Friday, July 30, 2010

Dawson City, Yukon Territory

View of Dawson City from the dome.

We took the Campbell Hwy north from Watson Lake. I've taken this route about 30 years ago and I assumed that the road had been improved since then. It may have but I couldn't tell. The hub deep mud (4WD needed) in the first construction area should have been a hint. The next 200 miles were narrow, dusty gravel road. In most places, the road was about one and a half lanes wide and anytime there was oncoming traffic, both vehicles moved onto the loose dirt on the shoulders. We stopped in Ross River for the night before continuing on to Dawson City the next day. No pictures of the Campbell Hwy or Ross River.

I haven't been to Dawson City since the early 90s and the one thing that strikes me is that tourism seems to be down significantly. I think the Taylor Hwy being washed out in Alaska has made an impact. We were very pleasantly surprised to hear that the highway was open again. Now we can head straight into Alaska tomorrow instead of doubling back through Whitehorse. Significantly shorter route. Today we took a Parks Service walking tour around town, caught a showing of Srgt. Preston and saw a vaudeville show. Yesterday evening, my son wanted to go on the cemetery tour. Weird...

Over the years, I've wanted to spend some time in the Yukon but we always seemed to be rushing down to the lower 48 or rushing back to Alaska for some reason. This has been a real nice break.

In the panorama, if you look at the river right in front of the town, you can see the confluence of the silt-filled Yukon and the clear Klondike River. Kind of interesting.

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