Aug 1-Back home

We left Fort St. John about 8 A.M. 

Just outside Grande Prairie is the Currie Dinosaur Museum which I had wanted to see. We made a stop there but we didn't spend a lot of time. The museum is nice and well done.

We continued on the Grande Prairie and Caro took over the driving on the four lane divided.

We were home just before five and got right at cleaning out the car and getting the Yukon dust removed at the car wash.

 Kms driven 672 for a vacation final total of 6206 km.

The engine clock showed 71.24 hours total and the Escape got 12.2 km/l (34.5 mpg)

The only issue (after the windshield replacement on day 1) was a burnt out low beam headlight bulb.

There was no use of the spare tire or the camping gear.

As always we had a wonderful trip

Final Night Fort St. John

 Total km driven today 756. Total 5534.

Animals seen today. Lots-but all bison in a herd north of Muncho Lake.

 We had a wonderful drive today. I really enjoyed it even though we were retracing our previous route. The mountains were beautiful with no smoke or rain (sunny skies all day long).

The high temperature was at Fort Nelson at 32 degrees.

There was a lot more traffic today, both semi's and vacationers. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be with all the RV's going up to Alaska. We were stuck at times going 80 km/hr behind under-powered motorhomes.

We made it to Fort St John shortly after 5 P.M. We logged on to Hotels.com and booked Microtel. We found a Vietnamese restaurant nearby for supper, fueled up the Escape, and then checked in. Caro is finally able to watch some Olympics!

Coal River

 Total 605 km for a total of 4778 km so far.

Today was essentially just a driving day. We left Whitehorse at 10 A.M. after a light breakfast at A+W.

We are backtracking the Alaska highway rather than taking the Cassiar south. We are finding the drive more beautiful than when we came up over a week ago. The weather is probably a big part of it as it was sunny all day, no smoke and reached 30 degrees by the time we got to Coal River.

We saw only one animal today (a bison).

We are at a small motel/RV camp/gas station/laundromat right at the confluence of the Liard and Coal Rivers. This place is so remote that they have their food delivered from Whitehorse once a week, there is no cell service and in order to get internet I had to pay an extra $5 because (I assume) it is satellite. 

We decided to go walk a bit to see both rivers. When the manager here heard we were going out he gave us bear spray, told us how to use it, and explained that a guest yesterday had seen a bear and had scared it away by clapping her hands. The bugs are terrible so even though it was 30 degrees I put on my coat and Caro wore extra clothing plus we covered ourselves in "Off". Caro played music through her cell phone speaker to warn any bears of our presence. It must have worked as we saw none (of course it could be that they-the bears-don't like Shania Twain).

Supper was at the motel restaurant. I had pancakes (Breakfast served all day!) while Caro had a bison burger. Both items were very tasty.

Will be a quiet night tonight, with another 600-700 km to be driven tomorrow.

Kluane Park

 Total km driven 708. Total for trip 4173

Animals seen today. one caribou, one black bear and one fox (right behind where we are staying!)

This is what it looks like when a house cat wants to walk around on a dusty car sometime during the night

Today was a day trip from Whitehorse. We started by driving the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction. At the visitor information centre we talked to the information lady and asked which was the better highway to take for this day trip. She suggested highway three heading south towards Haines, Alaska. What a great suggestion! 

We started by heading to the furthest south point of our trip-the summit at Chillkat. Here we were above the tree line but unfortunately it was cloudy.

After a few bites to eat (it was about 12:30 or so) we started back with the first stop being Million Dollar Falls where we had a short walk to a pleasant little waterfall.

From there we went to the Rock Glacier where we had a bit of a strenuous walk up to the glacier. It had  a tremendous view of the mountains and valleys

Our next stop was a recommendation for the visitor centre lady and that was Kathleen Lake. 

Beautiful!

Once back in Haines Junction we decided to go for a bit up the Alaska Highway which had been an option in the morning. We made the better choice by heading south earlier. The road was a better quality but the mountains weren't as magnificent.

As we headed out from Haines Junction a cop also came out. The posted highway speed is 90 soooo because he was behind me (and stayed there) I could only do 92 km/hour. BOOOOORING!!! The highway was perfect for 110! Oh well!

After about 30 minutes of 92 km/hour and comparatively lousy mountain scenery we turned back and headed home. I "pushed the envelope" by doing 100 km/hr all the way to Whitehorse.

We decided to get Time Horton's chili again and we ate at the Air Bnb.

Back in Whitehorse

 Total km driven today 656 for a grand total of 3465.

I slept good last night but Caro did not. Breakfast was eggs and toast at the hotel restaurant.

We were on the road by 8:45 A.M.

We had a total of three pilot car lead sections of highway today.

We had a lousy weather trip for most of the day. It got much better near Whitehorse (bright sunshine)

We had some extra time today so we took a side trip to the town of Mayo. We went to a small museum there and according to the sign in book we were the first in two days. I wanted to see the spot where all the Galena ore from nearby mines was loaded on ships smaller than, but similar to, the SS Klondike for river shipment, eventually to refineries outside where the silver/tin and lead was extracted.  It certainly wasn't amazing to see this tiny town (it used to have upwards of 30,000 people) , and really if not for the extra time we would have stayed on the main highway. The side trip took about 90 minutes to complete.

We got into Whitehorse shortly after five, did some shopping, picked up chili from Tim Horton's for supper and went up to our Air BNB (which we have for the next two nights). 

Last day in Dawson

 Km driven-24 for a total of 2809.

We started off the day at a small bistro where we had a wonderful breakfast.

We wandered around the town exploring areas we hadn't seen before.

The church in the background is just a shell now, supported by beams inside and the outside all bent and seemingly coming apart.

We met up with Mark Mather (Karen, Susan, and Christine's first cousins from Aunt Muriel's side) and enjoyed a visit in a coffee house.He was a very nice man and he and his family run the General Store in town.

Our first tour of the day was shortly after lunchtime. We and three other people met with "Sue" again for a tour of the Palace Grand Theatre (a replica built to the same specifications as the original which was in too rough of shape to save). Interesting stories! The theatre contains the room for Klondike Kate (she was the girl friend of the owner of the place).

Just after that tour ended we headed up to the commissioner's house (the home of George and Martha Black back in the early 19 teens). We wanted just to see the house but  part of the tour was a "sit in a circle" discussion concerning the issues of the First nations that stem from colonization and lack of respect for their culture. There were only four of us on this tour (including a couple from this morning's tour; they had traveled from Montreal using their Sprinter van to sleep in). My least favourite tour of the four we took but the house was very nice.

Next we drove to the ferry and crossed the Yukon. There really wasn't much to see on the other side. It is the highway to the US but of course right now the borders are closed due to covid. We were on a return journey 20 or so minutes later.

We drove a few more of the streets we hadn't either walked or driven before going back to our room and figuring out our return trip home.

Supper was at a small burger/fish joint. My burger and fries were good but Caro's chowder was tasteless.

We are gassed up and ready to leave first thing in the morning. We have really enjoyed our time here but we have completed everything we wanted to do.

Monday night in Dawson

 Well another awesome day!

62 km driven for a total of 2785 km

We had a nice small breakfast in the hotel and then went to the visitor information center to meet up for our first tour of the day; a walking tour that took a little over one hour. Our guide was great; we had her for both tours today.The morning tour was just the down town area and entry into three buildings that are not open to anyone not on these tours. The buildings were a saloon, a bank and the original post office.

After our lunch (bunwiches eaten in room) we drove up to the cabin of Robert Service (The Cremation of Sam McGee) to have our second tour. This one was more of Sue (our guide) reading more of his poems and then a quick walk through of the cabin. Again it was very interesting.

Right across the street from the cabin is the home of Laura Berton from the 20's. I really wanted to see it so now I can reread her book and knowing what the house looks like and its' location in the town I will enjoy the book more.

From there we went back to the visitor centre to pick up some gold mining pans. We headed up to Bonanza Creek (14 kms away) for some more historical sites.

The first was the largest dredge built. Over the years it had dredged the Klondike River and after that was done it was moved to Bonanza Creek (which is a tributary of the Klondike). Over the years it slowly worked its way up the creek and finally it got to the point where it was too expensive to repair and the price of gold was not high enough so it was put out of service and just left where it was.

A couple of kilometres from there (up the creek) is the location of the discovery location that started the gold rush. 

A further two kilometres up the creek was the location for gold panning (with the pans we had gotten from the visitors centre). We spent about 20 minutes panning some known pay dirt. I got a couple of flakes but Caro wasn't so fortunate (mind you the flakes are probably worth only a cent or two!).

Once we made it back to town we then returned the pans and took the opportunity to watch a few videos of the gold rush etc.

With beautiful sunshine today and an uncertain weather forecast for tomorrow we decided to go up to the "Dome" and got some wonderful photos of the area

Supper was at a nearby hotel restaurant. Caro's was good but mine was average.

Tonight was a highlite night. The SourToe Challenge.!!You have to have a drink with a human toe in it and as part of the challenge the toe must touch your lips.

No problemo for me!!!! Caro took video of it and was able to edit out a couple of photos for me