DrewE's Alaska Trip Travelogue
I returned about a week ago from a marvelous ten-week trip to and through Alaska (and back) with my dear mother. I went in a 32' class C, actually about 35' overall with a bicycle rack on the back, w...
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July 22nd - 24th -- Dawson City. As we left midday, this will only be half of the 24th. I'm also not putting these in strictly chronological order.
Dawson city is a fun and unique place. These days, it mainly exists for tourism and as a historical park, though it was a very important city in years past (during the gold rush and following years, when it was the territorial capital before that was moved to Whitehorse). There is plenty to see and do to fill a fair few days; we could easily have spent more time there.
Coming into town along the Klondike highway, it's impossible to miss the evidences of gold mining in the form of piles of gravel tailings from the dredges and the occasional remnant of old mining equipment.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Some tailings piles (the worm-like gravel bars) as seen from the top of Midnight Dome, which offers panoramic views.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Dawson City as seen from Midnight Dome
We had planned on staying at the Yukon Government campground across the river (via a free ferry) from Dawson City, but a sign showed it was full by the time we had stopped at the visitors center and gotten our bearings and trundled down to the ferry landing. We ended up staying at Gold Rush Campground, which is a private campground in the city itself, being fortunate enough to get the last or next to last site they had available. Apparently there was a music festival going on, which presumably is what led to the shortage of campsites.
Gold Rush was neat and well-maintained but sure packs the sites in like sardines. There's just enough space between them for a little picnic table and a tiny bit of grass. Frankly, I don't blame them in the least for accommodating as many people as they can at once; the location is convenient, and it's not as though we were there to spend lots of time relaxing in the campground.
Parks Canada offers a number of tours of historic sites around the city. We peeked briefly in the SS Keno (we got there close to closing time, so didn't get the full experience). This is a restored riverboat, used to bring silver ore from Keno and the surrounding area to Dawson City, where it would be transferred to larger boats to go down the Klondike river.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The Keno as seen from the river
We also went to Gold Dredge #4, the largest of the wooden-hulled dredges. The tour there was absolutely fascinating and is highly recommended. The access road is a gravel road, but is in decent enough condition that it shouldn't pose much trouble to most any vehicle.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Gold Dredge #4; the gravel (with gold dust) is scooped up at the right side by a bucket dredger, gets mechanically separated from the gold, and exits out the left end onto a tailing pile. The dredge basically digs its own little pond along the creek bed as it goes, and fills it back in behind itself.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The main gear train in the dredge, with our tour guide for scale. The dredge was electrically powered, from a hydroelectric generating plant some miles away.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The winch room or main control room of the dredge. The dredge itself was operated by a crew of four (though there were other workers outside thawing gravel and doing other tasks).
We did take a little river cruise/tour on the "Spirit of the Klondike", a non-historic paddlewheel boat. This goes upriver and downriver a spell, with views of the city, a nearby First Nations village, the sternwheeler graveyard, etc. The narration was pretty well done and thorough, if not the most polished. We were a couple minutes delayed in leaving because of late-arriving tour buses that held the majority of the passengers.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The sternwheeler graveyard, which is fairly accessible by walking trail from the far side of the river (we didn't hike there ourselves).
One of the best-known attractions in Dawson City is Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall, which is run by the visitor's association. One needs to purchase a sort of membership card to get into the hall ($12.00 for the year). Even if one isn't a gambler, this is worth doing as they have a few different cancan shows each night that are quite well done and a lot of fun. It's not a bad idea to get there somewhat early for decent seats.
Click For Full-Size Image.
We enjoyed some delicious fish and chips in Dawson City.
Dawson City has a number of historical buildings, too, and just generally a lot to see and do. Since it's quite far north, there are many hours of light during the summer to explore. This blurb is really only a teaser.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The Palace Grand Theater (which was undergoing some renovations while we were there)
Dawson city is a fun and unique place. These days, it mainly exists for tourism and as a historical park, though it was a very important city in years past (during the gold rush and following years, when it was the territorial capital before that was moved to Whitehorse). There is plenty to see and do to fill a fair few days; we could easily have spent more time there.
Coming into town along the Klondike highway, it's impossible to miss the evidences of gold mining in the form of piles of gravel tailings from the dredges and the occasional remnant of old mining equipment.
Some tailings piles (the worm-like gravel bars) as seen from the top of Midnight Dome, which offers panoramic views.
Dawson City as seen from Midnight Dome
We had planned on staying at the Yukon Government campground across the river (via a free ferry) from Dawson City, but a sign showed it was full by the time we had stopped at the visitors center and gotten our bearings and trundled down to the ferry landing. We ended up staying at Gold Rush Campground, which is a private campground in the city itself, being fortunate enough to get the last or next to last site they had available. Apparently there was a music festival going on, which presumably is what led to the shortage of campsites.
Gold Rush was neat and well-maintained but sure packs the sites in like sardines. There's just enough space between them for a little picnic table and a tiny bit of grass. Frankly, I don't blame them in the least for accommodating as many people as they can at once; the location is convenient, and it's not as though we were there to spend lots of time relaxing in the campground.
Parks Canada offers a number of tours of historic sites around the city. We peeked briefly in the SS Keno (we got there close to closing time, so didn't get the full experience). This is a restored riverboat, used to bring silver ore from Keno and the surrounding area to Dawson City, where it would be transferred to larger boats to go down the Klondike river.
The Keno as seen from the river
We also went to Gold Dredge #4, the largest of the wooden-hulled dredges. The tour there was absolutely fascinating and is highly recommended. The access road is a gravel road, but is in decent enough condition that it shouldn't pose much trouble to most any vehicle.
Gold Dredge #4; the gravel (with gold dust) is scooped up at the right side by a bucket dredger, gets mechanically separated from the gold, and exits out the left end onto a tailing pile. The dredge basically digs its own little pond along the creek bed as it goes, and fills it back in behind itself.
The main gear train in the dredge, with our tour guide for scale. The dredge was electrically powered, from a hydroelectric generating plant some miles away.
The winch room or main control room of the dredge. The dredge itself was operated by a crew of four (though there were other workers outside thawing gravel and doing other tasks).
We did take a little river cruise/tour on the "Spirit of the Klondike", a non-historic paddlewheel boat. This goes upriver and downriver a spell, with views of the city, a nearby First Nations village, the sternwheeler graveyard, etc. The narration was pretty well done and thorough, if not the most polished. We were a couple minutes delayed in leaving because of late-arriving tour buses that held the majority of the passengers.
The sternwheeler graveyard, which is fairly accessible by walking trail from the far side of the river (we didn't hike there ourselves).
One of the best-known attractions in Dawson City is Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall, which is run by the visitor's association. One needs to purchase a sort of membership card to get into the hall ($12.00 for the year). Even if one isn't a gambler, this is worth doing as they have a few different cancan shows each night that are quite well done and a lot of fun. It's not a bad idea to get there somewhat early for decent seats.
We enjoyed some delicious fish and chips in Dawson City.
Dawson City has a number of historical buildings, too, and just generally a lot to see and do. Since it's quite far north, there are many hours of light during the summer to explore. This blurb is really only a teaser.
The Palace Grand Theater (which was undergoing some renovations while we were there)
