Exploring Dawson City, Yukon
Yesterday was our day to explore Dawson City. I start the day with a 3-hour tour of the goldfields and the town and then the afternoon is free so everyone can see and do whatever interests them.
We had gorgeous weather so began with a drive up the Midnight Dome. The summit at 887 meters elevation (2,911 feet) offers superb views up and down the Yukon River, and of lower Bonanza Creek and Dawson City itself.
My little husky Nanook is travelling with me, seeing more of the world 🙂 The view behind him is down the Yukon River towards Alaska.
Up in the goldfields, we went for a walk along the interpretive trail at the Discovery Claim on Bonanza Creek. There, the gold that sparked the Klondike Gold Rush was found in August 1896.
The next stop was at Dredge #4, the largest wooden hull, bucket-line gold dredge in North America.
Just after 2:00pm, I began my usual wander around town. The eclectic architecture fascinates me. Dawson truly is a photographer’s dream, and I could happily spend a week shooting here.
The Westminster is the only classic “character” bar left in the Yukon. There’s a sign hanging on the front that declares the Westminster Hotel as the “Romance Capital of the Yukon”. I connect the Westminster with many things, but romance isn’t one of them. I’m sure there’s a story there…
The post office was the first substantial building constructed by the government in Dawson.
About 20 years ago when I was driver/guide for Atlas Tours, the top floor of this building was our drivers’ apartment. We would often have 4 or 5 drivers overnighting in Dawson and even had a Dawson manager. The building hadn’t been restored in those days, and hadn’t even been painted in a few decades.
I decided to climb up to the main cemetery area, but got distracted by the new Ninth Avenue Trail that I had read ran to the Moosehide Slide. The is the view of the Yukon River, with the new Klondike Spirit going upstream past the historic workboat Yukon Rose.
The Ninth Avenue Trail.
It’s a very pleasant trail, though I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t climb the hill.
The view down the Yukon River from the Moosehide Slide.
An interpretive sign describes the slide.
I picked up the group at 7:45 pm and we went over to Diamond Tooth Gertie’s casino for the show – most of them are at the 2 tables at the lower left. There seemed to be a lot of money changing hands at the poker table behind us.
Gertie or her girls always seem to find at least one of my Kiwis particularly attractive 🙂
A broader view of the stage area.
It’s a high-energy show that I always enjoy, as many times as I’ve seen it over the past 22 years. It actually may be longer than that – I don’t recall at the moment whether I went there on my 1985 visit or not.
It’s now Friday the 13th, and after a morning at leisure, we’ll head for the ferry to start our journey along the Top of the World Highway, with Tok, Alaska our destination for tonight. Greetings to the family and friends of the folks in my group who are now reading this – I hope that you enjoy the adventure.
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