Klondike Highway

After four days in Carcross, we left and headed north on the Klondike Highway. Again we took our time and left late. We stopped for fuel at a Fas Gas at the edge of Whitehorse and found that the price of at 95.9 a liter was less than at the Highway 37 junction where we had done a partial fill. In addition, we filled out a Fas Gas discount form and got another 3 cents a liter (a bit over 11 cents a gallon) off. We went on to the Whitehorse Walmart (the only one in the Yukon). The store seemed overpriced and difficult as it was not organized to our expectations, but we spent 2 hours and a lot of cash there as we had not been in anything larger than a convenience store for over a week.

On the Klondike Highway the only wildlife we saw were birds and what appeared to be a small fox. There was a stretch of road where we saw many signs warning to watch our for elk but we saw none of them. Apparently this is not a good time of year for seeing Elk or Caribou. There were areas of striking scenery. At one point there was a sign indicating that we were entering Beringia. This is a large area that includes the western Yukon, most of Alaska and Eastern Siberia. Interestingly, although it is an area that many of us would think of as the frozen north, it was not covered by Glaciers during the last Ice Age when most of Canada and much of the U.S. were. The level of water in the oceans went down allowing considerable interchange of plants and animals between the new and old words.

We are trying to do some sight seeing as we travel, so we pulled into an interpretive center museum, only to find it closed on a late Saturday afternoon. We are careful where we pull off because a 40 foot long wheelbase bus towing a car does not maneuver well in tight areas. To make matters worse you cannot back up without doing damage to the car or tow bar. We swung wide to complete the circle going outside a tree and inside a survey marker post but we were about a foot too far outside to clear the post. By then the car and bus were at an angle that made it likely that unhooking the car would likely be a time consuming and frustration ordeal. We tried pulling the post to the side but it would not lean enough to help. After starting back to work on unhooking the car, we turned and made an attempt to pull the post out and it started to give way. It was in deep but gradually came out. We were then able to drive by easily and push the post back in the hole and continue on our way.

We drove on to the tiny town of Pelly Crossing and stopped at a large pullout with the Selkirk Gas Bar (a convenience store/gas station" and the Selkirk Heritage Center run by the Selkirk Indian community. We spent a few minutes at the Heritage Center and were discussing where to stay. There was a free no hookup campground across the street but we were not sure we wanted to unhook our car for a quick overnight in the back in spaces. We were discussing this when an employee of the Gas Bar said that we could park in a quiet spot between the Gas Bar and Heritage Center and pull out easily in the morning. We decided that would best meet our needs, and he invited us to use the store WiFi which reached our coach easily.

From there we had an easy drive to historic Dawson City. We had identified the Guggieville RV Park at the edge of town as being the one most likely to meet our needs at a reasonable price. We missed it on the way by due to poor signage and had to drive the 2 km into town to turn around. When we got to it the sign said to go to the Bonanza Gold Motel and RV Park to register. So we turned around again (easily this time) and went to the Bonanza. They said they owned both parks and that to stay here was best. We pointed out the the guide book said the other was significantly cheaper. They offered us the services we wanted for the price we had at Guggieville so it worked our fine. We plan to stay here between 2 and 4 nights before taking the ferry to the famous "Top of the World" highway and on to Alaska.