Finally, Alaska

Finally, at about 4,920 miles into our journey, we've made it into Alaska. Today's trip was only a total of 110 miles from Dawson City, YT to Chicken, AK, but it took us 7-1/2 hours. There is no bridge across the Yukon River from Dawson City to the Top of the World Highway, only a small ferry. Our 15 coaches were in line for the ferry shortly after 7:00 a.m., but unfortunately, there was already a long line ahead of us. It was 4 hours before my coach made the trip across the river.

For the next hour or so, we climbed up to the Top of the World Highway. Even though it is a gravel road for 66 miles to the US Customs Station, Canada does a great job on their gravel roads. We were able to cruise along at 40-45 miles an hours fairly smoothly. Once past customs, into the US (Alaska), it was a different story. For the next 44 miles, it was a maximum of 20 miles per hour, all the while being shaken, rattled and rolled. A heavy downpour for a while didn't help either, turning the gravel road into mud. After driving for hours on the narrow, pot holed, gravel road, through the muck, with sheer drop-offs to the side at times, Marcia was ready to jump out of the rig and kiss the ground upon arrival at the campground in Chicken, AK.

Dawson City, YT

A bonus on this afternoon's trip to Dredge No. 4 was the sighting of a moose and her two calves in a pond adjacent to the dredge.

After lunch today, along with two other couples, I went up to Discovery Mine, the 1st gold find that started the Gold Rush, then on to Dredge No. 4 National Historic Site. Dredge No. 4 is the largest wooden hulled, bucket line dredge in North America. For 60 years these huge machines dug up the ground of the Klondike region to extract gold. Dredge No. 4 ceased operating in 1960 when it sunk into the silt and mud of Bonanza Creek. During its operation, it mined over $1B of gold. Park Canada undertook a project in the early 1990's to recover and restore the dredge. The tour of the dredge took a little over an hour and was followed by a movie showing it in operation. See pictures attached to the email forwarding this blog.

Whitehorse, YT to Dawson City, YT

The picture is Dawson City, YT taken from the Top of the Midnight Dome which overlooks Dawson City at the junction of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers. The Klondike River is coming in from the left and is the darker water. The Yukon River is the lighter water.

We turned off the Alaska Highway just 12 miles out of Whitehorse, onto the Klondike Highway. The trip from Whitehorse, YT to Dawson City, YT, was a bit too long for a one day trip, so we we stopped midway at Telly Crossing where we circled the wagons and dry camped for one night. We help a pot luck dinner so all can get rid of some of the food items you can't take into the US (Alaska).

In Dawson City Friday evening, the group had a wonderful dinner at the Aurora Inn. Marcia had salmon and I had cranberry stuffed chicken. After dinner, the whole group went to Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall for a show. After the show, many of us went up to the Top of the Midnight Dome where, especially around the Summer Soltice, you can watch the sun set, then rise again shortly thereafter.

On Saturday morning, Marcia and I went to the Visitor's Center, then spent the rest of the morning wandering around town, stopping in many of the shops. We purchased some fresh sourdough bread and made sourdough french toast for lunch. After lunch, many of us went to Discovery Mine, the 1st gold find that started the Gold Rush, then on to Dredge No.4, which I'll cover in my next blog.

Whitehorse, YT - SS Klondike

This afternoon, we were given a tour of the SS Klondike, the largest of the sternwheelers to operate on the Yukon River, now a National Historic Landmark. The river was frozen 6 to 7 months of every year, so when it thawed, the riverboats were busy. Smaller riverboats ofter handled extra freight by pushing a barge which was very difficult in parts of the river. The SS Klondike was large enough to handle freight needs without pushing a barge. She required 1 chord of wood per hour to run, so up and down the river every 30 or 40 miles, wood was cut and stacked on the side and the boats would have to pull over to the side and load on more fuel, usually around 12 chords. She is no longer in the water, and has been completely restored.

Whitehorse, YT - Yukon River

Today in Whitehorse, YT, we took a 2-hour scenic tour of Miles Canyon on the Yukon River while listening to an original narration of the history and points of interest along the way. Whitehorse got its name from the historic rapids on the Yukon River which resembled the flowing manes of charging white horses. The construction of the Whitehorse hydro-electric dam in 1958 tamed Miles Canyon and has replaced the once foaming White Horse Rapids with Schwatka Lake reservoir.

Before the Gold Rush, this area was a First Nations' campsite. In 1900, construction of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway from Skagway to a point past the rapids was completed and Whitehorse came into being as its railhead. For years, Whitehorse continued its role connecting rail service with riverboat traffic to Dawson. In 1942, thousands of American Army personnel arrived to build the Alaska Highway. I a record breaking 8 months and 23 days, 1534 miles of highway was laid down. The boom ceased by the end of the war, but Whitehorse had become an important center of communications and transportation, was incorporated as a city in 1950. In 1953 the capital of Yukon was transferred from Dawson City to Whitehorse.

Watson Lake, YT to Whitehorse, YT

Our fourth and final travel day to Whitehorse, Yukon, we continued on through the Canadian Rockies, crossing over the Continental Divide. We stopped at Rancheria Falls which was a nice break from driving. We later stopped at a local Resort for lunch and dined on salmon chowder, a sandwich and bumbleberry pie. After lunch we stopped in the George Johnston Museum, a delightful museum featuring beautiful Tlingit Indian ceremonial robes, trade good and artifacts.

We're now in Whitehorse, YT for three nights and two days. The total population of the Yukon is 32,209 and 23,301 of them live in Whitehorse.

Muncho Lake, BC to Watson Lake, YT

On day three of four travel days from Dawson Creek, BC, to Whitehorse, YT, we continued across the Canadian Rockies, crossing the only suspension bridge on the Alaska Hwy, partly constructed from salvage from “Galloping Gertie”, the old Takoma (WA) Narrows Bridge. Just a few miles past this bridge, we stopped the the Liard River Hot Springs. It was almost a half-mile walk from the parking area to the hot springs, but it was well worth it. You start at the lower hot spring, which is cooler, then work you way up into the upper hot spring toward the water fall where the hot water comes from. Few people ever make it to the falls as the water is too hot (in the picture, I’m at the falls between the lower and upper hot spring).

Later we stopped off at a pull-off overlooking a wide stretch of rapids on the Liard River where we enjoyed lunch. At our destination, we had our usual Travel Meeting to prepare us for our final travel day to Whitehorse, YT, tomorrow, then enjoyed a dinner at the restaurant dining room followed by a Welcome to the Yukon Presentation.