We departed Whitehorse with the goal of driving all the way to Dawson City along Highway 2, the Klondike Highway. We watch Yukon 511 for road conditions and we had seen that the previous day the highway had been closed from Pelly Crossing to Stewart Crossing due to wildfires. But this morning it was open again. Whitehorse had large signs at the entrance of the Klondike to notify travelers of the situation. Off we went!!
It’s a long haul to Dawson and we stopped at Five Finger Rapids for a lunch break. We had been there before and quite enjoyed it. Four islands of composite rock divided the river into five channels. These rapids were a big obstacle for gold seekers during the Klondike rush.
We were still concerned that the Klondike Highway could close at a moment’s notice so we kept watching Yukon 511 (thank you Starlink) and made our way between Pelly Crossing and Stewart Crossing without incident. It felt good to be past that area. But we had no idea how we were going to return to Whitehorse. The highway did close again for quite awhile. Stay tuned for our sage.
Highway 11, known as the Silver Trail, starts at Stewart Crossing and goes to Mayo and Keno City. It is a historic area known for its long and colorful mining history. For the next few weeks we would read about the wildfires in this area and possible evacuations for Stewart Crossing. It is very worrisome to travel in the north during wildfire season.
We finally made it to Dawson City!
The Gold Rush Campground is right in Dawson City which allowed us to walk to everything.
Campground: Gold Rush
Location: Dawson City, Yukon
Site: 24 (back-in)
Cost: $78.25 (CAD)
Services: FHU
Comments: A very rough, tight spaced RV park with the only redeeming benefit is that is it in town! It IS under new management this summer so maybe things will improve.
This campground is an older campground and is the ONLY campground/RV park in the town of Dawson City so they pretty much gotch ya! When you reserve a site you are actually reserving a type of a site such as dry camping, 15 AMP, 30 AMP, and length of your vehicle. They then assign your actual site upon check-in. They warn you when making a reservation that only one slide is allowed and if the site is too tight then they have the right to ask you to keep your slide closed. We reserved a 30 AMP full hook up site under 40′. What they DON’T tell you is that the odd sites have the services on the correct side and the even number sites have the services on the side that make them impossible to use. Well at least the sewer hookup is impossible to get to. They don’t care. They gotch ya! If you want to be in town then this the only deal going.
We arrived late in the day (around 3 or 4pm) and received, of course, an even number site. That’s all they had remaining. They actually gave the site we were assigned to to the woman in front of me at check-in. Weird.
We could not use the sewer hook up at our site but they do have a dump station on-site that we had to use. Thank you!!
The next day a number of travelers had checked out so I took a few photos of some empty sites.
The outside perimeter is all the back-in sites and the center of the RV park is pull-thrus for over 40 ft. We learned! Next time, reserve a 40 ft pull thru and then you get your services on the correct side and they are then usable!
Dawson City is right on the Yukon River and offers a free ferry service to allow you to cross the river so you can drive the Top of the World Highway to Chicken Alaska. The Yukon River Campground is also a ferry ride away on the other side of the river. That’s where we stayed last time we were in Dawson.
The town has the old boardwalks for sidewalks, lots of stores, visitor information, boat tours, museums, pubs, bars, restaurants, and old buildings. Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Gambling Hall is infamous in this parts and offers gambling, dining, and shows. The SS Keno is a national historic site and is an old paddle steamer. Employees walk around in period costumes. The whole town feels like you are back well over 100 years ago during the gold rush days. It is a cute little town and seems to have been rejuvenated since the last time we visited.
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