As Far North As We're Gonna Get
Trip Start
Apr 10, 2005
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20
25
Trip End
Dec 20, 2005
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Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
Saturday, August 20, 2005
We drove the Klondike highway, approximately 500km north to Dawson City. We stopped to view the infamous Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon River that old-time steamwheeler boats had to carefully negotiate. It looks like a bit of safe fun if you've got an inner tube...but we didn't. We also stopped at a native centre where they have what they claim to be the world's only Mammoth Snare (lifesize). Apparently when Mammoths were becoming extinct, they became dangerous to humans, so they were hunted. But they weren't eaten because the natives didn't eat anything that eats humans.
Let me begin by saying that Dawson City is the most interesting, impressive, and entertaining stop we've reached on all our travels so far. The streets are still of dust/dirt, the sidewalks are still boarded, and many of the buildings that were established in the years following the biggest Gold Strike in the Klondike are still there. Many of them have been refurbished by Parks Canada, some by private owners. There are proabaly six or seven city blocks of unique old-style buildings from the British North American bank, to the brothels, there is plenty to see and enjoy. But Dawson City isn't just a tourist attraction - it is a real live thriving town (thanks both to tourism and an ongoing mining industry) and you get a sense that you're still there to experience a part of living history. It's not a museum. We made sure to go to the rustic looking drinking hole that the locals frequent, called "the Pit". The place was packed with locals at 8pm...we heard a story that on a winter night at the Pit, one colorful local character went out and killed a moose, chopped off his head and brought the bloody dripping head into the Pit and propped it up on the speakers....but no one in the place batted an eye. Pretty much anything goes here. We also went to the restored Palace Grand theatre to watch a silent film, and we gambled a few bucks away at Diamond Tooth Gertie's (all proceeds go to tourism development in town).
Although we enjoyed the town tremendously, we did have to cope the whole time with choking smoke from a forest fire several miles away. It says a lot about the appeal of Dawson City that the smoke didn't dissuade us from sticking around.
You may be wondering about Steve. Yeah, he's still with us but not for much longer. Dawson City is his last stop on the Ford-Focus Wagon. Steve actually was dragged up on stage at Diamond Tooth Gertie's to participate in a dance number, and his performance was so good the audience voted him as the winner..you can see a photo or two of the event in the album.
Before we left Dawson City, we were treated to one last experience: we got to see and touch the Stanley Cup! It turns out that in 1905, when Dawson City was known as the "Paris of the North", it played for the Stanley Cup against the (then) Ottawa Silver Seven (if i recall correctly the team name). It's been 100 years, and now the Cup is visiting the town in commemmoration. There's a photo of the cup for all to enjoy :)
We left Dawson City to travel the Top of the World highway (I think there should be highway trading cards with names like these...Top of the World, Going to the Sun Road, Sea to Sky, etc.) and enter Alaska USA along a dirt road ridgeline. Alaska here we come.
Comments
Summer '05
You guys sound like you had a lot of fun, I was actually working in Dawson the summer you were there.. I worked at Gertie's as a server. The cup coming to town was a HUGE thing those 2 days, I think the whole town followed it around to every bar, coffee house and to the school. How did you enjoy Dawson?
I have never been to a town where you can just feel at home, the locals, are hearty and a little rugged, but are so quick to welcome with open arms. The town has a certain air about it (not the smoke), you just feel like you fit.
I remember my first time coming into town, I looked at my boyfriend who has been working up there for the past 11 summers and said 'THIS is the town you love and have been bragging aout?' The streets were muddy cuz it had just rained, the boardwalk is a little shaky in some places, the ferry is tiny and can only hold approx. 4 cars... Dilapidated buildings...I couldn't see the beauty until about 10 min after my arrival and I took a look around and realized I was in a quaint little town trapped in time.
I can only imagine the fun times in the 19th century, with the sretts bustling with people.
Your blog is interesting, and I am a firm believer that everyone should take time out of thier travels to see Dawson... I believe your blog will help ppl see dawson's originality.