Dawson City

The Robert Service Cabin

The Yukon might be best known for the Klondike gold rush. And for good reason. The Klondike gold rush was a monumental time period in history and is an epic story of adventure, greed, danger and daring people from the past.

In 1896 gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek (now known as Bonanza Creek). When previously poor men began arriving in California cities by boat with suitcases bursting with gold, news spread quickly and many people began heading north in search of fortune and adventure.

The Yukon River  and Bonanza Creek (setting for the Klondike gold rush) behind us

An estimated 100 000 people were part of the Klondike gold rush. Some took ships from the United States and others made the trek by land. Many didn't survive, perishing on the Chilkoot Pass, the White Pass or on the Yukon River.

Beginning our descent from 'The Dome' hike. The Yukon River and Bonanza Creek in the background.

Dawson City was born and became a booming town of 30 000 people, making it bigger than Vancouver and Victoria. Can you believe that a village of 1500 people was once the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg? Brothels, gambling halls and restaurants popped up all over. The town has been preserved and strict building codes have managed to keep it looking very authentic and very much like it once did. The entire town is a National Historic Site and Dawson City has been called a "Living Museum.'

A world famous gambling hall that has been around since the gold rush days. Before leaving for Dawson, my Dad send me a photo of himself in 1977 standing in front of this looking like a Yukon Eric Foreman. Pretty awesome.

I walked to Robert Service's cabin with a blues musician I met while in Dawson. We walked around the outside of the cabin, happy to be the only ones (unlike summer when it would have been crawling with tourists). Robert Service is a famous poet, originally from England but who spent his life bouncing around California, Mexico and eventually Canada. He farmed on Vancouver Island, lived in Vancouver and spent the years between 1909 and 1912 living and writing in his cabin in Dawson City. I adore Robert Service's work and he has been called the "Canadian Kipling," (likening him to Rudyard Kipling, another famous poet and writer).

One of the many preserved hills in Dawson. 'The Dome' slide in the background.

I hiked the dome with my wonderful hosts and explored the town as much as I could in my short time there. In my last post I mentioned the off-grid house I visited and (90% local) dinner I had there. The hospitality, kindness and welcoming nature of people in Dawson was incredible.

Ice statue on the Yukon River.

A sense of adventure, excitement and wealth (gold is still being mined) still exists in Dawson today. It is a town that values art, music, adventure and excitement and a town that seems like it would accept almost any type of person. I was sad for my trip to Dawson to end, but happy to head back to Old Crow, where my warm house and my puppy awaited me.

My host in West Dawson's bus that they road tripped in to Newfoundland and back. Yukoners are adventurous folk.

View on my flight back to Old Crow. The way the flights work had me flying from Dawson City to Inuvik (NWT) and then from Inuvik to Old Crow. Stunning views of the land.

In other news, I got frostbite for the first time last night. I neglected to cover my nose enough with my neckwarmer while skiing an 8km loop with my neighbours. Luckily they noticed and I covered it before it got any worse. It didn't go past the early stages and thankfully didn't hurt when it thawed out.

Tomorrow I leave for 8 days and won't be posting during that time. I am going to Culture Camp with my class. Culture Camp is a land-based experiential education learning experience for all students at the school I work at. It is a time for students to learn and practice traditional skills like hunting, trapping, skinning, cooking and arts. They also practice Gwitch'in, their traditional language. We started filling out our Culture Camp manuals yesterday and I will share my two goals below:

1) Learn to skin rabbit and muscat

2) Learn at least 5 common Gwitch'in phrases. So far my knowledege is words, and I would like to learn more phrases.

Thanks for reading my blog. I trust spring has arrived in the places most of you are reading this. Enjoy the return of the light and the warmth and Mahsi Cho (thank you) for reading my blog!

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley