Great view of Dawson City
Our trip to Dawson City was great!
Early morning at Twin lakes, I've made coffee & had my first sip. Mmm good, now some word's.
As I woke this morning I heard the loons early calm cry, that's what I've missed.
I opened the blind, it's light but not as light as would be when sunny. I feel the moist cool air come in the window. Ahh, nice, really good sleep, never heard a thing. I now hear the fridge propane burner working, good it's still on, success, well for now.
Want a great feeling after our somewhat tense trip from Dawson city south. Smoke was building as we headed south, no fire, just more smoke.
Highway was construction for 2 hrs
then bumpity bump, humpity hump, and swerving missing the potholes and hitting the brakes kinda road. The last hour or so from Carcross was much more relaxed to Twin Lakes.
After parking in our chosen site and setting up, Polly set out the slides, and set up her insde the trailer, always something that moved. I ask Polly "how's it look?" She says "not much this time, all good". So she gets working right away on dinner.
I got the fridge working after a few more fuses (I should have listened to Dave and had the trailer place look at it before leaving Whitehorse) the generator hooked up, satellite 📡 dish up and TV working. Well one of the TV's. The one in living room no signal for some reason, so do a check inside wires, and will attack the outside wires when back in Whitehorse.
Outside setup, now for a beer, I ask how long before dinner, Polly says 11/2 hrs. Ok I'm going for a walkabout. Down the trails I go, looking for what's here. I see the lake, but I'm aways from it, I see some wooden tenting platforms
on the bank in the trees, that's different. I keep working my way along the trail till I get to the beach/boat launch.
I meet the woman we camped by in Dawson city, Mary Lou, we had talked about meeting here before we left Dawson. Her hubby was taking a nap. She had been in the water already. We talked awhile, then I'm off to get my swim shorts and a towel, and back I go for a swim. Ahhh so nice this cool, clean, clear lake was just what I wanted. Was 80°f out, and sweaty hot today.
Gord got up and we yaked, he was coming in for a swim too, and their dog Scout, a golden retriever was after stick's, on top of the water, and when no one threw a stick, she would dive for sticks that lay on the bottom. Was a nice end of the day 😃 Cool swim, a beer, and a good yak.
Before dinner, we had thunder to start, wind, then rain in the evening, made for a nice cool breeze after a warm day. Watched a movie we had on our PVR, Insurgence. Was an interesting show. Beed after, another good day.
Waking early here means hunt for the Malita coffee maker & a pot to boil water in. When moving things around Polly sometimes puts things where I just don't think of. As we travel, things placed in cupboards up high, tend to want to fall out onto to the floor. Polly has condensed things lower, I ask her as she's awake, "Where's the coffee pot?" Polly gets up, I move one last pan in the cupboard, yep there it is hidden behind the wok. Back to bed she goes 😴💤
Polly & I talked about our trip on our way here yesterday, what we saw, what we really will remember about it.
We'll always remember the closed signs on the side of the road, kinda erie in away. Campsites, stores, gas stations, motels, native communities, many signs, metal oil drums in the driveways, ribbon across, ropes, many kinds of blockages, all with a sign.
Closed for the season.
Closed for good.
Campsite Closed!
So many we kinda got used to it. Covid related, I'm sure, I asked a few small gas stations and campsites that were still open, how's it going. The response was always same, "Not good." Followed by "Just me and the wife/husband working it now, just not enough business. Closed the campsite, or won't turn on the water, so electric, but no water, cost too much to turn it on, and dry it out for winter again, just not worth turning on the water. Laundry closed down, same just not worth starting it up, not enough people."
We won't forget that.
The beauty of the drive was great, but neither of us will forget the highway.
The City of Dawson was just what we hoped for, just not many people, which gave us lots of room to move around, and only a couple linesups. Diamond tooth Gertie's,
and the Parks Canada registering for tours. They have many very good tours, and many places our parks own here, 27 buildings in Dawson I was told by one parks tour guide. They also own the Dredge, and Bear Creek community. That is another thing I'll never forget, how much government $$$ is spent here keeping this city going. Would be a whole different thing if the government wasn't here supplying money to keep the place alive.
We loved Dawson city, was much to see, a week was enough though. We went to the tours of the Dredge, the Grand Palace Theater, Polly missed a few due to a sore back, but she is ok now.
Polly's fall in the Creek while gold panning is a memory we'll be laughing at for awhile. That night we went to Diamond tooth Gertie's for the can can show, that was fun, and met Michael in the lineup, then he sat with us through the show. We got to know him well in a short time. Then after the 3 of us went searching for the sour toe drink at the Downtown hotel, outside we met 4 friends that Michael knew from before, and all 7 of us went in for a sour toe shot.
The friendships we made that night we'll never forget.
The Gold Rush campground we stayed in was in just the right place to visit the town,
walking all around town and just a couple block's from the Dawson City/Parks Canada info center & the Northwest Territories info center. Everything was close.
The dirt roads, and the boardwalks, that I'll not forget.
The warm days that turned into hot days before we left Dawson.
I learned not to park the trailer with the fridge side of the trailer facing the sun, that I'll not forget.
The ferry ride to the otherside of the Yukon river, and the Yukon campsite there, and paddlewheel graveyard.
Then the trip up the Top of the World highway, that was a beautiful trip.
Road was gravel mostly, but very good shape. Scenery was great, from the treed hills and valleys to the tundra at the top of the hills, and the one huge moose we saw. Also the game camera above the locked gate at the unmaned boarder crossing.
Our government is watching us, always!
The good advice we got from other travelers, not to go up the Dempster hwy, as was in rough shape, and scenery was similar to the top of the world hwy.
Our plan was to do the Dempster on Sunday, but my back was sore from the top of the world drive, so along with the advice we got cancelled that plan. I went to the campsite office and asked the woman if I could get a refund if we left a day early, expecting a policy that wouldn't allow it. But a quick yes, and she credited me the one day. I was happy with this and told her. She said she "Would gladly return your canceled day amount. Were only here because you of you.
I won't forget that either.
On our last day we wandered the town a little, trying to stay in the shade, it was smoking hot. We stopped in the jeweler's store to show them how good Polly's necklace looked on, and just shop a little more, but didn't buy. The man remembered me, said Hi. I took the time to watch him while Polly shopped.
Then we made our way to Sourdough Joe's fish & Chip restaurant for what we had been told was very good salmon and chip dinner, good for 2 to split. Well it was excellent, we won't forget that.
We met a couple that were riding motorcycles from Vancouver area, he was from Australia, and they had a friend join them as we talked. They had just drove up the Dempster hwy, and loved it. Still we were happy with our decision not to.
We have a mindful of very good memories of our trip up to Dawson City. I'm sure glad we went. Will we go back? I'm not sure, we did want to see Alaska, but maybe by cruise ship now, who knows. Was a good visit here. Will always remember the farthest north we have been, so far 😁
Now for the Stewart/Cassiar highway.
Such a great life we're living. Love this Life ❤️🤗 😁
