29 August 2017
Yukon River Provincial Park
We depart about 0930 and take the Klondike Loop south from the campground to Whitehorse in order to take the Cassier Hwy South to Stewart. In order to continue on, we have to put our home on the ferry to cross the river. Remember, there is no bridge here. The George Black Ferry runs 24/7, is free, and only operates after the thaw in May until the freeze in October. The ramps are dirt, they keep a bulldozer on one side of the river and are constantly regrading the ramp.
We have used the ferry for 4 round trips going into to Dawson City, so we are comfortable with the process and had no problems, loading or unloading.
Off the ferry, we travel through Dawson City enroute to Whitehorse the Capital of the Yukon. This road links the capital of Whitehorse to the Klondike gold fields. It basically follows the old sleigh route traveled in winter by the fortune seekers of the gold rush days.
The road follows the mighty Yukon River through ranchland and open area. Several beautiful lakes dot the terrain. Lake Laberge, barely visible, was immortalized by Robert Service in his poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee”.
After a short drive of 150 miles, we decide to stop at a “town” campground in Pelly Crossing just across the Yukon river bridge. It was an empty campground, but it is being kept up, as it was clean and sort of manicured and free. We found a nice pull thru site with a viewpoint of the Yukon river. We left the truck connected to the house for the night, so easy, easy….
We left Pelly Crossing about 0930 (see a trend?), and continued to head down the Klondike Loop to Whitehorse. We had nice travel day, partly sunny and no rain.
We stopped at the ruins of Montague House, one of the many “posts” built in 1899 at 20-mile intervals long the length of the Overland Trail to supply men and horses with food and a place to rest for the night.
Each post was complete with roadhouse, stables, storehouses and cabins. Roadhouses were large two-story structures, often with an attached shed at one end, and were a welcome refuge from the cold. If the temperature got to minus 40 below zero, the men would hunker down at the roadhouse.
We stopped for a photo op at the Five Finger Rapids . A beautiful overlook of the Yukon and the hills named the Wood Cutters Range (for obvious reasons).
The rapids get their name because the Yukon River runs fast through four ‘knuckles” of conglomerate stone, creating five channels; these presented challenging obstacles for the captains who navigated these waters in the sternwheelers hauling their ore and supplies.
A cable was attached to the rocks so sternwheelers could winch themselves up stream. It took 15 – 20 minutes for a power-capstan on the deck to pull the sternwheeler through the channel.
We reached Carmacks, but just passed on through it. The town is named for George Carmack who was involved in the discovery of the Klondike gold .fields and established a trading post here in the 1890’s.
We continued on to Whitehorse, the road was mostly good, just a few rib rattlers. We decided to try and stay at the same campground as in May when we came up here. We did not have reservations but we still got in, and this weekend being the “long” Canadian weekend.
After we set up, we went downtown for a birthday celebration dinner!
Happy birthday, happy birthday my dear sweet wife!
