Exploring the Dempster Highway – playing on the Blackstone River
On Day 7 of this RV trip – Monday, July 30 – the main activity of the day, following my hike on the North Klondike River Trail, was driving up the Dempster Highway about 50 kilometers. While we just poked slowly along looking for wildlife or anything else that might be of interest, the main focus was a spot on the Blackstone River that’s great for playing with the dogs.
The light wasn’t particularly good for photos for a while after we left the campground just before 11:30, but most of the clouds cleared north of North Fork Pass. After going past the little lake in the first photo, I stopped, backed up, and walked a way to get a few shots. The Arctic cotton grass was the feature that made it special for me – it’s one of my favourite northern plants, and it doesn’t grow in very many places.
The section of the Dempster Highway that we drove was in generally good condition, but the gravel on some parts was loose. When I saw a fuel tanker coming across one of those loose, rock-spraying sections, I just pulled over and let him go by.
The place I had in mind to play was a short stretch of the Blackstone River where it changes from a narrow channel to a broad braided stream. That’s at about Km 120 (the campground is at Km 71.5).
The view north on the Dempster Highway at the same spot as the photo of Blackstone River above.
Even beyond the dog-play options, this is a particularly beautiful stretch of the Blackstone, especially with the Arctic cotton grass at its peak.
As soon as we got beyond the big rocks, the kids were in! Most of the riverbed varied from fine gravel to soft mud – with shallow water, a perfect playground.
As he often does, Tucker set up a racetrack that Bella was supposed to chase him on. She gave it a good try, but he’s extremely fast 🙂
Tucker just discovered a week previous that in the right conditions, he loves playing in the water. The Blackstone River had those conditions, and he had a ball, in deeper and deeper water.
Turning away from dogs, this is a particularly beautiful section of the river. This was the view looking upstream (to the south).
The kids and I could have stayed there for hours, but the big rocks between the car and the water were too much for Cathy’s bum knee and she had to return to the Tracker to wait. So when Bella and Tucker tired out, instead of laying in the sun savouring this incredible world, we returned to the car.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a vast expanse of Arctic cotton grass. Have I mentioned how much I love that plant? 🙂
The mountains along the Dempster are mostly quite similar, but two of them are studded with amazing jagged outcroppings. I’d like to climb up for a closer look, but the brush between the highway and those open slopes is quite ugly. Maybe some day…
Back at the campground, we had an enjoyable evening just soaking up the wonderful vibe of Tombstone Park.
Cathy rarely shows up in photos I post here, but that evening, she wanted a photo to send to her parents. There was certainly no better place to shoot it than at one of our favourite places in the Yukon.
Our time at Tombstone was short – the next afternoon, Cathy would fly home from Dawson and I’d head south again, towards Little Salmon Lake and Faro.
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