Day 1 and 2 – Dawson City, Yukon to Tombstone Mountain Territorial Park – 111 km (69 miles) – 3 hours
Here we go…heading to The Dempster Highway – Arctic Ocean or Bust!!
Read our “Summary of the Dempster” post for an overview of The Dempster!
The Dempster Highway starts about 40km (25 miles) east of Dawson City. We departed Dawson early one morning and headed to the interchange of the Klondike Highway and the Dempster to fuel up before taking the “much needed and required” Start of The Dempster Photos!! (Arctic Ocean signs have to be some of the coolest signs around.)
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A few days previous, on our way to Dawson City from Whitehorse we passed the interchange and checked out the fuel prices at the two cardlock fuel stations at the Klondike/Dempster interchange (open to the public). After seeing the prices in Dawson City we decided that when we departed on the Dempster we would fuel up at one of these cardlocks at the interchange. Or so we thought.
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When we arrived at the cardocks on the morning of our departure BOTH of the stations were out of fuel. So back we went to Dawson City, another 80km (50 miles) out of our way BUT we needed to ensure we started with a full tank of fuel!! Life in the north!
After our tank was full we stopped and took our Start Of The Dempster photos!
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And off we went! The starting shot you see on almost everyone’s blog of vlog of driving the Dempster is crossing the bridge over the Klondike River along with the warning signs.
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We have always wanted to camp at Tombstone Territorial Park so we made that our first destination. It would be a short day as it is only about 70 km (44 miles) from the start of the Dempster Highway. We thought it would be a perfect way to get our “feet wet” on the Dempster and to spend some time at Tombstone. It was a lovely drive and we stopped at a wayside for lunch before hitting the park. It gave us a feel for the condition of the road with the idea if we thought it was terrible we could always turn back. Silly us!!
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Our first stop was the Tombstone Interpretive Center which is a lovely visitor center packed with information. It is just a few miles south of the campground.
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The center provides updates for both road and trail conditions. We saw that the Klondike Highway between Stewart Crossing and Pelly Crossing was now closed. This was a bit concerning because that was our way back heading south. Hmmmm……
There are a number of large vehicles Unimogs, Mans, Polonia, etc. we saw and would be seeing along the way. They know how to travel!
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After an hour or so of wandering around the Interpretive Center we headed on to the campground just up the road. There is a nice trail which connects the Interpretive Center to the campground that is a lovely walk.
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Campground: Tombstone Mountain Campground
Location: Almost 100 km (70 miles) north east of Dawson City in the Tombstone Territorial Park
Site: 19 – back-in
Cost: $36 (CAD)
Services: dry camping
Comments: A beautiful campground surrounded by lovely mountains. It could not have been nicer. We had perfect weather.
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One of the great things about Yukon Territorial Parks is that they provide free firewood…but you have to chop it a bit yourself. That meant we spent quite a few days/evenings with nice campfires. We had a few mosquitos but not enough to stay inside or use Deet.
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Our site was a few sites away from the Klondike River but not right on the river. There are a few other sites that are directly on the river that would have been fantastic to stay at (hint: we did snag one of those sites on our return trip).
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Tombstone Territorial Park is a very large park (2,200 sq km) with lots of hiking trails of which many that have back country camp areas (Grizzly, Divide, and Talus). The trails range from 6 to 12 km and are rated as difficult. There are also a few little hiking trails around the campground.
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We loved this park and this campground. Terrific! We will be back.
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