Day 06 - 08/25/25 - Dawson City
Today turned out to be a long day of walking. I logged just over 9 miles of walking. We slept in a bit this morning as we didn't have to have luggage out at 5 AM. After a light breakfast of cheese and crackers and fig bars, we headed out to walk to the ferry. This ferry runs 24/7 across the river and there were six or 8 foot passengers on board including a number from our tour group along with a full load of vehicles. We met a couple, Diane and Lonnie, who were just going to ride the ferry over and back but when we said we're going up to see the paddlewheel boat graveyard they wanted to come along so we walked together.
To get to the paddle wheel boat graveyard, one gets off the ferry and walks up the road 300 yards or so and enters a provincial park. This provincial park is used for camping and it's quite nice. You walk the length of the park and then go down to the river and walk up the river another approximately quarter mile. The graveyard hadn't changed much from last year, but we were able to walk around the ruins in a full circle this year. Last year we did it in sort of a pincer movement. It's a real cool site with the decaying hulks of the former river giants rotting away. We then walked back to the ferry and we were the only ones on the ferry headed back towards Dawson City.
Back in Dawson City we strolled down to the visitor center where we said our goodbyes to our new friends and booked a city walking tour for 6 PM. We then found lunch at the El Dorado where I was able to have my annual dose of poutine and a salad. After lunch, we then continued our stroll down the dike to the mastodon statute and then found the entrance to the Ninth Street trail. This trail parallels the city up on the hillside. That hillside during the gold rush time was filled with all measure of tents and log cabins. There was no garbage service up there, so there is a fair amount of decaying metal pans and other items that document the settlements up there. We could see a number of stone walls that have been carved out of the hillside where there were formerly tents or other structures. The whole area is protected by Canadian law as a historical monument. The trail was generally fairly level with a few ups and downs here and there. We did encounter a couple piles of bear scat. One pile was full of berry seeds and was relatively recent. One of the highlights of the trail was that it traverses the Moosehide slide at the base and it was very nice to see that slide up closer then you can see it from town. That area also had a nice perspective looking south the length of town and one can see the paddle wheel graveyard as well.
We made it back to the visitor center for our 6 PM tour with about a half hour waiting time. It was good to sit down and rest our feet at that point. Sharply at six, we commenced our walking tour, which took us with a Parks Canada tour guide dressed in period costume to three structures that we could enter. The first one was the British Bank of North America building, which was the first bank established in the Dawson city. After it was a bank, it was used for storage and other purposes and Parks Canada restored it to its original look. The second building was the Red Feather saloon, which was a saloon that was built, but never operated, because the proprietor could not obtain the necessary licenses. It served as a storage facility for many many years and they had no pictures of what it looked like inside, so it was modeled after another saloon. Our third and final stop was at the post office and the post office is the only structure that we visited that did not have the interior remodeled. It was as it was When it operated. The tour was very cool & about $14.50 a person Canadian and very worth taking to gain some historical perspective.
Afterwards, we made a quick stop at the room to drop off our backpacks before heading over to Diamond Tooth Gertie's for the 8:30pm show. It was totally packed, but we were able to secure seats over by the slot machines. The show is a reenactment of what 1890s entertainment would be like. It's sort of cheesy but cheesy in a good way. Afterwards we had a late dinner at the triple J hotel. The Reuben sandwich there was excellent along with a fantastic salad. We closed up the place before heading back to our room and finishing packing for 7 AM luggage outside our door.
It's been a really nice revisit to Dawson city and I do look forward to coming back again and then spend some focused time out on the gold rush claims that are out of town near the airport. The town is an excellent example of what a town from the late 1890s early 1900s was like And it is quite charming. I do recommend paying a visit.
Tomorrow we fly to Fairbanks to finish up our tour in Alaska with some exciting adventures ahead
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