July 7

Unlike most of the beginning of our trip which was very cool and wet, the last two days have been sunny and quite warm with temperatures in the eighties. We spent most of the day today touring Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. It is a city of a little over 20,000 and the largest we have seen for some time. We started with a ride on a trolley that travels up and down the waterfront along the Yukon River. It was interesting because it was made from a narrow gauge electric trolley that was brought from Portugal and retrofitted with a small diesel engine to pull/push it along. The sign inside indicating seating capacity was in Portuguese and it very much reminded me of the little trolleys in some Brazilian cities that we called “bondes.” The operator/tour guide explained much about the area and city’s history as a transfer port from the railroad coming from Skagway to the gold fields of Dawson City to the north via paddle-wheel steam ships. These ships were the only significant means of transportation of cargo and people up and down the Yukon River to Dawson City during the Klondike gold rush days if 1897 through to 1955 when the road was completed to Dawson city. It took a ship 36 hours to travel downstream to Dawson City and five days to return upstream back to Whitehorse. We next visited the MacBride Museum across from the old railway station which had a lot of Klondike history artifacts, geology and wildlife of the area, Royal Canadian Mounted Police history and much else to see. We then had a fish and chips lunch at the Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ, recommended by everyone we asked, that was truly delicious. Following lunch we did a guided tour of the SS Klondike paddle wheel steam ship that was retired in 1955 and has been restored and made a national monument. It is some 240 feet long and the largest such ship ever to ply the Yukon River. The ship burned one cord of wood per hour that had to be loaded from stock piles along the river bank periodically. Again, a film was shown and much history was told that was very interesting. We then headed on up the Klondike Highway #2 toward Dawson City. Along the way we took a good hike down a long set of stairs and a trail to the “Five Finger Rapids” on the Yukon River that we had learned earlier was a major hazard for the steam ships. Finally we found a cozy little spot to camp on a turnaround just off the highway right at a bridge across Tatchun Creek.