Yukon Adventures

Hurray for Adventure Alaska Tours!
After joining Sheri on her first camping tour of the season (which was very much fun) I got to on another Adventure Alaska Tour (this one). This time with guide, Patrick, taking us to the mighty Yukon river. A long drive to get there, but well worth it. Fall was coming and the colors of the vegetation were getting more beautiful every mile we drove.

Our base was in Eagle, which is a lovely little old town on the border of Canada.


From there we drove to Dawson (Canada), a well preserved and famous gold seekers town, to begin our downstream paddling. Awesome weather, beautiful views and meditative peace and quiet greeted us for most of the 4 days we were on the river. I had packed a considerable amount of cold weather gear, but luckily we were blessed with some gorgeous sunny days and we hardly needed our rain gear at all. Unfortunately, the one day that I decided to paddle the canoe by myself was the one day that the wind was blowing very hard. Despite going downstream, it was very hard work and I eventually had to relinquish the boat to Patrick.

In the footsteps of the gold-seekers

When gold was discovered in the Klondike (the name given to the whole area in Alaska AND the Yukon Territory of Canada where gold was unearthed in great quantities starting in 1896), thousands of people from around the world anxiously made their way to port cities like Skagway and Dyea (in Alaska) to start their climb northwards. That is, they had to carry 2,000 pounds (about 750 kilos) of equipment and supplies (mandated by the Canadian Mounted Police, who had put themselves in place to manage the mad-house and prevent death) over the mountains and then build a boat that would take them the rest of the way to Dawson City, the city that served as the supply base and stopping off point for prospectors.

These days, you can drive or take the scenic White Pass Railroad (which was completed 2 years after the big gold rush started) up to Dawson with your supplies and equipment. It’s a long drive, which we did in about 12 hours, but when you compare it to what those hearty souls did in 1898; we were in the lap of luxury.

Dawson is a fantastic place – dirt roads, restored gold-rush era buildings (lots of saloons!) and lovely setting along the mighty Yukon River and, on the day we were there, warm sun and blue skies. In fact, the sky was so clear, that Michiel got to experience his first true midnight sun. Driving into town at 8:00 pm, the sun was still so high in the sky that it felt more like 3:00 pm in the afternoon and at 11:30 pm, there was still plenty of ambient light. Of course, we haven’t even had the longest day of the year, yet.

We spent the evening enjoying excellent hospitality, good food and drink (Yukon Jack, a whiskey-based liqueur) and chatting with the new “Captain” in charge of the Sour Toe Cocktail. (This is a tale that Sheri has told before, so rather than repeat it here, we’ll refer you to the following website: http://www.donreddick.com/tr_27.html )

Free Museum Day in Whitehorse

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory, population 24,000. It sits on the Yukon River and developed, as much of the Yukon towns did, during the gold rush of 1898 as a supply base to the gold fields to the north.

On the way into town, we finally got some decent radio reception and we learned that because of the national holiday, Victoria Day, all museums would be free on the day of our arrival. With that enticement, we spent some time enjoying the Beringia Museum, which highlights the ancient history of the region when it was connected (with Alaska) to Russia. The museum has skeletons of all sorts of now-extinct beasts like mammoths, giant beavers and mega-sloths. More interesting; however, was the transportation museum, which gave excellent description, photos, and re-creations of all of the means of transport up to the gold fields.

At Whitehorse, one has the choice of heading west along the Alaska Highway into the interior of Alaska, south to Skagway, Alaska (at the head of the famous Inside Passage, where the cruise ships sail) or north to the Klondike, the infamous gold mining area. After seeing the xcellent exhibits in the museum about the gold-seekers making their way north from Skagway, we decided to head south for a side trip.