Tuesday, June 21, 2005
The Longest Day of the Year
We arrived in Dawson City today. Now this town is pretty close to how I pictured it. Looks at bit like a town out of an old western .... wood sidewalks, wood buildings with the square false fronts, lots of log cabins. You can definitely picture the “Gold Rush”. The RV park is a large parking lot but is right downtown so you can walk to anything you want to see in town. As it is summer solstice today it is extremely busy, we got 2 of the last 4 spots available. An Indian festival was happening today as they celebrate summer solstice. Also, there is a mountain just outside of Dawson City called Midnight Dome Mountain and people go up there to “drink too much beer and the sun not set” (this is how the owner of the RV park put it). As there is limited parking and probably too many people we opted to stay in town. We watch some para sailors come down from the mountain at midnight and saw the sun still in the sky at 12:15 when I decided to darken the bedroom and go to bed.
June 21 is also national aboriginal day
in late 2002 the National fisheries dept. decided it would enforce a rule regarding any mining operation near streams (that would be all mining in this area), a major problem as it would have destroyed the economy of the entire Yukon. Most if not all business, as well as the aboriginal peoples, supported an action of shutting down operations in both Dawson City and Whitehorse in protest. In 2003 the Federal Government reworked the fisheries act.
One of the many building in downtown Dawson
The rules are different when you live on PermaFrost!!. All heated building in Dawson sit 2 to 3 three off the ground, with ventilated skirts to insure no heat from the building gets to the ground. These building, built about 1902, are reminders of what happens when you let heat melt the frost layer. The permafrost is about 5 to 10 feet down here, left over from the last ice age.
Old structure waiting for new owner. Note the air space below
Typical home in Dawson, again note the building is raised.
Life at the campground
June 21 is also national aboriginal day
in late 2002 the National fisheries dept. decided it would enforce a rule regarding any mining operation near streams (that would be all mining in this area), a major problem as it would have destroyed the economy of the entire Yukon. Most if not all business, as well as the aboriginal peoples, supported an action of shutting down operations in both Dawson City and Whitehorse in protest. In 2003 the Federal Government reworked the fisheries act.
One of the many building in downtown Dawson
The rules are different when you live on PermaFrost!!. All heated building in Dawson sit 2 to 3 three off the ground, with ventilated skirts to insure no heat from the building gets to the ground. These building, built about 1902, are reminders of what happens when you let heat melt the frost layer. The permafrost is about 5 to 10 feet down here, left over from the last ice age.
Old structure waiting for new owner. Note the air space below
Typical home in Dawson, again note the building is raised.
Life at the campground
If you wish you can sign our guest book
We have added a web page with a map of our current location and route to date