Blogs from Yukon, Canada, North America
May 26th 2012
Road miles to date: 1133 Our wildlife encounters continued as we were sitting by a campfire on our last night in Denali when a moose and her calf walked right by us. The next morning they were still nearby when a park ranger came around saying that a grizzly had been sighted about 100 yards up from our tent and it was probably tracking the calf. Unfortunately we didn't get to see it but took it as good a sign as any that it was time for us to pack up and leave. We rode North to Fairbanks and after a quick stop for fuel and food we decided to plod on and head up to a place called Chena Hot Springs. The hot springs were discovered (or first developed at least) by the gold miners ... read more
April 1st 2012
An important detail to organize before I go is the blog! I enjoyed recording the New Zealand trip for posterity, and am preparing to do so with this adventure in Oz as well. Here we go!... read more
December 9th 2011
Oh man, planning a trip to Japan is much harder. Our plan is to get the JR Rail Pass for 21 days, this will ensure we have the train ride from almost North to South. We printed the map of railways our pass will cover and now we need to decide on what stops we want to adventure at. This is hard, we know main cities but trying to investigate whats in these other small towns is near impossible. We have decided to blow up the map and sit down with it and the inter-webs to explore each stop. We have a few stops we know we are going to stop at however the thins we want to experience like a traditional tea cermony. Where do we go for that? Where do we go to find ... read more
December 7th 2011
Hello!! I have decided to start a blog to detail my experince on planning and during my trip to Japan. There are 2 of us going, myself and Keri my best friend. We had been thinking of going on a trip for awhile now, about 2 days ago we had made our decision. Japan! Our plan is 4 weeks, backpacking a figure 8 to start and end in Tokyo. We decided to leave around March 16th and return April 12th. Our budget is $6,000.00 each. This will include flights, traveling withing Japan, food, accomidations and any entertainment. We bought 2 Lonley Planet travel books Japan, and Discover Japan. Both have alot of information. We have been looking into Hi-Hosteling online and other random sites. I will update with ones we find useful or where we make ... read more
Bear Country to The Klondike
Published: September 2nd 2011North America » Canada » Yukon » Dawson City
September 2nd 2011
Dawson City, once the largest city west of Winnipeg, now 1,800 year-round residents. We are at 64º N in September and the sun still sets past 10. We Left Tyson and Opal's in the early afternoon with the goal of going as far north as we could in a day. About 30 miles into the ride we got to Moricetown. They told us we would know where we were when we saw the river turn sideways and go through a canyon. That is exactly what it looks like there. They also said there would be people fishing there too, and there were. We went down to the canyon to watch them haul in the fish. They kept throwing the smaller pink salmon back, and keeping only the larger coho and chinook salmon. We asked a guy ... read more
August 11th 2011
How far north can you drive? Where does the road end? At what point do you have to bust out dog sleds and snow shoes? One possible answer might be Inuvik. At the top of Canada's Northwest Territory, it's two degrees above the Arctic Circle and Canada's northernmost town. (Alaska has four towns further north. Barrow is the northernmost.) My friend Jerry and I once planned a fantasy trip to Inuvik. We were going to take our fathers (who, not surprisingly, didn't think it would be such a great idea.) The trip had the added advantage of traversing the storied Yukon. As a kid I followed the adventures of Sergeant Preston of the Royal Canadian Mounties. The gold rush brought a lot of seedy characters to the Yukon. Only Sergeant Preston stood between them and the ... read more
August 10th 2011
August 9 – 10, 2011 DAWSON CITY TO WHITEHORSE, YT Our drive to Whitehorse was a full day and rather uneventful, at least for us. Our tail-gunner, Pudge Wright, had engine trouble with his pick-up and had to be towed into Whitehorse, arriving about 10:30 p.m. He has to wait for a day for the part needed to fix the problem. Fortunately there have not been any other major problems with any of the other rigs and no accidents. Dinner was provided again after our arrival in Whitehorse. It was a wonderful BBQ steak, baked potatoes and salad, and of course a delicious dessert. The dinner was held in the banquet room at the RV park. Wednesday morning we were picked up in the bus and taken to the banks of the Yukon to board a ... read more
August 8th 2011
August 8, 2011 DAWSON CITY, YT Today is our 47th Anniversary!! What an interesting place to be spending it. The tour bus picked us up at 10:00 a.m. and took us up to the top of “The Dome” for a view over the city of Dawson and the surrounding area. From there we traveled out to one of the largest Gold Dredges ever built which operated from 1905-1965. Dredge #4 was designed in Ohio, but many of the parts were built on-site here in Dawson City, and then it was put to work in the Klondike River valley. As you can tell from the pictures, it was designed to move huge quantities of dirt and the dredges dug up this entire river valley and all the feeder river valleys for miles around. The valley is now ... read more
August 7th 2011
August 7, 2011 TOK, AK to DAWSON CITY, YT UNBELIEVABLE!! There was a light rain through the night and this morning the skies are clear and sunny!! Just enough rain to settle the dust on our road today as we take a left turn out of Tok and follow Hwy 5, Taylor Highway, also known as “Top of the World Highway” to Dawson City. This road is 40% paved and 60% gravel, very winding and narrow with sheer drop-offs (no guard rails) and hairpin bends. It is open for only 4 months during the summer season. As we climbed farther and farther up the mountains into the tundra we were very fortunate to have clear vistas of the surrounding mountains - almost 360 degree views. The old settlement of Chicken was an interesting stop. In the ... read more
August 6th 2011
Today we left Beaver Creek, YT around 8 a.m. The overcast and foggy conditions gradually gave way to some amazing weather just in time for us to reach Kluane Lake (one of our favorite locations from 3 years ago when we were driving to AK). This time we pulled over and took a walk with Duke down to the water. He had fun smelling everything in sight and just getting a chance to get out of the car. It sure is a good thing he loves car rides!!!! Kluane Lake is gorgeous with aqua waters and surrounded by the Ruby and Wrangell-St. Elias mountain ranges. We stopped for lunch in Haines Junction, searching in vain for the awesome sandwhich shop we went to 3 years ago. We have since concluded that that shop must have been ... read more
