The 5 Year Reunion Tour (Yukon Portion)

Touring the Yukon with a friend, especially a friend who's never seen Canada, is a lot of fun. It doesn't take much to forget what an awe-inspiring Territory we live in. After driving the same roads you stop noticing the mountains, the flowers and the incredible amount of space that surrounds us. Having Jenny up was an excellent reminder that I live in a pretty cool place.

Our adventure started with a trip up to Dawson City. I have managed to get to Dawson City every Discovery Day for the last 4 years. I think Discovery Day is the perfect Dawson holiday - there's lots going on, but it isn't ridiculously busy like it is during Music Festival. By end of August Dawson has started the journey into Fall, so while the days are hot, the leaves are changing colour. Instead of attempting the full trek to Dawson on Friday after work, we decided to stay the night at Moose Creek Lodge just after Stewart Crossing. The cabins at Moose Creek are simple, but fabulous and the breakfast in the morning was delicious. The best thing was that we could leave Whitehorse around 6:00 pm, have a decent drive to Moose Creek, and still get into Dawson early enough in the morning that we didn't feel like we were missing out on the weekend.

Tony decided he wanted to bike the Heritage Ridge Road, so we dropped him and the dog off at the trailhead and continued into town with enough time to enjoy a coffee by the river and scope out good seats for the parade. This year's parade featured some great floats, including a group of seniors on scooters that identified themselves as "Reformed Hell's Angels". After collecting a couple handfuls of parade candy, Jenny and I headed up Bonanza Creek Road to meet Tony on the top of the Ridge Road Trail. The drive took us past Dredge Number 4, an interesting, but sad reminder of what kind of power and destruction we employ in an attempt to find shiny metal. The upper trailhead of Ridge Road offered some spectacular views of the Dawson hills. We managed to enjoy a nice hike down the trail before some bear scat got Jenny scared enough that it looked like we would have to turn around. At just that moment, a black 4-legged creature came bounding down the trail with my husband behind him. Starbuck was pretty wiped out after the first 32 km of the trek, so we packed him in the car and sent Tony off to finish the other 32 km and meet us back in town.

Once we were back to Dawson it was time to start the headline tour of Dawson. We went for a quick dinner at the Drunken Goat, followed by some naughty martinis at Bombay Peggy's. I think this picture is of us drinking an Easy Lai and a Spank My Naughty Ass.

Bombay's was followed by a trip to the Downtown and the initiation of Jenny into the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. I'd been telling Jenny about the Sourtoe Cocktail since she landed in Vancouver. She never seemed too excited about the prospect of drinking a shot of alcohol with a human toe, but was generally nonchalant about the whole thing. All in all, I thought her willingness to drink cocktails with human appendages was simply the consequence of travelling to foreign countries and being de-sensitized when it came to interesting food choices. Then on Saturday afternoon Jenny finally asked me: "So what is the toe made of". When my response was "Well, what all toes are made of. Some flesh, some bone and a toenail", it started to sink in that this was not some fun joke cocktail, but an example of how deranged northerners can become after a winter of darkness and frigid temperatures. The toe in question was apparently lost in a tragic lawn mowing accident. This being my second Sourtoe Cocktail, I felt brave when it came to touching the toe: . Jenny was a little more reticent about the entire affair:

By the time the Sourtoe Cocktail was over, it was getting close to my bedtime, but no Dawson night is complete without a donation to the Klondike Visitor's Association care of the blackjack tables at Diamond Tooth Gerties. I was particularly careful this year and lost only $20. This was probably in large part due to the fact that the tables were packed and finding a spot to "donate" was particularly challenging.

The next morning, despite the previous evening's shenanigans, Jenny and I were able to make the long climb up the Midnight Dome road to get a beautiful view of Dawson City. If anyone is ever interesting in walking the Dome Road, I strongly suggest finding a local who can give you decent directions. We used the Yukon Hikes and Bikes guide and never successfully found the suggested route. Thankfully, there are a million paths to get up to the top and so by following the road we were able to successfully get to the top. While we were walking, Tony was enjoying another Dawson City landmark - the Mud Bog. An annual event where noisy trucks go ploughing through a muddy swamp. I would be lying if I said I didn't think this was one of the coolest things in the world. When the Subaru is looking at her last days of life, I think I will enter her in the Mud Bog. I have no doubt that she will not even make it into the pit, but it would be the crowning achievement in her very long life.

Instead of heading all the way back to Whitehorse, we booked the cabin at Coal Mine campground in Carmacks. This was a fabulous choice! The cabin is right on the river and features 4 comfortable beds and a great fire pit. The only thing missing was hot dogs and marshmallows and I received a stern talking-to from Tony about only bringing health food on a camping trip. Lessons were learned and next time there will be s'mores for all.

Our weekend of excitement wasn't over because as soon as we rolled into Whitehorse on Monday morning we loaded up all our mountain biking gear and headed to Icycle for a day trip to Montana Mountain in Carcross. Our friend Jake owns the local A-Line bus company and worked with the Contagious Mountain Bike Club to organize this wicked trip. A group of around 12 people went to Carcross and after the first run (which involved climbing a mountain for 20 minutes and then racing down the mountain for 20 minutes) made me concerned about Jenny's health coverage while in Canada. Jenny and I quickly broke away from the group (although I suppose the correct term is fell away from the group) and happily went at our own pace around the newly built trails. After two hours of biking we took a much deserved water/ice cream break in Carcross, before returning for a hard climb up Montana Mountain in a desperate attempt to find "a view". The view remained lost until our way back down Tin Cup when we came to a lovely ridge overlooking Bennett Lake. After our ride we were treated to an amazingly delicious dinner prepared by Jake's wife Lindsey and a nice bus ride back to Whitehorse.

On Wednesday Jenny headed to Prince Rupert for her final trek down the coast into Vancouver. While I'm sad to see her gone, I'm absolutely exhausted from all the hiking, biking, visiting and drinking and am looking forward to a recovery weekend.

Sierra posted this on Aug 24, 2007 from the outside | | permanent link