Three hundred thirty six miles to travel; we were told this would be the longest travel day of the entire trip. Mo and Sally were leaving at 0700 or earlier; Harry and Linda would leave at 8:30. We were warned of frost heaves after Pelly Crossing, around mile 180. There might be construction, as well. So, June 28th, we set out.
Jerry, Wendy and I left around 8:15. Unfortunately, smoke from wildfires burning in Alaska and further west in the Yukon made the scenery very hazy. You could smell smoke if the windows were open, though it wasn’t horrible.
We stopped at Braeburn Lodge around mile 70. They are known for their cinnamon rolls, and for good reason!
About an hour later, we stopped again. This time we’d reached the Five Finger Rapids. These are 5 large rocks that the river flows past. The paddleboats had an especially hard time with them. Going upstream, they had to be winched forward until the boat had enough power to get past the current in the area. Downstream was dangerous as well, as hidden rocks coupled with the faster water flow could spell doom.
To be honest, we found the road to be pretty okay. There were some gravel patches, some construction and some frost heaves, but in general we had no major issues. It was just a very long day, no lie. We did stop again for some pictures near a pretty bend in the river. However, the pull out was past the bridge and there wasn’t a good angle. I dusted off my macro skills and did some macro work with flowers, though I was by no means using a macro lens. Still, I think it wasn’t a bad effort.
We finally arrived at the Bonanza Gold RV park in Dawson City after seven hours and forty minutes. My trip meter only showed 327 miles, though I don’t remember if I set it at the correct spot leaving Whitehorse.
Just as a note of some interest, for the entire trip, I’ve now traveled 5,532 miles. Now, not all of this is towing, as when I’m unhooked I’ll accumulate miles driving around. But, I would say Rory has spent about 90% of the time towing. He’s holding up well!
I got set up and hit the sack after trying (and failing) to get their WiFi to work. It was quite spotty the whole time we were there, though I finally managed to get one blog post published (Watson Lake). Little did I know it’d be the last for a while due to no signal or so poor it wouldn’t allow any updating.
Travel with Me! 