There's Gold in Them There Hills!

After getting the tire changed in Whitehorse, we headed up the Klondike highway. There were far too many potholes and a few long gravel stretches where we actually were going the snail speed of 15 mph, but this highway is in way better shape than the Alaska highway (in our opinion). If you look at the map, there are only 2 ways into Alaska by road, the Alaska Highway, and the Klondike Highway/Top of the World Highway/Taylor highway loop, and none of these routes are the greatest.

Upon arrival in Dawson City we checked in to the Bonanza Gold RV park. Sean was tired of dodging potholes all day and wanted to rest. As soon as we pulled up, I asked the manager about laundry facilities because we had quite a mountain waiting to be washed (since we hadn't had any hookups for a long time) and was told that the last load needed to be put in now, meaning 8:30pm, so that everything is finished by 10pm, when the door would be locked. If you can imagine, I dashed through the office door and into the motorhome and grabbed everything as fast as I could, haha! I was ready to get the laundry finished ASAP. Luckily, this RV park had cable TV, and WIFI that actually halfway worked, which Sean and I were thrilled to have!

Dawson City is the hub of the Klondike gold fields, and evidence of the area's riches are abundant all around town. Many buildings and even our RV park are built on flattened tailings from the many dredges that operated here.

Here is a picture of the worlds largest wooden dredge, Dredge #4. Apparently this machinery was left abandoned after the gold rush of the area busted and was towed to the site it rests today.

We also got a gold panning lesson at Claim 33, then tried our hand at panning wild gold out of Bonanza creek on the town's free mining claim. We did not find any gold, but had fun panning and digging anyway.

One of Dawson's main attractions, other than the gold, is the free ferry service that is operated by the town. Named, George Black, the ferry works nearly 24/7 for the summer months, only closing on Fridays for a couple of early morning hours for maintenance.

There were a few nice trails through the town. One of the best ones being the trail down the levee that follows the river down to the ferry. There are many interesting artifacts to see, such as the SS Keno and the Commissioner's Residence.

We happened across a sign that stated "Dome Road" to our left on the way back to the RV Park, so we decided to take it. We were sure glad we turned onto it because it gives a "bird's eye" view of Dawson and the Yukon River. This is where we could really see a good bit of where some of the smoke we had noticed hanging in the air around Dawson was coming from. There was an awesome bench that someone made at the top of Dome Road, so we sat and watched the happenings of town for a little while.

We went to the Visitor's Center in Downtown and accidentally happened upon a trail to the Paddlewheel Graveyard. We thought it would be interesting, but didn't expect much. Little did we know, there are quite a few decaying ships scattered there!