Days 18 & 19: Solo Side Trip to Dawson City

Since we have fallen a bit behind on our blogs, I have decided to combine the two days to and from Dawson City into a single post. 

I departed Whitehorse for Dawson City at 10:40 am, after a breakfast with Mick.

As I mentioned yesterday, Mick opted to sit out the Dawson City trip to save tire tread.  He filled me in on what to look for.

Initially it was a long road to Dawson City . .

. . . with a lot of loose gravel and wet dirt (not rain, the blasted watering trucks!!) which are not photographed for safety reasons!

When there was not gravel or dirt, the road was pretty bumpy.

There were at least five signs (popped up too fast to photo) indicating the year of a forest fire in the immediate area.  They ranged from late 70s to as late as 2008.  This photo shows the remnants of one of the most recent fires.

Which way is up!   Cool picture!

Kind of a version of the “yellow brick road” don’t you think?

Five Finger Rapids. 

One of the sites Mick said not to miss.

No.  I didn’t go down there.

.

This is what the Five Fingers is supposed to look like.

The five fingers are the five rapids formed between the 4 rocks.

There you go!  

Can you see the Five Fingers?  

I think I see a Troll! (the rock in front)

Wow.   Getting crowded at the rest stop. 

Time to go.

Yukon River'

No fingers but cool view.

Lunch at Moose Lodge. 

One of two places to eat between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

Moose lodge population. 

I met one gal who served me lunch. 

Do you think there are 2 guys and 2 gals, or just 1 guy and one gal, making 2 total?

At least one of them makes giant insects out of old wood

There is one more picture of a giant mosquito at the bottom of this blog post.  (The editor would not allow us to insert it here).

A wooden moose, of course

Another wooden moose.

I don’t know what this is, but I think its seen its better days.

           

New Contest:

Here is the next “Contest Picture”. 

What is this? 

Please be very specific.

The wood piles stretched for miles leading into Dawson City.  Since Mick is not here, I will explain what these are.  Every July, Dawson City holds the world’s largest bon fire building contest in the world.  Bon Fire aficionados flock to Dawson City for the annual event.  The 10 person teams have six hours to build the perfect bon fire pile and are then judged on height, width, and symmetry.  The judging is not complete until the piles are lit up. 





Everyone knows you can’t have a bon fire until it gets dark . . . which won’t happen till sometime in September.  So the contestants, and their piles, will have to wait until then.  
You know . . . maybe that’s why they have so many forest fires?


 

Arrived in Dawson City around 7:20 pm.

The dirt roads of Dawson City.

More Dawson City charm

In 1900 it was the largest city west of St.Louis and north of San Francisco

Mr. Dawson, himself!













Oops.  I mean Mr. Charlie.



I wonder who lives there?  

I bet Mick knows.

Rock piles pulled from the river during the great gold rush.  Still there after all these years.  Nothing to do with them.  I’ll bet they end up on the road sooner or later.

The new angle shot still needs some work!

Meanwhile, back at the Airport Chalet in Whitehorse . . . 

McNamara called and said 'Mick Greenbank would check-in early'.

Her note reads “early check-in by

McGreenbank”

(it is blurry because she pulled the sheet away as the picture was snapped). 

By the way, did you know that “chalet” is French for “sweat box”?

The bridge up ahead is the side road that leads back to Whitehorse.  It is the only intersection on this road for 328 miles.  Mick missed it his first trip to Alaska and rode 40 miles into the Northwest Territories.

This is the sign indicating which way to go. 

Can’t understand why he would have missed it.

Lunch at Carmack. 

The only other place to eat on this road!

Two Day Stats:

Arrival in Dawson City:  7:19 pm

Riding Time:  6 Hrs. 18 mins.

Miles:  331.4

MPH:  51.8

MPG:  53.6

Arrival in Whitehorse: 7:24 pm

Riding Time:  6 Hrs. 8 Mins.

Miles:  332

Total Miles:  7364

MPG:  49.5

MPH:  55.4

Tomorrow’s Destination:  Haines, Alaska

244 Miles