Day 9 Yellow Knife to Dawson River Park

Started the day early with a hike of Miles Canyon 8.4km, follows the river south to a staging area were new comers waited for river pilots to bring them through the gorge. I saw a duck with 21 ducklings that would seem to be a lot.

 Also 1 beaver and some the tin can rubbish left behind.  Also noticed several mushroom; boletes orange and yellow caps with white bottoms, they were prime season finds just not choice finds.  Also some oyster and puff mushrooms which are choice finds in very good condition.

Next I saw the SS Whitehorse, a national site, the boat visit is free however the guide cost $2, I bought the guide.  Well done inside the cargo products were most interesting.  I’m not sure if it’s true but there seemed to a lot goods made in Toronto, Vancouver and Buffalo NY.  Also the claim on shredded wheat has not changed since 1900.

Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, free tour but I donated $10, mostly so the other people in the group would also donate and they all did.   The display consists of a series of wall hangings of dedicated works by local artist symbolizing varies mistreatment of the Kwanlin people by the Canadian government, RCMP and Church and the failure of various government agencies to take care of the lands.  However the positive side all is getting better with self-government being granted in 2005 only 35 years after first requested.  Also they are very happy with the direction the new Liberal party his put forward.  Language is being revised, history being re-written and royalties from resources taken being shared.   Still the RCMP needs to investigate abuses of native girls more closely.

Fish Ladder at the dam, built after the dam was made resulting in a crash of the local chinook population.  Currently they take just 40 pairs of fish per year to grow 150k fry.  What was interesting here was that just 500km north near Dawson the salmon had arrived.  At Dawson the count is 55,000, in Whitehorse they were expecting 1500-2000 to start arriving in about 8 days.  The run should last 3 weeks. Basically 53,000 salmon would disappear into smaller rivers between Dawson and Whitehorse.  The run actually started in May but it takes the salmon 3 months to swim 2000km up-river.

Heading out of town I try out the Taksini Hot Springs, $12, they are pool style not hole in ground or bath style. The large pool is 34 degrees and the small pool is 47 degree, which takes a while to get into.   I lasted less than an hour.  They had a grouping of grounds squirrels, very different than ours, almost no ears, very large body and short tail with short fur, spotty brown fur, no pic, would come with 3-4 feet of you by the pool, likely closer if feeding was possible.

Driving up to Dawson city was not too eventful, I did see and Elk, and they really do turn around and look directly into the headlights. This one was almost completely to the side of the road but decided it was better to go back 15 steps than forward 2 steps, really dumb animals.

Twin Lakes Territorial Camp Ground was very attractive, high up over the lakes, in the aspens so very few or no bugs, also parts of the lake had that lake louse colour.  All along the road are white signs indication that the destruction of trees occurred by way of forest fires and their dates.

I did the 3.2 km Five finger Rapids trail, trail is very nice, mushrooms same orange and yellow boletes however they were past their prime. The trail went to the head of the fingers and included 238 stair steps.

Next was a porcupine I did get a shot. Next a rollover of an SUV driven to 2 elderly people, I offer to help but two other drivers had stopped and they had everyone out.  About 20 minutes later one the cars drove by me at a speed I would not be comfortable drive at, likely a local and knew the road. 

Arriving at Klondike River park $12 just after 10pm, it’s raining and I have managed to just leave the car once to post the camp tab and drop payment.  Too many bugs, the side is in the pines.

696 km’s driving  and 11.6 km of hiking today.