After working four days, we dashed up the North Klondike Highway to Dawson City (where Lawrie & I, Jon and Chris lived from 1990 to 1994). This trip will likely be my last to this community and I was happy to be seeing it again. This is the Dawson City Music Festival weekend and we have tickets! We meet up with friends from Australia during the weekend and also do a vehicle shuttle from Minto Landing for some Whitehorse friends that are paddling to Dawson.
Besides taking in the Music Festival, I take Ruth to the Gold Dredge #4 out on Bonanza Creek, wander the Museum, visit the Visitor’s Centre, go up the Top of the World Highway, and also up the Dome (the hill behind Dawson). We camp at the Klondike River Campground about 1/2 hour south of Dawson. It is quiet there and we didn’t actually have a choice as the closer campground is full several hours before we arrive Thursday night. We end up thinking it a blessing in many ways. The weather was hot and dry and we enjoyed every minute.
Last summer we hiked a small and filary level portion of the long and arduous Chilkoot Trail out of Skagway, Alaska, which a majority of the Klondike prospectors traveled to reach the Klondike. They traveled it many times, in fact, as they had to transport all the required supplies to the top, and although some hired local natives to help, many could not afford to do so. It was truly a rugged life, and not all found the gold that drew them there.