Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 July 2024, 0 miles
I am looking forward to two days in Dawson City. It’s a town I have some remember well from when I was last here in 2016. It will be good to explore the town and reacquainting myself with its places of interest. Al, Steve and I rode into Dawson last night, Phil, Val, Chris and Kerry are arriving tomorrow evening
Our accommodation is the Bunkhouse, like all of the buildings in Dawson its built of wood. Unlike some of the older buildings this is a modern construction that sits above the ground so the heat from inside the structure has less effect on the permafrost and the building suffers less from differential settlement. Also if it does settle the crawl space underneath allows the timber structure to be packed up to make it level again.
The Bunkhouse, Dawson City
The rooms in the Bunkhouse all open onto a shared external covered walkway, they are small, comfortable, have a shared bathroom and are relatively cheap, they fit the bill nicely for a 3 night stay.
For my first day in the town I have a wander around looking at the buildings and reacquainting myself with the street layout, this was after a trip to laundry which is at the town campsite I stayed at on my last trip. It’s a simple pleasure to have clean fresh smelling cloths.
We decided that for our second evening we would go to Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall. I enjoyed this bar the last time I was here, dancing girls, gambling tables and a long bar. Things have changed since I was last here, they now have 3 shows a night all of which have a more modern take, the gambling tables are still there as is the long bar. A good evening which we all enjoyed.
Dancing girls at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall
Later in the evening we visited other bars, some with swing doors you see in older Western films.
Western style swing doors at the saloon
Our favourite bar was The Pit at the Western Hotel, this is one of the few bars that stays open all year round for the locals. This is an old original building so it has been effected by the permafrost, nothing is level or plumb including some of the late night drinkers.
The Pit bar
The bar in the Pit
For our final day in Dawson, Steve and I arranged a city tour which was very good and well worth the time spent with the guide. We learnt about the town and the gold rush period that only lasted for 3years, between 1896 and 1899, given the cities isolated location I think its surprising that it survived after such a short gold rush period and is a thriving tourist attraction today.The tour took us around the city streets and into 3 buildings, a bar, and bank and the old post office that you can only get into if you are on a guided tour.
The tour guide behind the historic bar in Dawson
The historic bar in Dawson
In the afternoon one of my fellow traveller had to take a visit to the hospital and was told to make an appointment to revisit the hospital in 3days time. A First Nation cultural event meant there was no accommodation in the town for the next 3 days so he would not be able to stay in the town for this appointment. After some discussion he decided to move on with us tomorrow and visit a hospital in Anchorage. The was a wake up call of how far we are away from home and the distances to large cities and the facilities they offer. Anchorage and Dawson City are 500 miles apart with small towns in between that will have limited facilities.
