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Beautifully Carved Bench
Carved into the seat are the words "Top of the Life Bench" Renew, refreshed and rejuvenated we left Whitehorse behind, headed a short way down the Alaska Highway and turned onto the Klondike Loop Trail toward Dawson City. This route was the path less traveled, as we saw only a handful of other vehicles all day. We traveled through the Yukon River Valley and enjoyed great views of the Yukon, especially at an area called Five Finger Rapids. The lakes along the highway were plentiful and extremely scenic.
There were several areas which we found worth noting. First was the strange shape of the landscape. The hills almost looked like mounds of lava. Also there is a layer of white ash from a volcanic eruption which geologist date to A.D. 700. Many areas of the route were in different stages of recovering from wild fires. Signs in 4-5 different locations noted the year of the burn.
Just before stopping in Pelly Crossing for lunch we saw a large animal crossing the road up ahead of us. I zoomed in as far as I could but only caught the silver tail of what was probably a very large Silver Fox. We had a “boxed” lunch, pun intended, out of our silver rolling
box restaurant and headed across the charming Pelly River bridge. From the hill on the other side we saw nice views of the bridge and the river. A short distance later we saw a young black bear walking along the shoulder on the right. We stopped and took several photos of him. He was quite obliging, doing everything except waving goodbye to us.
The approached to Dawson City became quite exciting as we followed the Klondike River and distant mountains came into view. Once in the city though, we found the highway shoulders piled high with rocks and stones, thousands of piles. We found out later that they are still mining for gold in them there hills.
Campgrounds leave a lot to be desired in Dawson City. It’s not a matter of picking the best one, it is a matter of not choosing the worst. All three were open gravel parking lots, not conducive for sleeping in a place that never really gets dark at night. The campground downtown wanted $31.50 for 15 amp electric and the one outside town only wanted $19.50. We stayed outside of town in the Bonanza Gold Park. The young lady at the
front desk was extremely friendly and gave me a list of things to do and see in town.
We drove back and walked around the picturesque town. We saw Jack London’s cabin, the author of our first audio book, “Call of the Wild”. We checked out some of the shops and strolled the streets and avenues looking at dance halls and other business of the boom town of old. Pretty cool place with dirt roads and boardwalk sidewalks. We noted that everything we touched in the front of the stores had a layer of grit on it from all the road dust that comes in the open doors whenever a vehicle passes by. We checked out the ferry landing, where we will depart Dawson City in the morning and head back into the good old US of A. It can’t be soon enough for us to get back to the US and more reasonable prices.
The people of Canada are wonderful, we have seen some extremely spectacular scenery, but the government of Canada is taxing the people here to death. We are surprised that they can survive with the prices they pay for their staples. Any American who
thinks they have it bad should visit Canada, our great neighbors to the north for a week. They will go back home with a greater appreciation for what they have and what they pay for it.
Back at our campsite we were aroused when he heard a caravan of campers coming into the campground. They kicked up the dust, made lots of noise and parked right out front of our tent. Thankfully they were just removing the tow vehicles from their motor homes and they all pulled far away from us. Most of them drove downtown for some supper and nightlife and we had a very pleasant, quiet night of sunshine.
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