Klondike Highway #2We arrived in Whitehorse yesterday at 1:30pm. The flight was uneventful and after picking up the luggage and rental SUV we were off to Dawson City. The drive to Dawson City is 530kms.. fortunately for us the road conditions were good and the sun was shining. The sun hung around till almost 6pm and the drive with the sun setting was simply spectacular. Snow covered trees against the reddish sky..
Klondike Highway #2
We drove through a few small communities before the sun finally set.
The community of Pelly Crossing in the distance
We arrived in Dawson City at around 8pm. We checked into our hotel - Aurora Inn, the best hotel in Dawson City, more on that later...
The next day, as in today, we woke up at 7am and Jeff and I decided to take a walk around town. It was still dark. Despite a temperature of -9C, we didn't feel that cold. On our way back to the hotel, I slipped and fell, if I was any older I probably would have shattered my hip.
After breakfast, the three of us decided to partake in a tourist activity - sightseeing around town. The first stop was driving part way to the Top of the World Highway. We were there a couple summers ago and crossed the Yukon River in our truck and 5th wheel on the George Black ferry. Well, the George Black is off during the winter season and you can see him parked with a piece of wood propping up its ramp.
The George Black ferry that operates across the raging Yukon River in the Summer
Driving across the Yukon River was kind of surreal. There's a "pirate ship" that is frozen in the river. It is some art installation by one of the art schools in town.
Frozen pirate ship. (Sorry, bad pic)
We drove a few kilometers past the river and turned around before the snow got too deep.
Here's a video of the drive across the Yukon River back towards Dawson City.. The 45sec mark is where we were driving on the river.
[su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/nhAuvdy3OqQ"]
The next stop was the Dome - the viewpoint where you see all of Dawson City. We were told by the hotel owners that we may have to park and walk as the road is not plowed all the way to the summit. Once the snow was deep, Jeff reversed the SUV down the mountain before attempting a 3-point turn. Well, that 3-point turn turned ugly. We slid into deep snow and there we were - stuck!
Always a reason to take a pic - Ashleigh always smiling, but Jeff wasn't too pleased.
Well, the good news was that despite the sketchy cell coverage I was able to call the hotel to get a tow truck for us. Meanwhile we started clearing snow with our boots. We didn't have the shovel, it was in the hotel room! Duh! (So..... kids, that's why Jeff and mommy didn't want you to tag along because a situation like this is not good.)
The owner from the hotel came by with a tow strap to pull us out of the bank, but alas, that wasn't successful - it snapped! (But if you look closely, the strap was not in the best condition)
[su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/jX_keQW4QH0"]
So back down he went to get his buddy and some chains.
Just so happened, a snow plow was coming up the hill to clear the road. He was so nice as he pushed the snow and cleared a path down to the gravel for the SUV to drive out. When the hotel owner returned with his buddy - who is also the town's tow truck driver, he was quite sure we were able to drive out without hooking up the chains - and what do you know, it worked! After thanking everyone we headed down and drove straight to the hotel. At the hotel, we asked the other owner, aka the wife, what we owed everyone that helped. She said nothing.. because we are guests of the Aurora Inn. Also, in a small town, everyone helps out each other as the next time it could be someone else needing our help. Such an awesome place! If you are visiting Dawson City, I highly recommend this place! And the restaurant is pretty good too!
After a short rest - we headed out again, but this time on foot. We did the walking tour of Dawson City and learned more about this interesting place.
Fifth Ave
The frozen Yukon River
Tomorrow will be a long day of driving to Eagle Plains. I like to think of Eagle Plains as... in the middle of nowhere. Jeff bought a jerry can and filled it up with gas as this is the sketchy part of the journey where there are no services for quite a distance. We're hoping for good road conditions. And no Aurora Borealis in sight yet...