Background  

Arriving in Dawson City
Monday 24th October 05   10°C

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In Whitehorse the day before had been windy and cold with no snow but part of the Yukon river was beginning to freeze at the edges. As Dawson City is further north I expected it to be much colder and so prepared with many layers and thermals and new Mitchelin Man coat I had purchased in Vancouver which was very hard to move in. On the flight over I thought I would see a whole load of snowy mountains, despite seeing a beautiful sunrise at 8.30 am, there wasn't actually that much snow on the tops.
It was, according to the locals, far warmer than usual. I had arrived on a freakily warm autumnal morning when usually at this time of year the Yukon river would be frozen. I had to take me thermals off, I was kind of clammy and warm - I wouldn't be needing them today at least.
The drive into Dawson was like a massive industrial site with banks of high rubble on either sides of the road from mining on a back drop of high green hills.

 

On the banks of the Yukon river in Whitehorse with the old Klondike steamboat in the distance.
Tuesday 25th October 05   -5°C

Waking up when it is still dark at 8.45 am is really difficult and strange. Despite knowing that I needed to get up my body really didn't think so as it was still so dark. First bit of snow had started to fall.

Went across to the Dawson City Museum today to find out some information about John Wilkinson, the Weardale lead miner that had found gold in the Klondike. His name and a man called Sloan, Scouse and Flack appeared on their electronic database but the information the database held drew a blank???? I had the names from Weardale Museum of who Wilkinson had worked with and we checked Pierre Berton's book on the Klondike. We found a reference to him which told us the exact claim (Eldorado 14 and 15) he had worked on which took us to original records where the claim was made in 1896. Read more ....

Went to the Tr'ondëk Hwëtch'in Cultural Centre to watch a film called 'Totem'. The centre houses contemporary and traditional exhibits from the first nation Tr'ondëk Hwëtch'in Hän people that used the rivers for fishing before the gold diggaz arrived. The name of the river derives from traditional words for hammer stone, as fishing nets would be hammered into the banks of the Klondike. There was an exhibition with photographs of hunting in the 50s exhibited with furs of wolverine and lynx which were incredible to feel and touch. There was a permanent exhibition about the traditions of the Hän and their history.

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Wednesday 26th October 05   -5°C


In Dawson City Museum again today looking at old photographs to get an idea of how the area has changed and what it was like in Dawson City before the gold rush and after.There are also images here of the many ways people travelled to get to the Klondike including climbing the Chilkoot Pass, sledging, rafting and sailing down the Yukon - all of which sound and look really treacherous - apart from the sledging which looks entertaining. Photographs featured above are reproduced by kind permission of Dawson City Museum.

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Thursday 27th October 05   -11°C

Headed off today to have a look at some of the gold fields. After a couple of hours cycling I realised it was a bit too far to get there without transport. But anway it was magic up there (even if I did get very scared by the cracking of ice thinking it was a bear or something der!). I stood on the bridge that crosses the Klondike and watched the frozen blocks of water fizz as they touched the water. They were speeding to the Yukon river and the fast flow of the water was mesmerising. When cars went past the bridge would rattle and shake me bones and make me laugh. It was so cold when I was on the bike and the it felt like the air was made of sand paper and it was scraping my face off. My hair turned white with the flurrys that were really light and were driving into my face. As a consequence when I got back I had the reddest face you are ever likely to see - I know it is usually quite red anyway but this was outrageous (sorry no funny photos as it was way too scary!)
 

In the pub that night I learned a few odd things about what happens to the body whilst in Dawson City.

  1. A few nights ago I had a ringing in my ears which I just assumed would be something to do with gunge in my head. Apparently it wasn't being near cities you build up lots of radio active waves from telecommunications. So my ears were ringing as they released those waves from my head ummmm.
  2. My skin has been really really dry and sore. My hands look like I am now 89 as opposed to 29. Despite the fact that I keep applying tons of moisteriser and lip balm it is as if it evaporates as my skin gets sore and dry again after a few hours. Apparently this is due to the fact we are so land locked that there is little moisture in the air. This will no doubt get worse as it gets colder and all the moisture is locked into the snow. Aaaah! What with this and the difficulty getting up in the morning I don't know what is happening to me!

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Friday 28th October 05   -6°C

After yet another boozy and late evening of which I decided to email people at 3 am, getting up again was even more of a problem. The morning was even darker because there were big clouds of snow lying low in the sky emptying their load on the ground.

Eventually got myself together and did some filming of the river whilst the ice was even thicker and quicker. A bald eagle watched as I filmed twisting his head all the way round like owls do.

                        

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Saturday 29th October 05   -8°C
Went up Bonanza Creek today but didn't get all the way to Eldorado as road was a bit too bad - might have to go another time. Went to see the Discovery Claim site which is the place where George Carmacks found the first large pieces of gold. It was a bit strange really as I didn't really understand why I wanted to see it but I did. When we got there I didn't know what else to do except to photograph it - but that kind of felt quite strange too.

It felt as though there should have been something there - but then what do you put somewhere like that a hidden creek set back off the road. I guess we go to places like this to get closer to the moment it all happened to get the experience - but of course you never do - its always quite empty and hollow. Taking pictures I had to ask myself what it was I was actually taking a picture of - I'm still not sure really? To highlight the point the road side was littered with signs such as this one here on the right. Obviously the sign didn't have all the paraphanalia about the taking pictures - but it was really strange to see what the sign was telling you to take a picture when there seemed to be nothing there. I guess the snow helps to blanket things but as signs they made me laugh a lot.

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