Tok, Alaska - May 29, 2011

Monday (Memorial Day), May 30, 2011 – Happy Memorial Day! Nice leisure morning, enjoying our coffee and the fresh air. We don’t need to leave Chicken until 10:30. It’s going to be a short drive today—only 78 miles to Tok.  We began our caravan from Chicken on the Taylor Hwy., had a few more miles of gravel road, but nothing like the road from Dawson City to Chicken yesterday. Then hooray, the road was paved! We turned onto the Alaska Hwy. towards Tok. Once in Tok, we couldn’t stand how dirty the motorhome was (it was filthy!) and they had a car wash, so we washed it before we set up and had dinner. It was a very nice wooded campground. After dinner we went to the “Survivor’s Party”…surviving the Top of the World Highway. They were also having a “sourdough pancake toss” and it was karaoke night and some in our group, including Spike and Lindy participated. We took turns tossing the pancakes in a bucket and guess who won a “free” breakfast…Kenny! It was a fun evening listening to different people get up and sing…some not so good J.

The MC/Karoke Guy

Kenny tossing the pancakes in the bucket....Winner!

Yes, even I got up there...good sport that I am

Spike and Lindy singing "I Got You Babe"

Our campsite in Tok

Alaska Here We Come

Sunday, May 29, 2011 – Got up early to be out of the RV park by 8:00. We were down at the river and ready and in line to go across on the Yukon River ferry. We didn’t think we were going to fit, but no problem! After getting off the ferry, we began our drive on the “Top of the World” highway heading west to Chicken, Alaska. It was a very scenic drive, but we didn’t realize just how bad of shape the hwy. was in—approximately 80 miles of dirt/gravel road.  We were choking on the dust that was flying up even though we laid back from the rigs in front of us. And to make things worse, there were pot holes and ruts everywhere. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?? And what we were putting the motorhome through. At times, we couldn’t go faster than 20 mph, literally crawling at times. But, now we can say we drove the “Top of the World” highway on our way to Alaska but, we don’t think we ever want to do it again. One guy in our group had no idea how bad it was going to be and said had he known, he wouldn’t have done it. Because of the research we did, we knew it was going to be bad. We went across the border with no problem at around 1:30, set our clocks back an hour to Alaska time.

We finally arrived in Chicken, Alaska. We set up and had a group lunch at the Chicken Café. This town used to be called Ptarmigan after the State bird, but no one could spell Ptarmigan, so they changed the name to Chicken. After lunch, we went for a tour of “old town Chicken,” circa 1899. Later, we all went back to the café for a chicken dinner…go figure! Then, we got gold fever again and tried to pan some dirt by the creek but no luck. Some guy was cutting down branches in the woods, so of course we had to ask him what he was doing and he told us all about “diamond willows.” They make beautiful walking sticks. So of course, we had to go into the woods and we found about 6 and cut them down. Ugh…everything is so dusty from the drive!

Motorhome on the ferry going across the Yukon River

Top of the World Highway heading to Alaska

At last, Alaska

Most Northerly Land Border Port in the USA

Inside the Chicken Bar

Our campsite in Chicken

Dawson City - May 25 - 28, 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 – On the road again…leaving Whitehorse this morning at 9:00 o’clock sharp and as Spike would say, “off we go!” It’s a beautiful day…great day for traveling. As we were traveling on the Alaska Hwy., we drove through agriculture country…hard to believe that way up here, but this is where they grow “Yukon Gold” potatoes. We left the Alaska Hwy. 1 and turned on Hwy. 2 the Klondike Hwy. towards Dawson City, driving past Lake Labarge. Lake Labarge was made famous by Robert W. Service with the lines: “The Northern Lights have seen queer sights. But the queerest they ever did see, was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee,” (from his famous poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee”). We drove along the shoreline of Fox Lake and a burn area from a forest fire in 1998.  We stopped for our first break at Braeburn Lodge where they make and sell the “World Famous” cinnamon buns. Of course we all got one to share, they’re big enough for four people. Later down the road, we stopped at Pelley Crossing for lunch. Pelley Crossing became a settlement when the Klondike Highway was put through in 1950. We went into the “Selkirk (First Nations) Heritage Centre” which was filled with wonderful artifacts. We later stopped again at Tintina Trench, which extends hundreds of miles across Yukon and Alaska, and the largest fault in North America. It seemed as though you could see for hundreds of miles across the Yukon. We all had an opportunity to hit a few golf balls as far as we could.  As we were getting closer and closer to Dawson City, we started to see hundreds of mounds of gravel and rock piles (tailings) from the hydraulic gold mining operations on both sides of the highway, some dating back more than one hundred years ago.

"Big" cinnamon buns

Five Fingers Rapids - Yukon River

Our Caravan

Nice Swing Kenny

Ooops! where did it go

Finally, arrived at Bonanza Gold RV Park around 6:30. Today, so far has been our longest traveling day—337 miles, but Spike stopped at several places so we could get out, stretch, and walk the dogs. Wow! It’s hot here. Hottest weather since we left Las Vegas. We got setup and went for a quick tour of Dawson City with Spike, came back and had dinner and called it a day.

Thursday, May 26, 2011 – This is the first day we’ve been able to wear shorts since we left Las Vegas. We met our group at 9:45 and headed into town to the visitor centre for a “Historic City Walking” tour of Dawson. We had a wonderful time listening to our costumed guide and wandering around the historic town centre, looking at all the historical sites this town has to offer. We went to the Red Feather Saloon and listened to an interpretive program about Robert Service and his poems.

Later, we went on another city tour with Spike in the vans where he pointed out additional historical sites:  the famous author, Jack London’s cabin and listened to another interpretive program about him. He was born in California in 1876 and climbed over the Chilkoot Pass into the Yukon River in 1897. He stopped to guide other stampeders’ boats through the treacherous Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids and then set out for the Klondike to prospect for gold. While he didn’t strike it rich, he later turned his Klondike adventures into fame and fortune with his legendary short stories and books. Disillusioned with gold mining and afflicted with scurvy, he returned to California in 1898 and died in 1916.

We drove over to the Klondike cemetery, then up to the Midnight Dome lookout (a five mile drive) overlooking Dawson City, the mighty Yukon River and gold fields (2900’ high with a 360° vantage point). The view was spectacular… We came back to our campsite, BBQed dinner, then at 6:30 off to Bonanza Creek to go gold panning. So much fun…didn’t get a lot of gold, but at least now we know how to pan for it.

Did I mention that its 11:00pm before you know it because the sun really never sets here. You have to force yourself to go to bed.





Jack London's Cabin (famous writer of White Fang and Call of the Wild)

"Cache" that keeps food away from animals, especially the bears

Friday, May 27, 2011 – Met our group at 9:45 and went on another Interpretive tour of the “Palace Grand Theatre” and heard stories about its glory days and the entertainment enjoyed by miners during the Gold Rush days. We had a lot of fun checking out this old theater, as well as it being very interesting. Later, we loaded up in the vans and Spike took us for a tour of Dredge #4. Not long after gold was discovered in large quantities in the Klondike, dredges were brought into the Yukon. Dredge #4 was built in 1912 and rests on Claim No. 17, just below the original “discovery” site on Bonanza Creek. It was the largest wooden hulled, bucket line gold dredge in North America.

We then walked through the “original” discovery site, birthplace of the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1896, three young miners “Sourdoughs” named George Carmack, Skookum Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie discovered gold on the Bonanza Creek (originally called Rabbit Creek) and changed the history of the Yukon forever. The claim on Bonanza Creek was officially reported by George Carmack. It did not take long before people from around the world began arriving in the Yukon seeking riches and glory. Thirty-thousand  pick-and-shovel miners, prospectors, storekeepers, saloon keepers, bankers, gamblers, prostitutes and con men from every corner of the continent poured through snow-choked mountain passes and down the Yukon River to stake their claim to fortune on creeks with names like Eldorado, Bonanza, Last Chance and Too Much Gold. It was official, the Klondike Gold Rush was on thanks to George, Skookum and Tagish. The area's creeks were quickly staked and most of the thousands who arrived in the spring of 1898 for the Klondike Gold Rush found that there was very little opportunity to benefit directly from gold mining. Many instead became entrepreneurs to provide services to miners.

After dinner, we went back to Bonanza Creek to pan for more gold.

Palace Grand Theater

Private Box Seating

Dancers' Room

Panning for gold on Bonanza Creek

Looking for a "big" nugget!

Saturday, May 28, 2011 – Leisure morning ~ Made a “big” breakfast for Kenny while doing laundry. Kenny washed the jeep. Around 2:00 we went into town and there was a Farmers’ Market going on. We walked around town with Kula looking in the stores for interesting things. After a while of walking around, we took Kula back to the motorhome because it was just too hot for him. We then drove the jeep back into town and stopped by the “Jack London Grill,” home of the famous “sour toe cocktail.” Yep it’s a real toe (mummified) and it’s served in a 80 proof shot.  Yuck! The bartender showed us the toe, but we wanted no part of that, but we did have a “Yukon” glass of beer. We went back to the campground and had an impromptu happy hour with some friends in the group. After our little cocktail party, we went back into town and had dinner at Sourdough Joe’s. This was our last night in the Yukon before we get into Alaska. It has been so interesting learning about the Klondike Gold Rush and we have had a lot of fun in Dawson City and the Yukon.

Sternwheeler going down the Yukon River

Happy Hour - Kenny, Jack, Barry, Jerry and Anne

Our campsite in Dawson City

Back in Yukon Territory - Whitehorse May 22 - 24, 2011

 

Sunday, May 22, 2011 – Left Skagway around 7:15 on our own. The drive north on the Klondike Highway was beautiful, looked like a winter wonderland. There was still a lot of snow on the ground up through the pass. We went back through the Canadian border with no problems getting back into Canada. We met back up with our group in Carcross, then we all caravanned to Caribou Crossing to have lunch and meet with Michelle Phillips (Iditarod and Yukon Quest well known musher), and see her training facility. We also got to see her dogs in action and the new puppies too. Joyce got to go on a dog-sled ride. It was cold and rainy, but she didn’t care because she was having such a great time. After our time at Caribou Crossing, we had an easy drive to Whitehorse, only about 40 min.

It’s been a rainy, drizzly day, but once we were settled into our campsite in Whitehorse, Spike took us for a quick tour of the town. Then we went on our own tour to check things out, as well. We’ll be here for three days, a good opportunity to give Kula a bath, get laundry done, and get the motorhome cleaned up.

Michelle Phillips training facility, Caribou Crossing, Yukon

Going on a dog sled ride with Michelle Phillips

This was soooo much fun



Monday, May 23, 2011 – Met with Spike and all loaded up in the vans to go to see the Fish Ladder on the Yukon River, longest wooden fish ladder in the world. Salmon make their way to up the Yukon river to their spawning grounds. From there, we drove to Miles Canyon (on the trail of ’98, the stampeders had to circumvent the treacherous waters of Miles Canyon and Whitehorse Rapids, known as the greatest peril on the trail) and an area on the river called Devil’s Punch bowl (during the gold rush days, coming down the river they could get stuck in, possibly for hours).  Miles Canyon is a very steep, sheer canyon. We walked across a suspension bridge that swayed pretty good as you were crossing.

We came back to our campsite, had lunch, then we all piled back in the vans and went to see the SS Klondike, built in 1929, early steam paddle-wheeler. It cruised the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City taking passengers, supplies and ore (for the silver) up and down the river to remote areas of the Yukon before the construction of highways. We were able to climb aboard and had a tour of the entire sternwheeler.

From there, we went to the Beringia Museum (life-size exhibits of animals of the last ice age that became extinct about 11,000 to 14,000 yrs. ago, including the Wooly Mammoth). We spent some time learning about the last ice age and how the animals crossed from one continent to the other (Siberia to Alaska). We also got to try our hand at Atlatl Throwing (the atlatl is an ancient spear-throwing weapon used in the Yukon for hunting more than 4,500 years ago). Because of all of the mining (digging) going on in this area, they are still uncovering and finding ancient animal bones, artifacts and ivory tusks from the Wooly Mammoth, Mastodon and other animals.

We came back, took Kula for a walk, got ready and went to dinner with a few from our group. After dinner, we walked over to the Whitehorse Inn theatre and watched an entertaining Vaudevillian show “Frantic Follies” and had a lot of laughs—another fun night!



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Miles Canyon

 

Suspension Bridge over Miles Canyon, Yukon River

SS Klondike

Trying my hand at the Atlatl (an ancient spear-throwing weapon used in the Yukon more than 4500 years ago.

Our campsite in Whitehorse, Pioneer RV Park

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 – Very leisure morning, doing laundry and straightening up the motorhome. We finally got ready and drove into town to wash Kula’s bed at the Laundromat and do some grocery shopping.  When I went back to the Laundromat to put his bed in the dryer, it had started to fall apart (from Oscar biting holes in it), and all of the stuffing was coming out. So, we went to Walmart, yep there’s a Walmart in Whitehorse and got him a new one. We came back to the motorhome and Kenny gave Kula a bath and washed the “stink” off of him. At 6:00, we all met in the club house at the campground, and had a steak dinner hosted by Spike. He had invited Michelle Phillips (Yukon’s #1 female musher), her husband and son and one of her lead dogs, Wiley to join us. And, after dinner, she put on a slideshow and talked about her 2011 Iditarod experience and adventures as well as the Yukon Quests she’s participated in…a very inspiring and amazing woman. It was a great evening and fun to get together with the whole group.

Emerald Lake