Ten Days in the Yukon: 06/05/17

Day 5 (June 5, 2017)

Dawson City Temps: 22/5 C

Thanks to blackout curtains in our cosy little B&B room, the midnight sun and 4 am dawn didn’t keep us awake all night.

This is important. The long daylight hours this time of year will mess with your internal clock. More than once we glanced at the time, only to find out it was much later than we thought. And our plans for today meant it would be the longest day.

With appetites sated by a breakfast of ham, eggs, beans, hash browns and toast, we made our way to the Visitor’s Centre for a Walking Tour of Historic Dawson, guided by Ode, a knowledgeable Parks Canada staff, and Justin, a costumed interloper who pops up in character as Arizona Charlie Meadows, the gun toting entrepreneur of gold rush era Dawson City. We enjoyed several of these guided experiences during our stay, including the Life and Poetry of Robert Service (guided and acted by France, a fellow Winnipegger with an obvious passion for the words of Robert Service). Dawson City is also the native home of famed Canadian Pierre Berton, and White Fang author Jack London lived here for a time.

Arizona Charlie in character revelling in his exploits as the merchant/ and entertainment mogul of Dawson City at the turn of the 1900s. © Dan Silas 2017

The cabin of Robert Service, chock full of artifacts of his time.© Dan Silas 2017

Parks Canada staffer France entertains with passionate readings from her personal marked up copy of Robert Service poetry. © Dan Silas 2017

I was glad to hear most of the tour guides acknowledge that Dawson City rests on tribal lands of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. On at least two tours, the guides spoke briefly of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, a tragic black mark in Canada’s history. I later learned in an informal discussion with one of the guides that including this information was new for this year, and I am glad for it. While Canada is a great country and citizens have much to be grateful for, it’s also important to be critical where the historical and ongoing story of relationships with original peoples leaves much to be desired.

We met up for supper with an old acquaintance of mine at the Drunken Goat Taverna for an exquisite sampler tray of Greek cuisine on the recommendation of our host, where we were also introduced to the director of KIAC - the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture.

This particular day proved to be our longest as we planned a short drive up to the dome just outside of Dawson to view the midnight sun. To kill some time before that main event, we boarded the free George Black Ferry to cross the Yukon River to check out West Dawson and the Top of the World Highway.

The colourful streets of Dawson City reminded me of Canada's Maritime cities. The entirety of Dawson is designated a national historic site, so new construction must meet a code of standards. This buildings are actually all part of the relatively new Westmark Inn. © Dan Silas 2017

West Dawson is where local character Caveman Bill has literally lived in a hole in the river bank for some 20 years. One might imagine a hermit. We didn’t meet him, but learned he’s quite sociable. A few years ago a friend from Victoria won a fundraiser raffle for tea with Caveman Bill.

We drove about 20 km up the Top of the World Highway which only made me wish we had more time. This route follows the top contours of the mountains and offers spectacular views.

View from Top of the World Highway at 11:00 pm on June 5 - yet another road trip to add to the bucket list. © Dan Silas 2017

Before crossing the river back to Dawson City and viewing the midnight sun from the dome, we crossed the Yukon River on the free George Black Ferry to check out the in the paddlewheel graveyard, the resting place of seven steamers that plied Yukon rivers in the early 1900s.