Kev n Jens Adventures: The Klondike Loop

Friday June 10, 2022 - Today we spent the morning running errands: tires checked, Walmart run, grocery store, the bank. Then we found a park for lunch and as soon as we were ready to walk on the Millenium Trail, along the Yukon River, it started to rain. Luckily we were just walking past the McBride Museum, and we decided it was worth the $9 to stay dry. It was actually quite an interesting place. It gave a good history of the Yukon, and over the few hours we were there, we learned quite a lot about the area. The weather looked better, so we walked around town and then headed back to our new RV park, Pioneer RV, which was a parking lot, but at least we had power and electric.

Aunt Gerry took this great pic of the back of Tiny with the mountains in the background

another unique bench for my bench collection (at the McBride Museum - made from car doors!)

Two saloon girls trying to make a few extra bucks

We can't seem to pass up a face cutout photo op

It's Pride Month everywhere!

A totem pole in downtown Whitehorse

A nice trail along the Yukon River

Home for tonight

Saturday, June 11, 2022 - Just outside of Whitehorse, we picked up the Klondike Loop, which takes us to Dawson City and then the to the Top of the Wold Highway and Tok Alaska. This isn't the most direct route to Alaska, but if you're in the Yukon, you have to visit Dawson City (home of the gold rush) and you have to drive the Top of the World Highway. We decided to split the drive from Whitehorse to Dawson City in half, but there didn't seem to be any place to camp in between the two towns. We tried two different campgrounds mid-way and one was closed, the other (a free spot we found on iOverlander) was a bit of a muddy road that we were afraid we couldn't get out of, if it rained. So we had to keep driving until we got to a Yukon government campground that was only 96 miles from Dawson City. It was a beautiful campground with only a handful of people camping there, and we were happy to finally be able to set up camp around 4:00 (a little late for us!)

pretty drive out of Whitehorse

a mid morning hike at a rest area

a beaver dam off in the distance

a nice walk at a lunchtime stop in Carmacs

our first ice cream stop of the trip

even better than butter pecan...maple walnut

a happy bunch

a bench with wheels

the wildflowers along this section of highway were amazing (the yellow flowers we think are arnica)

lots of pine trees

more wildflowers (arctic lupines)

miles and miles of them

then the road went south

we were basically driving through a construction zone

Moose Creek Campground

the campfire seemed to keep the mosquitoes away

the campground had small wood huts, with free wood for campfires

loved the aspen trees behind our campsite

Sunday June 12, 2022 - We had a leisurely morning because it was supposed to be a quick drive to Dawson City. Gene and Kev and I went for a hike to Moose Creek, which was a beautiful walk through the woods. We didn't leave the campground until after 10:30 and had 2 hours of driving through highway construction. I guess it's getting us ready for the unpaved road we are expecting when we get to the Top of the World Highway, but this was definitely the worst road we've seen so far and the longest stretch of bad road we've seen. Luckily it was only 90 miles to Dawson City, but it was a slog of a drive. We booked a campground in town for the next 2 nights, so that we're able to walk everywhere from our campsite.