Goal in sight: starting the Dempster Hwy

Fox Lake to Tombstone, YT

Morning haze over Fox Lake, YT

Carpets of wildflowers

Fox Lake
I did not sleep well and awoke several times during the night. It was dusky, but never really black night. At 1am, there was still color in the sky from the sunset, and by 3am the light turned golden with the break of day.

This is what I wanted to experience about the Far North, and I'm getting it. Just glad that it isn't gray and raining, since the experience would be quite different.

I drove steadily on this day, not stopping very often, since I did need to "mek tracks" if I was going to get to Inuvik by the solstice.

There were some lovely wildflowers by the side of the road: purple and white vetch; pink roses; yellow daisies and dandelions, many of which had gone to seed so there were carpets of puffy white seed pods; and other flowers that I don't know the names of and didn't stop to investigate.

This section of the highway follows the Tintin Trench, a geological feature that arrows across the countryside and is a major flyway for migrating birds, lined with convenient lakes for resting and feeding. So the scenery does not have spectacular features. It's rolling hills of boreal forest, through which the Yukon flows.

I may have mentioned it before, but the geological history of the Yukon is pretty fascinating. This huge river used to flow from north to south, and empty into the Pacific in British Colombia. However, the ice sheets barred its flow during the Ice Ages, and it reversed its path, so that it now flows south to north, emptying into the Bering Sea. This change of course made a much longer run for the salmon to get to the ocean, and back to the streams and lakes to spawn.

Purple vetch

I stopped at one of the roadside rests -- Five Fingered Jack -- as I wanted some lunch and was getting tired to boot, and I KNOW not to drive when I'm tired! "Five-Fingered Jack" was one of the most treacherous places on the Yukon between Whitehorse and Dawson City. A band of hard conglomerate weathered out and created a series of pillars across the river, which dropped at this point with fast rapids. It presented quite a navigational hazard. Paddlewheelers had to be winched along a cable to safely pass this area. Smaller craft shot the rapids here. They don't look all that fierce from up on the bluffs. Perhaps on the way back I'll take the time do the hike down to the river. It's a pretty good hike back up!

There were a lot of people here, and a gang of two were taking up the sole table for lunch, so I pressed on to the next stop and climbed into the back of N0MAD for a nap. I fell asleep too readily, and awoke an hour or more later to have a party of three German couples having a late lunch of meat, cheese, bread, strawberries, and muffins at the table next to the car. I abandoned my hope of having a nice lunch and pressed on again, much rested and ready for almost anything.

Wild rose

Dawson City
Dawson City was one of my favorite stops last year, and coming into the town this time felt like coming home. 

It was about 7pm, so I just had about 45 minutes using the Visitor Center's wifi before they shut down for night (15 minutes before closing at 8pm). Checked email, messages, and did some hurried updates for Camp Arequipa. Checked with the awesome dressed up dudes (same guys as last year who helped with getting insurance information after the house fire) at the desk for information on ice, which I sorely needed, and then hit the town.

It was good to get out and walk a bit. Left the car where it was and headed to the Bonanza Market on 2nd Street where ice was rumored to be, but it was closed, and didn't have ice in the freezer, anyway. Then headed back to the main market and, in the grand tradition of Dawson City outfitting, picked up a few victuals for the trip to Inuvik. I wasn't all that worried about not having ice. It's something of a luxury, and I have packaged food that doesn't need refrigeration. Also, I'm eating a lot less. It's one of the things I do like about traveling like this. There is so much to see and do, that eating just isn't even on the list of activities. I only eat when I'm hungry.

I also wanted to stop at the Trading Post for porcupine quills, which I'd seen on the last trip, and kind of wanted then, but didn't purchase, because I didn't know what I'd do with them. This time, however, I DO want to pick up some, because after the class I'm taking in a couple of weeks, I WILL know how to use them. Unfortunately, the Trading Post wasn't open, so I'll have to check again on my way back through in 10 days or so.

Midnight Sun
It has been getting noticeably more light as I've been hoofing it north,  both later at night and earlier in the morning. It's hard to know what time it is, since my internal clock says, "5pm" when it's really 9pm. I think I have loads of time to do something, based on my flawed perception of the time of day, and then end up not having the time I thought I had!

Getting a late start out of Dawson City meant I will have to drive then entire Dempster in just one day — 16-19 hours of driving, so wanted to get some miles under my belt on today (the 19th), before doing most of it tomorrow (on the 20th), hopefully arriving at Inuvik late that day, and thus having the entire day to enjoy the Aboriginal People's Day festivities in Inuvik on June 21. That was the plan, anyway.

Fueled up at the public cardlock, and headed off about 9:30pm.

Mountains on the way to Tombstone Terr. Park (Ogilvie Mtns?)

I decided to call it quits at the Territorial Park campground, about 70km from Dawson. Yukon campgrounds are awesome: just $12CA for a nice, roomy, private site with a huge table and benches, and with convenient clean outhouses. At 11pm, I think I got the last site in the park. The evening light was even and bright, but it didn't look like there was going to be a spectacular sunset, so I didn't stay up to watch. With a long day of driving ahead, I needed to get all the sleep I could get.

An aside: I'm not sure what it is with the lack of interesting sunsets. There seem to be the ingredients for color, but it just isn't happening. Not complaining, just observing. At this latitude, the sun is still up -- that's shining and above the horizon -- at 11pm. If you wake up at 1am, it's dimmer, but still bright, and by 3am, the sun is hitting the trees and peaks again. It takes some getting used to.

Sorry not many pictures taken on this leg. Pedal to the metal, as they say!