Day 90 – June 8 – Dawson City

We made it to Dawson City!  It only took us 90 days but we are only about 100 miles from Alaska.  The drive today was like yesterday – dodging potholes and rough payment on the Klondike Highway. 

About 50 miles from Dawson City, Dorrie remarked it looked like prime moose country.  There was standing water with grass growing in it all along the highway.  Within 10 miles we saw the stoplights on the Otto’s camper come on.  We looked and there was a momma moose and a calf running up the road towards them.  The mom went off the road into a pool of water and the baby was beside their camper.  It jumped into the water and started swimming.  I threw Dorrie against the dash when I had to stop to keep from hitting the bikes on the rear of Rick’s car.  Dorrie had stood up and was trying to get a picture.  She gave me the camera, but a car went rushing past and we didn’t see them again.

We made it to Dawson City without seeing any other wildlife.  Our plan is to stay on the far side of the Yukon River in a government campground.  We drove to the ferry staging area just as the ferry pulled out for a crossing.  When it returned they motioned Rick to come aboard, so I pulled up and stopped where I could see if they wanted us to board.  After getting a couple of cars on the ferry, we were motioned on for the crossing.

There isn’t a bridge across the Yukon River at Dawson City, I guess because of the current and the ice build up in the winter.  When the river is ice free, then the ferry carries vehicles across.  In the winter they pull the ferry out of the water before the freeze and then I guess people can cross with snowmobiles or foot – I am not sure.  The road on the other side running into Alaska (known as the Top of the World Highway) is closed due to snow during the winter, so maybe there isn’t a reason to cross.

Anyway, we got off the ferry and set up camp in the Yukon River Government Campground.  Our site backs up to the river and there is a gravel bar below our campsite.

We had lunch at the campers and then headed back across to Dawson City.  We planned to get some more stamps in our Yukon book.  Our first stop was at the information center.  They had some interesting displays in there.

Interlocked moose

Jack London's cabin

We ran into Rick’s friend Mel and his wife Debbie.  We first saw them in Liard Hotsprings several days ago.  Then in Watson Lake we were parked next to them.  Now they are in Dawson City.  Someone said there was an activity going on at the Palace Theater so we drove to watch along with Mel and Debbie.

It was a fun live production on who was the best Klondiker of three people.  The actors played the parts of actual Dawson City pioneers and they picked three judges from the 30 or so people watching.  Rick got picked as a judge.  The show was funny and afterwards they took pictures of the actors with the visitors.  A nice touch.  We had a great time here.

We went to a couple of other places, like Jack London’s cabin and the commissioner’s home.  We had supper at Sourdough Joe’s and came back to the campers.  The weather had turned cooler and it rained a little.  Tomorrow will be another day in Dawson City.