Yukon and Alaska Bound, Part 41. Visiting Keno City and Keno Hill Again

Keno City

On the road to Keno

August 6th we all piled into our truck and headed on the 70 km gravel road toward Keno City, Yukon Territory. The road is good and well grated. There are a few narrow spots, but no problems. In dry weather one could take the RV all the way to Keno. There is a no service campground in town.

Walking around Keno City

Like the time before when we visited, we enjoyed just walking around the old mining town. The museum is very interesting.

Visiting the Museum can be stressful

We drove on all the way to Keno Hill. 

Signpost on Keno Hill with Christian, Lisbeth, Hansuli, Annemarie and Liz

We were so exited to show the Swiss team the beautiful flowers on the hill. Well, the spring was over and most of the flowers were gone. Up here the frost comes early.

Keno Hill with old mining scars

The views from Keno Hill with its sign post are amazing Here on Keno Hill or "Sheep Mountain" as it was first called Louis Bouvette in 1919 found a rich silver ore deposit. Some of the old mining sheds are still visible up there.

So this area is famous for its silver mines, even though there were gold prospectors combing this Stewart River area already in the 1898s when the big Yukon gold rush came through.

Even today, there are active mines for silver and gold in this area. When we look carefully into the beautiful hills, we can spot mining going on all over the place. 

Views from Keno Hill

Alexco Resources opened the Bellekeno Mine a little more than a year ago, but mining in the hills surrounding Keno City has occurred for almost a century. And the landscape has the scars to prove it.
But the hay days of Keno City as a mining town are over. 

Keno is a sleepy little town. But the few people living here are genuine Yukoners. We had lunch at Mike's Snack Bar. His pizzas were again super yummy.

Waiting for Mike's Pizza at his Snack Bar in Keno City

On the way back we visited the Binet House in Mayo. This is well worth a stop. It shows the history of the area on nice old photographs. There is also an interesting hospital museum with the first Iron Lung on display

Back at the campground on 5 Mile Lake we had a great outdoor supper and had good stories to tell from our trip to Keno Hill.

Liz and I visited Keno City 4 week prior to this visit. It was then more spring colours. Have a look at post number 24 and 25.

Here are some more pictures from this trip.

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Yukon and Alaska Bound, Part 40. Dawson City to 5 Mile Lake in Mayo

Heading south from Dawson City.

August 5th we left Dawson City, Yukon Territory. I was sad, I like this little frontier town, even-though on the outskirts it looks quite ugly with all the gravel left behind from the placier mining.

Leaving Dawson City

The weather was cloudy, but the sky was bright ahead. We stopped at the Tintina Trench rest area. 

Tintina Trench Valley

The views from here are beautiful. The Tintina Trench extends hundreds of Kilometres across Canada and Alaska, and is the largest fault in North America. Thousands of birds migrate along this trench and valley.

We stopped for an early lunch at the Moose Creek Lodge and restaurant. Moose Creek also has cabins for rent and has a RV park. 

An old miner's cabin with Lisbeth and Hansuli 

Christian and Annemarie talking to the Swiss owner

The Swiss owners were very busy. Four busloads of tourists were coming through that day. I am not surprised, the food and coffee is great, so is the service. The washrooms are welcome after the long drives without any facilities.

Today the fruit tarts were wonderful and the smells filled the old historic log cabin. We stayed for lunch.

In Stewart Crossing we turn left onto The Silver Trail highway

Tired , but happy we arrived at 5 Mile Lake. Unfortunately we did not check carefully enough the little yellow tab on the post of our campsite. Once we were all set up, we realized that it is reserved until tomorrow. Pooo. So we moved to another site, and could then finally relax.

Hansuli, Lisbeth, Christian, Annemarie and Anders camping on 5 Mile Lake

 We all sat together and enjoyed the campfire. Christian and Anders were grilling some sausages on the fire. We all had a few good laughs.

Party in the middle of 5 Mile Lake

 We made it an early night. For tomorrow we are planning to drive up to Keno City and Keno Hill.

For more pictures of this part of the trip, check out our web album.

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Yukon and Alaska Bound Part 39. Back in Dawson City, Yukon

Dawson City, Yukon

In Dawson City's goldfields, about 100 families are still placier mining for gold. Gold mining is a dirty job. Old machines are for ever breaking down, and spare parts are hard to get. Time is of the essence, when the creeks freeze, the gold washing is done for the year.

Placier gold mining is messing up the whole landscape around Dawson. Gravel trailings look like lying elephants along the valley bottoms, but no harsh chemicals are used for this method of mining, not like in hardrock gold- and silver mining. 

Goldbottom original store

Goldminer's outfit

The citizens of Dawson voted to keep the tailings exposed, looking like gravel pits, rather than to remedy by adding silt and let the vegetation grow back. This unusual landscape has become the symbol and trade mark of Dawson City.

Hansuli and Lisbeth with a Mammoth tooth at Goldbottom Mine

Panning for Gold

The evening of the 3rd of August, we just had a BBQ supper at the campers after a leisurely day visiting the sites in town and doing laundry. Dieter, a cyclist we had met on Top of the World Highway on his bike dropped in for a glass of wine and some food. This crazy Swiss guy from Thun cycled Alaska and the Yukon all by himself.

Lisbeth and Hansuli with views from the Midnight Dome above Dawson

On August 4th, we took another gold mining tour to the  Goldbottom Mine on Hunker Creek. Martin, our Arcadian guide from Moncton, New Brunswick had a few sayings: "What happens in the Yukon stays in the Yukon", and "Yukon men are men, and so are the women!". Martin was a very good guide. We all learned more about gold mining, and we all tried to pan some gold in the creek..

Annemarie and Christian at Diamond tooth Gerties

That evening, we all went to Diamond Tooth Gerties. This is the local dance and gambling hall. The show was pretty good. The dancing girls were doing the Can-can. Gertie sang and knew how to work the crowd. I am sure just like in the good old days.

At Diamond Tooth Gerties

Gambling was in full swing at the tables and at the One-armed Jacks. Anders even won $ 11.00. We all had a good time.

St. Andrew's Church

The Dawson City People are a special breed. They come from all over the world. In the gold rush time  the newcomers were called Chechako or Neophytes, and only became a Sourdough by staying and surviving in Dawson at least one winter. Even today, there is a pride and adventure aura about the Dawson citizens. 

Dawson is a interesting little town to walk around in and to enjoy the quaint stores, museum, old buildings, and its unique people. For more pictures check out our album.

Dawson City

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Yukon and Alaska Bound Part 38. Top of the World Highway, Chicken Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon

Top of the world Highway

The Views from the the Top Of The World Highway is incredible.

Top of the world highway.

The road is narrow and slippery.

The road is narrow and slippery.

Driving is a bit tense at times. But all is good.

At 3 am last night it rained cats and dogs. we both looked up the weather report for the coming day and it does not look good.



Our plan was to go over the Top of the Word the coming morning in good weather..... Well, things does not always turn out the way one hopes.



At 7 am Liz went to tell the other two groups to go back to sleep; it's to rainy. We will hold off a few hours.



By 10 am it had lifted a bit and the forecast for the following day was even worse. We break camp and get on the road.



The first stretch was steep and mushy wet road. The road is narrow adn follows the ridge of the hills.



The views are, well, like on "top of the world" looking over and down on layers and layers of hills and valleys.



There are some active mines along the creeks and remote valleys. The gravel road became quite slippery at times, however we maneuvered the truck and trailer over the steep inclines and hills down.



We made several stops to relax and take pictures of the incredible views. We really would like to do this part again in fall and in nice weather. One more thing for the bucket list.



We eventually arrive at the Canadian and Yukon border.



One of the border guards was from Quadra Island, which is an Island we have to cross to get to our place on Cortes Island. Small world.

Top of the World Highway

Annemarie, Christian, Hansuli, Lisbeth, Liz and Anders

Ferry across the Yukon River

Nice to be back in Canada again, feels good to come home. After a few more hours of driving we eventually come to the ferry crossing over the Yukon River and arrive at our campground in Dawson City.



This time we stay right in town at Gold Rush Campground. They have full hookups with 30 amp. Some site are a bit tight but good over all.



This a great campground to stay at while exploring Dawson City. You can walk to everything from here.



More pictures from this part of our trip here.

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Yukon and Alaska Bound Part 37. Denali to Fairbanks and Quartz Lake

Drive From Denali to Fairbanks to Quartz Lake

Drive from Denali to Quartz Lake, Alaska. This is north of Denali.

Road Construction north of Denali and south of Fairbanks.

Road Construction. One way traffic with pilot cars.

It is the 31st of July 2014 and we were breaking camp and leaving Denali National Park behind.




The first part of the road toward Fairbanks was under construction, so there were quite a few waits along the way.




Once in Fairbanks we stopped in at Safeway and stocked up on some more supplies. We all felt it was time to move on, so we did not spend any more time in Fairbanks. Have to leave some for next time.




East of Fairbanks we made a quick stop in North Pole and visited Santa's village. It was fun, and the store had tons of decorations to choose from.

Lisbeth and Hansuli at Quartz Lake, Alaska

Christian and Annemarie at Quartz Lake, Alaska

We stopped and set up camp at Quartz Lake State Recreation Area. This a a very nice park and the campground is great. We were the only campers in the park.



We had a wonderful evening with good food and wine. Before bed time, we went down to the dock and watched a moose foraging in the shallows across the lake. Here are some more pictures from Denali to Quartz Lake.

Quartz Lake to Chicken Alaska

The next morning the 1st of August we continued our trip south east on #2 Hwy with the rain clouds chasing us from the west.


We make a stop at the Sausage Factory or Delta Meat and Sausage Co. They are at Mile 1413 Delta Junction. Wow, they sure have some good sausages. Love the reindeer summer sausage. We filled our freezer up!

Pit-stop along the trail from Quartz Lake to Chicken Alaska.

Liz taking in the sights at the Tanana River

Alaska at its best.

An almost dry river bed.

Pit-stop on our way to Chicken Alaska.

Chicken Alaska

Celebrating the Swiss National Holiday

Soon we were passing the village of Tok and intersection HWY 1 south. We continued on number two HWY till we came to the intersection of number five highway also called the Top Of the World Highway.



Our destination is a village called Chicken. The distance from Tok to Chicken is approximately 130 km. The number five highway is bumpy with lots of curves and you will not break any speed records on these parts.



We eventually arrived in Chicken in pouring rain. Chicken is a surviving old gold rush town dating back to the late 1800's.



The name was supposed to be "Ptarmigan" because the abundance of this bird around here.



However, no one was really sure how to spell Ptarmigan, so instead of being publicly humiliated, they named the town Chicken instead.



The town is home to about 17 people with many more moving in during the summer months when the gold mining is at it's peak and the tourists come through here.



We checked in at the local hotel / restaurant / RV Park. The RV park is OK with water and electric hook-ups.



They do have a dumping station that needs leveling. It is leaning the wrong way so your lines do not get clean.



That evening we celebrated the Swiss National Holiday, and reflected on yet another wonderful day.



More pictures from this part of the trip here.

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