7/19/17 Too much to write about. I do want to state for the WTW (Wander the West) and FWC (Four Wheel Camper) folks that I will be writing a camper/truck… route report on the WTW site when I get home. There are details that I know are specific to the planner of a trip that are not so interesting to those who read this blog. 

We came down to the Yukon River and did stop first at the camp sites on the western side and did walk down the river towards the steam ship graveyard. We did not stay on that side of the river but took the crazy ferry across…so efficient and fast though it looked treacherous at first with the current swinging the ferry boat. We opted for a camp site on the edge of down town Dawson so we could walk around the town and then sleep.

We left Dawson this morning in a leisurely way mostly due to the fact we did not sleep well as we still are distracted by the light at 11 PM thing and being in a cool place and Dawson we just stayed up… Dawson was not what I expected in a good way. Almost everything I had preconceived was wrong… never believe the advertisements in travel magazines. What I had thought would be a garish tourist place turned out to be a place that has done it right. Cultural museums of the native people were incredible. The history of the insanity of the lust for gold… the engineering feats all were there with the harsh details that one would ask “how did they deal with that?” e.g. the mortuary on a main street showed how the minus 51 degrees below zero for over 30 days and a flu epidemic was dealt with. Then there is the theater and cultural history of the money days. All this was displayed in a subdued and proud way. The businesses that deal with the crowds of tourists (in a Yukon dimension) did so in a friendly laid back way. Seeing what the local government provided the residents was also wonderful: recycling, a heated swimming pool, a curling club, a gym, a theater, lots of children activities…. baseball… parks… it looked like a great place to settle in. 

We left around 11 AM and headed out on the Klondike Highway along the Klondike river past the miles of tailing fields left behind by the monster dredges for gold. Where the Klondike river comes into the Yukon. Twenty miles up the Klondike highway the Dempster Highway goes forever north to the Arctic Ocean 14-16 hours drive north (road and weather permitting). It was tempting but there are a lot of forest fires before the Tundra and the air is thick with smoke as they continue to fight fires into the fall. This apparently is happening in western BC as well. So we continued with the plan to travel the Klondike Highway to the town of Carmack  where the Yukon River appears again and where we went Northeast on the Campbell Highway. It is paved for the first 70 miles and thereafter 300 miles of gravel and dirt. There are two small settlements Faro and Ross River. The last fuel with over a couple hundred miles to go. I had wanted to drive a discontinued road to a now unworked mine in the Northwest Territories off the Campbell (not recommended for tourists). An extremely helpful connection with the WTW who happens to live in The Yukon at Watson River (aka Robbie)(steered to him by Frank on WTW!) has helped me over the last few months find fishing and camping spots along the highway. He even offered to drop fuel where the road headed north should I make that attempt. At this time in writing this, I sit by the Little Salmon Lake in a campsite only 46 miles up on the Campbell highway. The Canadian camp sites so far are super and well taken care of. A bargain price of $8 US or $12 Canadian.

I have a full tank of 21 gallons diesel and at Ross River I will top off the tank and also fill the three 2 gallon fuel tanks on the roof (easy on and off). This will give me the option of heading up the Nahanni Range road … though not the planned 300 mile return exit mileage…. maybe 120. It all depends on time…fishing .. tiredness… need to just veg out or hurry up. We’ll make that choice when it arrives. We are so lucky the weather has been good. The roads are always in repair and that just needs to be figured in on travel time. I found a good site that lists the work being done at what mile post and what to expect. Worth it in planning distance.

I am still amazed at the ‘road barns’ …the massive Greyhound bus size “mobil homes” not ‘campers’ on the road in the thousands up here. I hear folks retire to these and it is cheaper all told w/o taxes etc. Still it is a huge thing to move around. I feel like a ground squirrel on the road beside them. The Mini-max diesel sails by them when needed … that is the fun part of this truck combo.