighbor Daisy in the afternoon. All seems well in the "outside" world.
Our campground neighbor told me our water connection was leaking. It was. The 90* metal adapter to connect the hose to the house without having the hose kink was the cause. We removed it, the leak stopped, and we'll replace the adapter Monday.
I took a walk and found the office for the catamaran that runs downriver 105 miles to Eagle, Alaska. Got some information for Dolores, then went on to a few other places and returned. Later, Dolores took the walk with me.
We had thought to go to Chicken, Alaska, stay a night, leave the trailer there and take a day trip to Eagle. Dolores convinced me to just take the catamaran and leave the driving to someone else for a change. Plus, we'll see things we can't see by road cause there’s no road.
We wandered a bit, looked through a new market store, found some sewing elastic Dolores wanted for some slacks she wants to shorten, and returned.
It was Italian Dinner day in the little house, with hot Italian sausages and ground hamburger in a store sauce from Whitehorse. It was very good, but the trailer was quite warm (80+) due to the warm sun on the trailer and the cooking inside it.
We did a lot of internet stuff today, since the motorhome that blocked the antenna moved out this morning, enabling us to access it from the little house. We told the owner that if he left site 81 open, folks out in the lot could get it; he wanted to know if we wanted to rent site 81 to leave it open. :-)
The caravan of Winnebago/Itasca folks left this morning, really early. I heard some engines but managed to ignore it. A caravan of Adventures, including a bunch of motorhomes with a Winnebago Discovery arrived this afternoon.
A little shower came along later and worried me because I could see the drops hitting the trailer but no water fell off it. I think it just turned the dust on the trailer to mud.
With the deleting of Inuvik from the agenda (see notes from yesterday), we came up with extra days. So we decided to insert Fairbanks into the plan earlier than it had been. We'll go to Tok AK, on the 29th and to Fairbanks' River's Edge CG on the 30th for five nights. We'll do our usual exploring out of Fairbanks while we're there. We'll re-schedule the Fairbanks "extra days" later.
Then we'll come back to Paxson to do the rough-road crossing of the Denali Highway (the original motor route to the park) to see the south side of the Alaska Range mountains. Then we'll look at Denali Nat'l Park again to see if we can see bears.
It's 10:30pm, and folks are returning from the only legal casino in the Yukon. Besides the gambling tables, they put on a stage show at 8:30, 10:30, and midnight. We'll go over there tomorrow. The proceeds go to the city of Dawson, which helps you believe that losing is ok. Dolores needs to do her statistics study anyway - she sees how long it takes her to lose $20 at the slots.
'Twas a good day, even if a little slow.
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20050627 Dawson, Yukon Terr. 0/0 Beautiful, clear, warm.
The GPS has us at: 64.06*N, 139.43*W.
Today was play-tourist day. In the AM, we wandered the various gift shops and bought a couple of tee-shirts, etc. We gave Gray Lines Dolores's drivers license info for the list of passengers for tomorrow to Eagle. I fueled the truck for Wednesday. We took pictures of some of the buildings we used this trip.
We wound up at Klondike Kate's for lunch, which was quite good. Lots of locals were eating there, always a good sign.
We took our goodies home, then Dolores took a hike to get more flower pictures. She also got a few things at the general store. After she came back, we moved flower pictures from this computer to her computer so she could play with them. Then she took it easy while I took a hike around town.
I covered most of the town and didn't get too tired, so it's not a very big town.
We downloaded the pictures from today's hikes and put them where they belong.
Then we cooked up a simple dinner, ate, washed dishes and sat back. We took another hike to a store I wanted to show Dolores but they had closed early. So we went to the waterfront and watched the catamaran come in from Eagle. Now we know the routine for tomorrow.
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20050628 Dawson YT Warm, clear until late shower. Picture Link
Got up and went out to breakfast (no milk in the trailer). Then down to the Yukon Queen II at the dock. Waited for everyone to show up. When they did, we boarded and picked good seats. Then the Holland America tour buses showed up and put 80 more people on board.
These HA tourists would go to Eagle and pick up a bus for Tok, Alaska. Another HA set of buses would bring people from Tok to the Yukon Queen II (YQ2) at Eagle for their trip to Dawson.
We got underway and immediately were told there had been a casualty yesterday such that one of the four propulsion systems was inoperative. The YQ2 has four Cat 3812 1200hp diesels driving four huge jet pumps, two per side of the catamaran. The aft port unit had broken the driveshaft between the diesel and the jet pump. It was sent to Fairbanks for duplication.
The YQ2 depends on getting up on its own wake wave and surfing on the front of it to make high speed (30+ knots). With only 75% power, they were having a hard time getting onto the wake wave despite their loading much of the HA luggage in the forward end of the passenger cabin.
So, all passengers aft were asked to move to the front of the cabin (as ballast). Then YQ2 could get "on the step" and move out. This was repeated many times during the day because the YQ2 had to slow when passing some places and then would have to get back up. Three or four times, passengers were requested to go onto the forward deck not normally used underway to give more leverage to bring the bow down and start surfing - we enjoyed that because the day was beautiful and it was a great view.
So we scurried downstream from Dawson to Eagle, 105 miles in four hours. On the way, we slowed passing people who had boats at the waterline while camping or at their summer house (yup, there are a few). The crew gave mini-lectures on features along the way, such as the old town of Forty Mile that went from population 2,000 to zero when gold was found on the Klondike. There is a road in to Forty Mile, the only road that reaches the Yukon in those 105 miles.
At one point the crew pointed out a moose on the bank. As we approached we found it was a mommy with two baby mooses; mom went into the brush but the curious young ones stayed out to watch us watch them.
When we reached Eagle, Alaska, the HA passengers started their moves. A van took us into town, where we bought tickets for the return trip. You have to buy the return tickets in the US because the whole trip back is "in" the US until clearing Canadian Customs in Dawson. Same on the way down, it's all Canada (including the currency used at the bar) until you clear US Customs in Eagle.
We cleared US Customs (the agent stamped our passports, which have no stamps due to recent renewal, so that we'd have one (with a smile)).
We wandered around Eagle, which isn't a big place (pop. 132 in 1980 census). We struck up conversations with residents, including a teenaged girl with a labrador puppy 4 1/2 weeks old (cute!!) and a lady tending her garden (who gave us fresh radishes to nibble and described the growing methods used there).
After a bit, the new HA people started walking around the town and the van came to get us. The two other couples doing the down-and-back and we picked good seats for the return trip. The HA folks boarded shortly afterward and we started back just a little late.
We had a lot more trouble getting into the surf mode on the return trip for some reason. We finally arrived at Dawson around 9:00pm vice the 7:30pm schedule.
On the way back the crew pointed out a dark spot in the water ahead as being a moose swimming across the river. They slowed (not interfering or even getting close to the animal) and we took pictures as it swam the rest of the way, got out of the water, shook itself like a large dog, and went into the brush. The pictures came out very well.
It was a good trip with great scenery and some cute tales told by the crew (some were true, they said). It was comfortable and interesting. We cleared customs and walked in a light rain back to the little house. We settled in to do photos and this log.
If you're up here, do this trip, but there's no need to do it twice.
Tomorrow, we're off for Tok, Alaska, and Fairbanks the day after.
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