VermontSailor: Dawson City

The camp ground was very quiet. Other transient campers were very spread out and out of sight. Since we have excellent cell reception we connect with our good friend and neighbor Michelle Kuppersmith to water our plants and check on a few things in and around our house. I can follow her around the house with all the WiFi cameras I have set up.

We stop for gas at the local gas station before we head onto Dawson City.

At an overlook above Pelly Crossing, we run into two guys from Connecticut touring in an antique pickup truck. Linda is keeping a list of license plates, trying to get all 50 states. I am not sure an antique designated license plate counts.

Pelly Crossing

Antiques Road Show

The section of road from Pelly Crossing is much rougher than everything south of here. We pass through many recently burned sections on both sides of the road. A couple weeks ago the road was closed and other days they were running a pilot car through the smoke.

We eventually reach a section of major road improvement, widening and straightening. We get lucky and only have to wait 10 minutes or so for the south bound group of pilot car lead vehicles to come through before it is our turn to go north. They have the couple motorcycles move up behind the pilot car. Although they do a good job of keeping the dirt surfaces damp it is still rather dusty. After about 20 miles we get back on the paved highway.

I let the two vehicles behind us pass. There are hardly any rest areas north of Pelly Crossing. When we finally reach a rest area on Gravel Lake, we pull in behind the rest of the pilot car group that was ahead of us. All were looking forward to this lunchtime break.

While we are having lunch Linda notices something moving out on the lake. I get out the binoculars and spy a mother moose and her baby swimming across the lake.

The convoy

We reach Dawson City around 3:00 PM. We get parked in the RV park in town “Gold Rush Campground RV Park” which is within walking distance to everything in town. We walk over to the visitor center to make a reservation to tour the SS. Klondike, Paddle wheeler, which is permanently dry docked on the shore. The main street use to have a view of the river, but after many spring floods and ice jams the government built a progressively higher levy to protect the town.