On to Dawson City

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I got up and wanted to find out about the solstice. I couldn't remember which one moves from the 21^st to the 22^nd. I thought it was probably the summer solstice because that would make the halves of the year between winter and summer more equal. If it was December that went from 21 to 22, then it would really skew the halves, at least to my way of thinking. So I went to McDonald's for breakfast and searched it. Drat it!!! This was the summer solstice. And it had moved because of the leap year this year.



I cogitated for a moment and just decided that I didn't care. When I was little there was no question that summer began on June 21^st. So I don't care what the astronomers say. I could go on to the Arctic Circle and pretend that I made it for the solstice. And any of my Facebook friends who disagree or have the nerve to point out the real date of the solstice will have their comment deleted, and I might even delete them as a friend. I'm not going to let mere facts depress me since I got so close to my goal.



But first I had to get to Dawson City. Someone told me that to come into Dawson City on the Top Of The World Highway was an awesome trip. I looked it up in my Milepost guidebook and found that that highway comes in from Alaska. I wasn't coming in that way. But I can come down from Inuvik and head into Alaska and go on that highway. It should be just as good.



I headed up the Klondike Highway. These highways are quite lonely with a relatively small number of vehicles travelling them. But then, considering how few people are up here, I guess there are really a lot of people travelling these highways. It's all in what you take into consideration, as in so many things.



I headed up the Klondike Highway and first encountered an older forest fire area than the one I saw the day before. It was far more recovered, but the devastation was still quite raw and easy to find. The trees had lost their charred bits, but the dead trunks still lifted out of the new vegetation.



Once again, the vistas that I came upon were quite stunning, from twinned lakes to mountain top views over oceans of green valleys and large rivers. We keep hearing about large rivers like the Mississippi, but we never hear about rivers like the Yukon, which are probably every bit as massive. But they are out of sight, so they aren't important. That seems to be true of so much. One woman I met a couple of days before this told me that truckers up here sometimes drive so dangerously that they dump their loads or wreck their trailers. They often just run away and there are virtually no consequences for the drivers or their employers. Yet drivers who blow over .05 now have their licences revoked and their cars impounded. It's not that that is less dangerous, but it's seen by so many that it gets action, while what happens up here in the north isn't seen by many, so it can be ignored.



I was only going about 500 kilometers today, so I wasn't in any kind of rush. I stopped at most of the rest stops and read most of the information plaques. I took a hike or two to a scenic viewpoint. It was a really nice day.



I also stopped at the Tage Cho Hudan Interpretive Centre in a town called Carmacks. They were the local First Nations people. It was just a little interpretive centre, but it was very interesting. I spent about 45 minutes there. It wasn't so much the exhibits that were so intriguing, but the woman who was looking after the place. She was a talker and told me many things about the peoples around the area. In particular, I learned that the Athapaska language peoples had offshoots to the Navajo and the Apache in the southern United States. There is a story that dates to the time of a great volcanic eruption in the north. The eruption spread ash all over the area where the Tage Cho Hudan are now. It killed everything and the land was uninhabitable for the people. So they went elsewhere for a while. According to their stories, the kept sending people back to check on the state of the land. After a few years, the land became habitable again and they returned. But...



The Navajo and the Apache have a story about a place of death from which they fled. They eventually settled in the areas of the south where they are found today. In addition, they share many of the base language characteristics of the Athapaska, of which the Hage Cho Hudan are linguistically a part. In fact, when they get together, allowing for linguistic drift and dialect formation, Navajo, Apache and the Athapaska peoples of the north can all talk and understand each other.



And one curious thing about the Navajo or the Apache is one of their words. They speak of an animal, the big moose, but they have no referent for it. The moose in the south of the US are small by comparison to the northern ones. It is easy to suppose that, when they relocated to the south, they saw the small moose in the new area and could only come up with a way to distinguish it from what they knew by calling it the small moose, as opposed to the big moose. It's an incredibly fascinating idea to me and I was very interested listening to the lady.



I explored the area outside the centre, where they had some displays of traditional hunting and other activities. Then I took my leave, but not before getting my “passport” for the Yukon. I don't know if this happens every year or if this is the first time they are doing this. But they have a passport of sorts with a number of native interpretive sites listed. Tourists can visit each site and get a stamp and see how many sites they can visit during their vacation. I think it's a great idea. While I was at the centre a couple came in and seemed like they were going to be looking around, but they soon just disappeared. When I asked what had become of them, the lady minding the place said, “Ah, stampers.” I guess there are people who just pop in for the stamp and leave again, without looking at anything. I think that's kind of silly, but I gather there is a prize of some sort for those who complete the passport.



I continued along the highway passing Pelly Crossing, a crossing of the Yukon River, along the way. I stopped there and had a look through another of the sites in the passport. However it wasn't as interesting to me. They did have a display of some of the Dooli, or laws, of the people. I was very interested to find that they were very similar to the laws and such of the Aborigines of Australia. However, they didn't have any copies for sale at that time and I couldn't get one. I would love to have been able to read more. I shall have to look about and see if I can find it somewhere.



And then I read a mileage sign saying that the Dempster Highway, going to Inuvik, would come up before Dawson City. I thought maybe I could just head up that highway rather than going all the way to Dawson City and then come back again. But as I read in the guide, there are few services on the highway and I was going to want to make sure I had a bit of food, just in case. I figured it was best to come into Dawson City just to make sure I could get what I want.



I also met up with a couple of people travelling the highway as well. And they were stopping at all the rest stops and reading all the information along the way as well. We started chatting. There really are like-minded people out there. And they often follow the same paths. It is cool



After arriving in Dawson City, we had a look around and watched the sun slowly not really set. By midnight it still hadn't set and will likely only be out of sight for an hour or two. It really is weird.



I eventually left them and went to a campground and got myself set up. Tomorrow, the Arctic Circle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos

Fox Lake Burn
North of Whitehorse, I passed through an older patch of forest that had seen a forest fire.

Scenery
Large shallow lakes are all over the Yukon landscape.

Tage Cho Hudan Cultural Centre
Inside this small cultural centre, I learned about some of the culture and people of the Tage Cho Hudan.

Five Fingers
One of the major navigational challenges for paddlewheel boats on the Yukon River was this set of islands, the Five Fingers.

Dawson City
With all the modern conveniences, Dawson City is maintained as a historical city, with dirt streets and old buildings.