Pelly Crossing

We slept very well in the “Real Canadian Superstore” parking lot with 8 other RV’s. Wake up to an overcast day and have a rather dreary drive north.

I don’t know why, but Google Maps and Apple Maps do some very stupid routing in BC and Yukon.  I have to constantly check for silly routings and pay attention to the road map.

We stop for lunch at the Five Finger Rapids Recreation Site.  This area overlooks  the Five Finger Rapids that the paddle wheelers would pass through on the Yukon river between Whitehorse and Dawson city. It is amazing that they could run up these rapids. When the water was really high they would winch the boats up through the rapids.

Five Finger Rapids in the distance

Back in the day

They same rapids today

We decide to hike the trail to the rapids for a close up look. Paddle wheelers ran until 1955 when the road to Dawson was completed. The paddle wheelers kept a lot of wood cutters employed, the round trip took 40 cords of wood, which they would load on at various points along the river.

I decide to stop for the evening at Pelly Crossing a community of 316 people, with a gas station, general store and 4 bars on our cell phones.  They have a free camp ground that is very nice.  I assume it was once a commercial campground that the town did not find economical to run.

The sun seems to set 1/2 hour later each day we travel north from the USA. Sunset is now 11:30. When we get to Dawson city, sunset will be in the next day.

Campsite

View from our campsite