Our Fantasy 60 day Premier Alaska Caravan continued traveling northwest in the Yukon toward Alaska.

Day 15-17 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Day 15 – We traveled 266 miles on the Alaska Highway from Watson Lake to Whitehorse, YT. We got parked at Pioneer RV Park and took a drive to the Visitor’s Center. We also walked over to The Old Log Church which opened in 1900. It is one of the oldest structures in Whitehorse. It was closed, but we were able to walk around before meeting up with others at Woodchuck Brewing for an early dinner.

Day 16 – We all drove north about 25 miles to the MukTuk Adventures Sled Dog Kennel for a great lesson on raising sled dogs, visiting with the over 150 dogs on the property, and a delicious bison burger lunch prepared on site.

About 1/2 the dogs are still sled dogs, and the rest, as Manuela told us, are “freeloaders” lol. Some are rescue dogs, but all are well taken care of. You could feel the passion she has for her job and how much she loves each dog.

If you are so inclined, you can book a tour and even do a guided sled dog tour yourself.

After we got back to Whitehorse, Mike and I drove downtown to the MacBride Museum to learn more about the history of the Yukon and Whitehorse. It was fascinating to see how people have learned to live and adapt to harsh conditions, the Klondike Gold Rush, building the Alaska Highway, and so much more.

Day 17 – Today our tour went to the SS Klondike for a guided tour of how riverboats played an important role in the Yukon in the early 20th century before roads came to the territory. The SS Klondike is one of the largest in the paddle wheel fleet and transported goods, people, and animals on the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

While we couldn’t go aboard because they are in the middle of a large restoration project, it was still great to learn about this impressive piece of Yukon history.

We then went to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre for a lesson on the Beringia land bridge that used to connect Siberia and the North American continent. We learned about the animals and people who used that land bridge to go between continents before the Ice Age and melting water covered it up creating the Bering Sea.

It was very interesting to hear about the animals who used to roam this area and how some became extinct, while others have survived. They also had a great display of skulls and replicas.

Later we went with our friends to hike down to Miles Canyon along the Yukon River. The views of the water were incredible, and just picturing people going on this river in search of gold in the Yukon was humbling.

Day 18-20 Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Day 18 – We drove 334 miles from Whitehorse to Dawson City. Along the way we stopped at Braeburn Lodge for a cinnamon roll which was big enough for 2. We were so hungry, we forgot to take a picture!

Then we stopped at Five Fingers Rapids where we learned that this was a very treacherous way to go down the river, but necessary to get from Whitehorse to Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush. We were told it was just a 1/4 mile down to the river. We were told wrong! It was actually 3/4 mile and we had to return going uphill! So much for an easy stroll.

We took turns driving during the day, and I got to drive probably the 10 worst miles of the day. Washboard roads, construction you needed an escort for, and rain made for an interesting drive.

We arrived at Dawson City RV Park in late afternoon. After dinner the group met at the top of the Midnight Dome where you could see for miles. It’s called the Midnight Dome because for decades people have gathered on top of the hill to watch the midnight sun and the changing colors of the night sky. We did not choose to go up at midnight because we needed to be up early the next morning for our Dawson City walking tour. Also, a storm rolled in which made the next couple of days very interesting (more on that in a minute).

Day 19 – We took a very informative walking tour of Dawson City and learned all about the Klondike Gold Rush and how it shaped the landscape and the town. It was amazing to us what wanna-be minors went through to get to the Klondike only to find out that all the claims had already been taken.

It the afternoon we met again at the Sourtoe Cocktail Club inside Sourdough Joe’s where some in our tour took the challenge. Drink a shot with a dead toe in it and get a certificate. Mike took the challenge! I took the video :).

We enjoyed dinner at the Triple J Hotel where we first heard there might be an issue on the horizon. There was a fire that had started with the earlier storms across the river that might impact our travel day across the Top of the World Highway.

Might as well enjoy the evening. We lined up to enter one of Canada’s original gambling halls—which is also a non-profit gambling hall—Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. All the proceeds go to charities in the Dawson City area! We saw a Can-Can Show where Diamond Tooth Gertie could really belt out the tunes, and the Can-Can girls danced up a storm.

We then learned that the Top of the World Highway was closed for the fires. The decision was made to get up the next morning and get in line for the ferry that would take us one rig at a time across the Yukon River to continue on to Alaska. Not sure how much sleep any of us got that night.

Day 20 – Heading to Chicken, Alaska – maybe

We all got up and drove down to get in line for the ferry. At that point the road was open, however, firefighting equipment and vehicles for that purpose had priority, so we waited.

Eventually, our Wagon Master and 3 other rigs made it across and continued on to Chicken. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they closed the road at 2:00 with the possibility of reopening later. We waiting until 4:30 and were told we couldn’t stay on the road and needed to head back to our campground. The owner was able to accommodate our 20 remaining rigs. We decided to try and get some sleep and be up really early the next day to get back in line.

Day 21 – Still in Dawson City – Should be heading to Tok, AK

We were up at 2:45 am and in line by 3:30 even though the road was still closed. At around 7:00 they opened the road and began moving RVs, cars, and motorcycles across the river.

We were loaded onto the ferry at 9:40 and heard that they would again be closing the road at 11:00. Each crossing back and forth takes about 20 minutes and we still had too many rigs to cross. Chances of us all getting across by 11:00 didn’t look good.

We made it onto the Top of the World Highway and realized that this highway isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s very rough, very dusty, and just plain nerve-wracking! I think we’re one and done on this one. However, when we did have time to look around it was beautiful.

We made it to the border and had no trouble getting through. Of course, the border agents had to give Mike a hard time about our Florida license plates but we have an Ohio State plate on the front of the truck.

We stopped and got our obligatory photo with the Alaska sign and continued on to Chicken. We stopped there to make more coffee, which was much needed, and got the obligatory sign of the chickens.

This was where we were supposed to have spent the night before, but our instructions were now to continue on to Tok. Even though it was only 77 miles, it was another rough ride for at least half of it.

We finally rolled into Tok and the Tok RV Village in late afternoon. The first thing we did was take advantage of the park’s RV wash. We weren’t allowed to use soap, but at least we could get most of the dust and dirt we’d accumulated over the previous couple of weeks off.

The inside of the rig wasn’t much better. The surfaces were covered in a fine layer of dust from over 100 miles of dusty roads, so I took care of that while Mike cleaned our windows on our rig so we could finally see the view!

After pizza at a local restaurant, we took showers and went to bed.

Week three is in the books, and what an exciting week it was! However, we’re looking forward to our time in Alaska and the excitement that’s actually on the schedule!

If you missed our first two weeks, check those out here:

• https://theramblingquilter.com/canada-alaska-days-1-7/
• https://theramblingquilter.com/canada-alaska-day-8-14/

We’re Mike & Jennifer Skinnell, and together we are The Rambling Quilter. We travel the country full-time in our 41ft. fifth-wheel pulled by our F-350 – affectionately named Beauty & The Beast. Jennifer writes our blog, travel articles, contemporary romance, cozy mysteries, and “Don’t Wait – Our Full-Time Journey Through Breast Cancer”. Our blog is purely for information and entertainment purposes. However, if you’d like to support Jennifer’s writing career, her author link to her books is below.