Dawson City, Yukon Territory

August 5 and 6, 2013

On Monday we traveled from Whitehorse to Dawson City where we spent two nights. It was nice to get a break from the traveling.  Dawson City was the site of the gold discovery that caused the Klondike Gold Rush.  Once again we stayed in a Westmark Motel.  All of them are very similar.  Nothing special, but clean and adequate.  We enjoyed our short stay in Dawson City.  We explored the town, which is made of many historical buildings managed by the Canadian National Park system.  You could go into the buildings and a guide would tell you about the history of the place.  Very interesting.  We also took a three mile hike on the dike by the Yukon River and the Ninth Avenue Trail system above the town.  We saw lots of pretty plants but no wildlife.

Five Fingers Rapids on the Yukon River.

By the Yukon where we stopped for lunch.

Yukon River lunch stop.

Sunset our first night there.  Sun is red because of a forest fire which is just over the mountain.

View of Dawson City

Tilted buildings.  Early buildings were built on the ground and the
heat from the home would melt the permafrost causing the
buildings to tilt.

Old newspaper building

Where the Klondike River and Yukon River meet

View of town from the Ninth Avenue Trail

Moosehide Slide on the mountain
above town

A Presbyterian Church built in 1890's.  It is closed because
of the tilt of the buildings

Old business building

The ferry that takes vehicles across the Yukon River.  This is
the only way to cross the river to get to Alaska.

Before leaving Dawson City on Wednesday, we rode the paddle wheeler down the river to the town of Moosehide that is still used occassionally by the native people of the area.  We saw an area where old sternwheelers were abandoned after the gold rush was over and then traveled up the river to the point where the Klondike and Yukon Rivers run together.

Ship Graveyard with one of the abandoned boats

The community of Moosehide

Mike on the paddlewheeler enjoying the view

View from the boat

Mary at the front of the boat.  It was
cold and windy, but worth the view.

Where the two rivers mix.  The Klondike is the clearer one
and the Yukon is the gray, silty one.

View of Dawson City from the boat.

Overall, Dawson City was one of the most interesting places we visited.  It still relies on mining as its main source of money with tourism coming in second.  It is not as much a tourist town as the other couple of places we have stayed since leaving Vancouver.  The town is an authentic old town still occupied by local miners and others making money from something other than tourists.  It was a very interesting place to visit.