Dawson City, Y.T.

Friday, June 16, 2023 – Eagle Plains Y.T. - 506 km – 8 hours

As we suspected sleep was not easy to achieve due to the traffic roaring by our Tuk campsite all night. You might think it was just young kids acting up but not true. We lost track of how many times grandma and grandpa went by in their truck. And then there was the all dolled up girl in her black truck. Looking for business??? And the young couple with their kids in the back. Up the road, around the spit at the end where the arctic ocean sign is and back down over and over again. Nothing much else to do there. What a waste of time and gas.

Tuk signpost

At 0500 we had 2 kids on an ATV ride THROUGH everyone’s campsites revving and laughing as they went by. This northern community has some definite social issues that need to be addressed. We recommend that if you want to visit it can be easily done as a longish day trip from Inuvik, which seems a far more accommodating community. We stopped there again today to use the WiFi in the library. There we saw a young mom and her child in the learning area instead of riding helmetless up and down the streets on an ATV. We are thinking of putting a comment in Tripadvisor. On our way out of town we stopped to take a picture of what greets you as you arrive: a haphazard landfill with a pingo in the background (how appropriate).

Garbage at Tuk

On the way to Eagle Plains we saw some ice mounds – maybe baby pingos? We had noticed them on the way up but made a point of stopping today.

Ice mounds

Because we had such a short night we actually stopped on the side of the road for a 15 minute nap. No traffic disturbed us.

We took both ferries today and again they were working to build up the dirt ramps. The ferry worker directs you where to drive to try to miss the deepest ruts. This is a continuous job keeping the “ramp” operational.

Tonight we are in a campground at Eagle Plains. And we are seeing several campers from last night!

Saturday, June 17, 2023 - Dawson City, - 407 km – 8 hours

Last night in Eagle Plains we had an illustration of how personal space varies from culture to culture. We set up camp in our paid for spot and just around 10 a black jeep pulled up beside us within 3 feet (couldn’t even open the truck door) and began to set up camp. This is in a wide open camping area with lots of room. Sure enough it was an Asian fellow. We “directed” him to another site where it would be more private for him (and us).

 

Driving from Eagle Plains south on the Dempster Highway today reminds one of driving through Joshua tree forest in the Mohave Desert but the trees here are stunted black spruce bent over like tired old men. 

Stunted spruce "men"

We have seen several bicyclists loaded down bucking the wind, fighting the dust and bugs and really wonder if they are having fun or having second thoughts about this adventure. Had a little rain early this morning. We hoped it would settle some of the dust but just enough to make mud on the windshield. The dust clouds are impressive. You often need to stop to let it settle some so you can see where to drive. It has even been enough to reset the GPS to night mode until we took it off automatic setting.

Dempster Scenery

We had an illustration of what happens when a trucker didn’t pay attention to the Dempster. This was not there a few days ago. Lucky it was empty. . . We do know the truckers keep tabs on each other via radio so help would have come his way in short order.

Ooops!

It was so windy last night we didn’t realize the mosquito population existed in Eagle plains. With the wind dying down this morning was brutal. We’d love to be able to get a picture of the clouds of them. Amazing!

 

Many, many touring motorcyclists attempt the trip to Tuk. We estimate as many 2 wheeled vehicles as 4 wheeled vehicles are on the highway. A number of them went by while we were enjoying our scenic lunch spot.

Lunchtime scenery

Once again today there was a very nice flower display along the way. Today we stopped for a “lunch with a view” – see photo.

Roadside flowers

Every two km there’s a km marker which we found very helpful judging time/distance going up the Dempster and coming back down. Still lots of beautiful snow-capped mountain views. Wonder if they stay year round.

 

Some wildlife seen today. First up was a very healthy looking gorgeous red tail fox who stopped on the side of the road to watch us go by. Next was another blonde grizzly. When he saw this big thing coming along he ran into the bush catching his head on a downed tree before escaping. Again today there were several rabbits putting their lives at risk playing chicken with the traffic. Oh, wait a minute. There’s hardly any traffic to worry about.

 

We are spending the night in Klondike Kates cabins in Dawson City. The town is set around old restored and mostly still used buildings. The sidewalks are all board and not very even. Wonder how they can get away with this safely hazard. We were sure careful and at some points even walked on the road.

We had a bit of a challenge finding a place for dinner. Lots of very noisy saloons but we did find a quiet bar. We had thought to go to Diamond Tooth Gerties, which is pretty famous, but it didn’t open until 7 and we were hungry. Very touristy town for sure. We did a bit of our own walking tour after visiting the Tourist information center and getting a map. Found a wonderful jewelery store where the owner and jeweler was busy working in the back. All the jewelry in the store was made by him. As per our usual trips a bead for Norma’s Pandora bracelet was purchased. This one is silver with four gold nuggets hand made on site so very authentic and will be a wonderful addition for the “travel” bracelet.

Locally made charm

Spent the evening sitting out on our deck enjoying the cool evening breeze, bird songs and NO bugs!!!