From Teslin Lake we drove to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Unfortunately it was a dreary day with a light rain which made the dusty roads very muddy. And of course, that made our vehicles even muddier. And no, it wasn't enough rain to wash the bugs off the front of the RV!
Bob and I arrived at the RV park first and decided that we didn't want to camp in the mud on top of the hill without hook-ups, we preferred to be muddy at the bottom of the hill with hook-ups. This was our first time having electric in quite a while. The RV park also offered free limited wi-fi which we thought would be great and it turned out to be not so good. We were able to get laundry done at $2.50 Canadian dollars a load and $1 Canadian dollar for 13 minutes of drying. In the scheme of things, that wasn't too bad.
After getting set up, doing laundry, and checking e-mail we decided to venture downtown. We walked around the tourist area and visited the shops.
The rain finally stopped, but the clouds hung around. The temperatures did get a little warmer.
An old stern wheel riverboat is a Canadian National Park so we visited the SS Klondike.
This trip we even went on board.
While in Whitehorse, we also visited the transportation museum and saw the C-147 weather vane in front of the airport. We were all getting antsy to get to Alaska so we only stayed in Whitehorse two nights. Before we left, Bob and I decided we were tired of hauling the bikes around and not being able to ride so we left them with the owners of the RV park. They told us to be sure to check out the cinnamon buns at Braeburn Lodge on our way to Dawson City.
June 1, we left Whitehorse and headed for Dawson City. Bob and I did not visit Dawson City last trip due to heavy rains washing away parts of the road. We were ready for a new adventure!
Since Bob and I had already sampled two other cinnamon buns, we couldn't pass up Braeburn Lodge. Their buns were just as big as the others!
Braeburn Lodge is not in a town, it is in the middle of nowhere in Yukon Territory. Its claim to fame is being a checkpoint on Yukon Quest. Yukon Quest is a dog sled race with more stringent rules than Iditarod. It alternates starts and finishes with Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, Territory.
This display board in the lodge shows the order of check-ins from the last Yukon Quest.
We chose our bun and asked for it to be heated. It was going to be close between this bun and Tetsa Services. Well, we waited and waited for our bun, and it never came. Mind you, we are the only customers seated in the building. Others came, purchased buns, and left. Finally, Connie went to ask about it and sure enough the waitress forgot the bun was heating. So in addition to this bun, we were given a bun to go. This bun was good, the four of us shared it, but it didn't meet the standards of the Tetsa Services bun. It did beat Grain Montana's bun that Bob and I had back in early May.
From Braeburn Lodge we headed north and made a stop at Five Finger Rapids. This rapids is north of Lake Laberge which was an important water route for the stern wheelers on the Yukon River.
The weather was dreary, but Connie and I decided to make the .6 mile hike to the rapids. Of course there were almost 300 stairs to go down to start the hike. Bob and Larry stayed in the rigs and rested.
The views were fantastic on the way to the rapids.
The rapids got its name from the rocks in the river which form five fingers of rapids along the river.
From the observation deck at the rapids, we could see the RVs and the observation deck in the parking area.
Our stop for the night was at Pelly Crossing. There is a city campground with free camping next to the river. Unfortunately, there was a forest fire in the area and we could hear the helicopters loading their water buckets when we arrived. Evidently they did a good job of extinguishing the fire because we did not hear them the next morning when we left.
Next stop, Dawson City, Yukon Territory.
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