Alaska Cruise, Yukon & Denali

 

Tuesday, 15 August – Whitehorse to Dawson City
Bags out was 6 am, coincidentally the same time the Tim Horton’s opened for the day, so we went there for breakfast. Several of our fellow-travellers were there and were as baffled by the routine as I am if I find myself at Starbucks. But most seemed to get by OK. We were on the road by 7:45 to the strains of Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”. It’s wild and open country beyond the Whitehorse border, and we passed forests of black spruce and quaking aspen, as well as the huge Fox Lake and many small rivers. 

As we passed the turn-off to Lake Lebarge, Linda, our driver/guide, played “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, written by Robert Service and narrated by Johnny Cash. 

A couple of beautiful outlook stops later, we stopped for lunch at Minto Crossing. It was a beautiful spot beside the Yukon River. Lunch was nice – Bannock, soup, cold cuts, cheese, salad and Nanaimo bars. I had earlier been explaining Nanaimo bars to some of the women, when we saw them for sale, so they got to try this iconic Canadian treat.

We ate at a picnic table by the water, then strolled the property after lunch. 

Next stop: Moose Creek. A fun place with friendly dogs, excitable squirrels (or chipmunks or something not quite like at home), clean restrooms, interesting souvenirs and good snacks (we had butter tarts). It is surrounded by birch trees. Elliott, the 5-year-old, only child aboard, rang us back on board with the cow bell. The road had been deteriorating ever since lunch and now we got into long stretches of construction and road repair, with dust churned up constantly, sometimes to the point of whiteout conditions. We played 2 truths and a lie -- turns out both of us are terrible liars! Elliot’s parents used the game to announce to Elliott and the other 4 relatives in their group that they’re expecting their 4^th child. Our last break was at the Titana (?) Trench, where 2 tectonic plates meet and are drifting apart. The views were astounding, with many distant mountains and interesting cloud formations, and we could see rain falling in the distance. Then it started to rain on us, but that didn’t last. 

Entering Dawson City there’s plenty of evidence of heavy mining in the form of century-old tailings piles that go on and on, barely showing little bits of life starting to find a foothold. At the edge of town, we came upon an accident scene – it looked like a car had gone into a very deep, rock-lined canal. We met what must have been every emergency vehicle in town on their way to it. After a brief tour of town, Linda dropped us at the Dawson Westmark Hotel and said good-bye. We really enjoyed her stories and appreciated her skillful driving. We were quickly in our room and bags were delivered instantly. The room is nearly as palatial as the Volendam stateroom. Too bad it’s only for 2 nights.

More Photos of the Day