We made it to North Pole! We were not even planning on going there, but there it was - Santa Clause House. Apparently, from the toys we found inside, Santa’s Workshop has been moved to China along with his elves. I don’t know why National Geographic makes such a big deal about getting to the North Pole (I guess they are just trying to sell magazines). It was rather easy to get there - just take the main road east out of Fairbanks, and 16 miles later, you are in North Pole, AK.
The last town we visited in Alaska was Chicken. The miners who settled the town wanted to name it after the ptarmigan, a quail size bird, common in this area. It is also the state bird. Unfortunately they could not spell ptarmigan, so they settled for Chicken. The public restroom in Chicken is, of course, called “Chicken Poop”.
After we crossed the border in the middle of nowhere, we were on the” Top of the World Highway”. It was a rough and dusty drive, but the views at 4000 feet were spectacular. In order to get to Dawson City, you had to take a ferry across the Yukon River. The locals sometimes just drive across the river, because it is frozen 7 months of the year. We hit Dawson just in time for their Discovery Days celebration. Gold was discovered here in August, 1896. This resulted in the Klondike Gold Rush. There are still about 60 active gold mines in the area. We toured one of the stern paddle wheelers that brought supplies in from the Lower 48, and a huge dredge that dug up stream beds and recovered 98% of the gold. We visited Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall and saw a Can-Can show there. The town is a National Historic Site and Parks Canada has restored many historic buildings and conducts walking tours of the downtown.
After several days of tours and festivities we headed out to the Dempster Highway. The Dempster Highway crosses the Artic Circle and ends at Inuvik. The famous Porcupine Caribou Herd (120,000 head) cross the Dempster highway twice each year as part of their annual migration. We did camp and hike in Tombstone Territorial Park. A violent storm blew in during the night and made us glad we were not in a tent. It left snow on the peaks above us. There was supposed to be bears, moose and caribou in the area but we did not see them- in fact, we have not seen any large animals in the Yukon. Must be a lot of subsistence hunting going on.
When we went to the Post Office on the Friday before we came up the Dumpster Highway, they told us our mail was not there but it might come in over the weekend so check back on Monday. So this did not leave us enough time to drive to the Artic Circle, but we got to within 100 miles of it. We returned to Dawson City for our final attempt to get mail. While we were in the US (including Alaska) our mail was being forwarded from Rapid City SD and we would receive it at the Post Office in about 4 to 5 days. Canadian mail is a different story. After driving back to Dawson we found out that Monday was a territorial holiday (Discovery Day). Even though it was not a federal holiday the Post Office in Dawson was closed. We had to get to Whitehorse, so we left Dawson City. If and when our mail, from late July, ever arrives in Dawson City (it had been in the mail 11 days from Rapid City), they will hold it for 30 days before sending it back to Rapid City. We should get it by mid October! I hope there was nothing important.
We camped by a series of lakes on our way to Whitehorse, and while preparing dinner we could hear loons yodeling back and forth to each other. We grabbed the binoculars and went on a search to find them. We found one pair on a green lake to the west and three more on the blue lake to the east. You could see them stretch their necks as they pierced the air with their eerie calls.
In the evening in the North Country, you can sit back and look up at the sky and watch the northern storm clouds march across the sky. This saves you from having to stay up late at night waiting to see the elusive Northern Lights. We are still waiting and getting pretty sick of stormy weather. Last night was the first time we saw stars at night. The first month it was too bright, for the last month it has been too cloudy. We discovered our roof leak was caused by a crack in the outer layer of our sky light. A little silicone patch took care of the problem, at lease for now.
Next we are starting a 12 day rafting trip down the Tatshenshini River. It flows from the south west corner of the Yukon, joins the Alsek River and empties into the Gulf of Alaska. It flows through the largest bio-preserve in the world. Pat got a cold last week and now I have it. I guess we will be coughing our way down the river. We will not be on-line again until September 4.
Don & Pat
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