Yukon: The gold rush and other old-timey things (no internet required)

I’ve never been that interested in the Wild West or olden timey days. Everything about it seems very dusty, with few vegetarian meal options and limited opportunity for women. Also, gold really isn’t my jewelry of choice.

So it came as a real surprise that Dawson City and everything about this area was so darned cool!

We had planned to hike in Tombstone, but a brief to stop at their visitor centre confirmed that we were ill-prepared for unmaintained trails and snowy peaks. So instead of an active day, we worked on completing our wildlife bingo cards. This time, with porcupine caribou!

Before leaving town we stopped in the Bonanza Valley to see some of the remnants and active gold mining sites. And wow, was it way more interesting than I’d expected! My visions of men in rolled up pants and olden hats yielding pick-axes were squashed with an understanding of how this MASSIVE machine replaced them all and tore through the landscape, leaving behind the snakey piles of gravel we’d seen along the way. it was surprisingly fascinating, and we were so glad we made the detour.

And while we didn’t strike it rich, we did enjoy ourselves at Canada’s oldest gambling hall, Diamond Tooth Gertie’s.

So the North continues to be surprising in many ways. But one thing was as predicted: it was dusty.

This portion of trip has definitely felt like a journey back in time (particularly since it’s been days since we had much internet). We had a good time capturing the moment, but we’re ready to head back to wifi, fancy coffee and less dust now.