Day 30 - Dawson City to Tombstone Territorial Park

Sounds like the Wild North

Dawson to Tombstone, that sounds like the wild west (uh, north).

It was time to venture up the Dempster Highway. We were only going as far as the Tombstone Territorial Park, about 70 miles from Dawson City. The park is named after the Tombstone Mountains, a range visible from the campground and capped by Tombstone Mountain, a peak with jagged summit that must have reminded someone of tombstones.

The road to the park Visitor Center and campground wasn't as bad as feared, in fact they recently graded it for a large part of the distance we drove.

The staff at the visitor center was very friendly and helpful, an attitude we've universally found here in the Yukon and it was a new visitor center, timber-framed and built for an out-of-the-way location, with a large solar array, passive solar heat and wood-fired additional heating. The visitor center area also had a group of small cabins for the staff, who seem to take turns spending about a week on the job, living at the park, then time off at their homes near Dawson.

The campground nearby is large and the sites well-placed. We found two relatively flat and open sites with a 360° view of the mountains. The campground is surrounded by mountain ranges, some still a bit snow-capped and the Klondike River flows past the back of the campground.

After settling in and having lunch, we took a hike up to the highway viewpoint above the campground. It has a great view of the Tombstone range and of the Klondike River, which runs behind the campground. There was a large section of the river that was covered in a large sheet of ice and snow. It looked like a small glacier...which is was. We found out that it is considered a mini-glacier called an Aufleis. Visiting it is on our plan for tomorrow.

It was good weather in the afternoon, so we started another campfire as a background to our dinner. The Yukon government parks supply free firewood. You have to split it yourself, but it is good dry pine that has been salvaged from wildfire-damaged forests. It isn't really good wood for heating, but it burns cleanly and fairly quickly, good attributes for a campfire.

We had a pleasant dinner outside, but it was, once again, rain in the evening.