27.08.-02.09.2007: Kluane Lake - Whitehorse - Five Finger Rapids - Dawson City After stopping in Haines Junction for petrol, water and to use the dump station, we drove north along the Alaska Highway and managed to get to the Dhal Sheep Visitor Centre before it closed at 4pm. The sheep were just white dots on the side of Sheep Mountain and you needed to look through the telescopes to see them. There can be up to 200 sheep here. During the summer months they are higher up and come down to the lower slopes for the winter. We drove along the banks of Kluane Lake which is the largest in the Yukon. Unfortunately there is an ongoing construction project here. Road maintenance never ends due to the permafrost which continually breaks up the tarmac. There are usually red flags on the side of the road showing where the worst damage is (but not always!) and so it's not easy driving. Winnie got really dirty driving through the long construction area and then we found a really nice spot on the banks of the lake for the night. We went to bed early and set the alarm for 2 am. There was due to be a full lunar eclipse at 2-52 am but it started at 2 am. This eclipse could only be seen from the north western parts of Canada and throughout Alaska providing there weren't any clouds to obscure it. It was freezing cold when we got outside and we also had to be careful because of Grizzly bears. The campground only 1 mile away had been closed because of Grizzly's eating all the berries there! But we were treated to a spectacle we have never seen before and will probably never see again ... Not only did we get to see the full lunar eclipse but we were treated to a fantastic Aurora Borealis at the same time. There was so much to see that we had difficulty knowing where to point the video camera to try and capture it all. The moon was gradually eclipsed whilst the green and purple bands of the Aurora twisted and swirled above us in an intriguing solar dance. We were completely mesmerized. Totally amazing!!!! We didn't get back to bed until after 3-30 am and so we had a late start the next morning. We drove further north to a little place called Burwash Landing - population 84! We took photos of the worlds largest (of course!) gold pan and read about the forest fire of 1999. It was started at the "garbage dump" where they were burning some of the rubbish and sparks flew off and set off a fire that would eventually destroy 8,000 acres of forest and 5 homes. With only a population of 84, those 5 homes could represent a quarter of the people who live here! Further north we drove over the Donjek River Bridge which is the longest bridge in the Yukon. We will be one of the last to cross it as it will be dismantled next month and replaced by a smaller bridge that is virtually finished. The river continually changes course due to the permafrost and, as a consequence, the river has become smaller. Hence the smaller bridge. Kirsten got out to walk across the bridge on foot and take photos and Helen was due to collect her after 5 minutes. But she got waylaid by one of the bridge engineers who wanted to practice his German and so Kirsten was left waiting for 20 minutes! There was no point going any further north on the Alaska Highway because we would soon get to the border so we headed back to Whitehorse in the rain stopping for rainbow pictures on the way. We stocked up on food and stopped at Wal-Mart for the night. The next day we got an oil change done (at Wal-Mart) and then drove to a campground for a $1 shower. Then we got on the Klondike Highway and headed towards Dawson City. As we headed north the weather changed for the better and the sun came out! We stopped at Five Finger Rapids for the night and decided to do the 2 mile walk down to the rapids the following morning because the sun was in the wrong position for photos. We met Ray there who is an ex commercial fisherman from Florida and has been travelling in his RV for the last 9 months. Ray still hadn't seen the Aurora, so when the spectacle started just after midnight, Kirsten went and knocked on his door so he could watch. He was already in bed but was grateful to get the chance to use his expensive camera equipment to get some good shots. We watched for two hours even though it was freezing cold. The next morning we did the 2 mile walk down to the rapids and watched as 4 2-person Kayaks went through. Then we watched a slide show of Ray's photos he'd taken of the Dempster Highway and Tombstone area. We had been debating whether to travel along the Dempster Highway which goes north all the way to Inuvik and the Arctic Ocean. The road is notoriously bad due to the conditions of the gravel road and for getting punctured tyres. But after seeing Ray's photos we knew we would have to go! The next day we drove all the way into Dawson City and just managed to get to the visitor centre before it closed at 8pm. We got a take away from a Greek restaurant and then went to the Dawson City Hotel to watch the "Sourdough Toe". WARNING - Some readers may find the next 6 paragraphs extremely disturbing. If you are squeamish do not read!!! The "Sourdough Toe" started in 1973 and is now in its 34rd year. Captain Dick Stevenson found a human toe in an old shack and then got into a conversation about the "Ice Worm Drink" from a verse written by the famous Canadian poet Robert Service and the "Sourdough Toe" tradition started. You pay $5 plus the cost of your drink (sorry, but milk or water just doesn't cut it!) and then go through a short ceremony. The "Captain" on duty the night we were there smelled extremely ripe, as if he hadn't washed for at least 6 weeks - enough to put you off, even without thoughts of a human toe being put into your drink!!) The "Captain" has the toe wrapped in a dirty handkerchief (Yuk!!) and then places it on a pile of salt. The next gullible tourist is sitting at the table, nervously awaiting the moment where he (it's always the blokes isn't it!) can prove his courage in this perverse ritual. The Toe is placed into the glass...."Drink it fast or drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe!!" The cheers go up as the tourist drinks and then pays his $5 for a certificate which proves he is a member of the exclusive club along with 65,000 others. (Work out the maths - this is a real money spinner!) The toe is then removed wrapped in its filthy handkerchief, and placed on a pile of salt ready for the next customer!! The toe does in fact look real although the "Captain" told us that it was donated after it was cut off in a lawnmower accident. So what happened to the original toe??? (Please do not forward any suggestions!!) OKAY - the squeamish lot can carry on reading now! The next day we went into Dawson for the "Great International Outhouse Race". The race and scavenger hunt was due to start at 2pm but you could view the outhouses from 1pm. There were 7 teams in the race who decorated their "outhouses" and made up songs or chants for the race. The teams would be assessed by a team of judges on their outhouse design, their songs, their costumes and then they race around the town for about 1,5 miles following the instructions given to them just before the race where they have to pick up certain things or find out the answers to various questions. It was all good clean fun and we had a lot of laughs. One team was called "The Royal Flush" featuring the "Queen Crapper!" - they walked the whole route and came last for which they got a prize! Another team from the visitor centre was called "The A Team" as in the American series of that name - they came second. There were "The Vikings" threatening rape and pillage who came a disappointing third seeing as they looked fit. The team that won the "Best designed Outhouse" were the Pepto Bismol team who had their outhouse in the shape and colour of a Pepto Bismol bottle! But the winners of the race were the dancers from Diamond Tooth Gertie's which is the local and Canada's first, Casino. They also won the best chant for their "Blue Angels" song which was a short song and dance routine based on human smells emanating from the nether regions!! There was quite a crowd there who all enjoyed the spectacle. The race itself only took about 15 minutes - except for the "Royal Flush" team who walked and took about 45 minutes, and then there was an award ceremony where the winners were presented with a $150 cheque and a trophy of a golden loo seat and loo roll! Second place got a cheque for $100 and the rest got various prizes. After all that excitement we went to the visitor centre and watched a couple of info films about Dawson City and went across the Yukon as foot passengers on the ferry. That evening we went into Diamond Tooth Gertie's which costs $6 per person and found out that our tickets would be valid for two nights - probably because it was a Bank Holiday the following day (Labour Day). We got a hamburger and BBQ rib burger from the in-house kiosk and managed to get a table in the balcony to watch the show. Actually there are three separate shows throughout the evening and each one is different. They are a mixture of song and dance including tap dance routines and the music is from various musicals and from the "Swing" genre. The dancers are excellent and "Gertie" was the main singer and also very good. The pianist was excellent too. It was well worth the money and the visit although Kirsten was sometimes more interested in watching the Blackjack table below us where thousands of dollars were being won ... and lost!!