Kinross Goal Mine

After taking some time to catch up on some needed sleep, we left for a trip to the Kinross Gold Mine where Danny works. However, before we get to the gold mine, just a little note on this sleep thing. We still are not adjusted to it being daylight all the time, as a matter of fact, we can’t remember the last time we saw darkness. On the other hand, we love all this daylight; we just can’t seem to get the body to agree. Enough about sleep and daylight, before leaving Fairbanks, we stopped at one of Danny’s favorite eating spots where we all ate more than what we should have. Eggs, pancakes, home fries and reindeer sausage, were just what we needed to start the day. The mine where Danny works is located approximately 45 minutes from Fairbanks and is a beautiful drive through the mountains and beside the Alaskan pipeline. Once arriving at the mine, Danny checked us in and we were off to a 5 hour tour. Danny had arranged for us to have a van to tour the site and tour is what we did. We covered every part of the mine starting with where they dig the rocks and dirt to where the gold is removed from the rocks and dirt and formed into gold bars for sale. It was amazing to see the size of the equipment that was used. We had the opportunity to crawl all over a new truck that was being assembled, one of the largest trucks in the world. They told us they were processing approximately 750 – 1000 ounces of gold per day and just celebrated mining their 5 millionth ounce.

Welcome sign to Kinross Gold Mine. Notice the Information on the sign "Left Hand traffic". This is because the trucks they use are so large that if you drove on the right side of the road the driver can not see the right shoulder of the road. Believe me, you would not want to run off the road in some of these places.

These next 3 pictures are where Kinross is actively mining. To give you an idea of the size of this hole (mine), each step on the side of hold is approximately 30 feet.

Danny and Linda standing by one of the trucks.

Some pictures of a new truck that was being assembled. This is the next to largest truck and has a hauling capacity of 300 tons. The tires on this truck are around $60k each.

Think I'll take it for a drive?

This is one of the shovals used to load the trucks.

Me and Linda standing in the bucket (shovel) used to load the trucks.

This is the part of the tour Linda liked, in fact, she thought this was a gift they gave to visitors. When she found out the value of this bar, well over $300k, she really didn't want to give it back.

If I only had this bar, I think I could trade it in for a new Baseball field???

Top of the World Highway - Dawson City to Tok, AK

Some paved, gravel, rough, smooth, narrow, no shoulders, dirt, and Beautiful. I'm sure there are many other words or phrases I could use to describe the "Top of the World Highway". This is one of the most intriguing roads I have ever driven with the road seeming to change around every curve, the ups and downs, the narrow spots with no guard rails and unbelievable scenery any direction you looked. This all followed an hour and half wait for a ferry ride (that lasted less than 10 minutes) to cross the Yukon River. With all I had heard about the Top of the World Highway and with all the changing road conditions, I would not hesitate one bit to drive it again.

Here we are sitting in line waiting on the ferry. A ferry load is usually a couple RVs and 4-5 cars. We had about a 1 1/2 hour wait.

These next few pictures are the beginning of the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City. Doesn't look too bad at the start, few rough spots but paved...

No shoulders, Some drops off the side of the road are greater than several hundred feet.

The temperature was in the upper fifties.

Linda and Gypsy having a little lunch along the Top of the World Highway.

Yukon - Alaska border and customs. We have had no problems crossing the border either way.

Finally in Alaska.

Our first town? in Alaska, Chicken. They had an interesting sign up that said "Chicken Facts" 1) We have no plumbing in our bathrooms (outhouses) 2)We have power when the generator is running 3) Mail comes twice a week, Wednesday and Friday, most of the time. etc, etc, etc...

Some of the scenery as you enter Alaska.

Once in Alaska the Top of the World Highway is dirt. the road is packed and smooth in most places. There are some narrow places that make passing interesting.

I probably need to wash the truck?

A Day in Dawson City

Once we got to Dawson City we met a couple we had met previously in Whitehorse and decided to spend a couple nights next to them in Dawson City site seeing and enjoying just being tourists. We stayed at the Gold Rush RV Park in downtown Dawson, a "Real" gold mine for the owners. The park was full both nights we were there. The cost for full hook-ups was $40.00 per night. The RV park is just a gravel parking lot with different combinations of hook-ups, from dry to full hook-ups. They do have nice bathrooms with good showers. Wifi is very limited; you have to go to the office area to get wifi and it is only available from 8:30am to 8:30pm. The best thing about the campground is that it is walking distance to everything in town. Dawson City is built right next to the Yukon River with beautiful scenery any direction you look. The roads are still dirt and all the sidewalks are wood. A lot of the buildings are original buildings from the gold rush days of the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are several eating establishments in Dawson City, the only one we tried other than the ice cream parlor, was Klondike Kate's which was very good. It had great cornbread! I hope our pictures can give you a sense of what Dawson looks like.

Notice the dirt streets and old wooden buildings.

A good picture of the dirt roads and wooden sidewalks.

Notice the doors on the church. We were told they are never locked.

This is an example of one of the old homes in Dawson City.

They have a new post office in Dawson City now.

The old cemetery.

Great view of the Yukon River and a river boat downtown Dawson City.

Another view of the river from downtown Dawson.

Robert Jervis was a very influential man in the early years in Dawson City.

Even Gypsy made new friends in Dawson City.

Another mode of transportation in and out of Dawson City.

Diamond Tooth Gerities, still the most popular place in town with dancing girls, food, gambling and drink.

And finally, the Gold Rush RV Park where we stayed for two nights.

Hi Country Camp Ground - Whitehorse, YK

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. We have been in a dark hole (no phone or internet). We will try catching up in the next couple days. Rather than use what day we are on we will be hi-lighting and area or point of interest. So here we go: After some beautiful scenery the past few days, we decided to spend an extra day in Whitehorse at the Hi Country Campground. This is a very nice campground with all the amenities and it also seems to be a favorite stopping point as both nights we were there, the campground was full. Whitehorse is an interesting town with a lot of things to see and do. They even have a Walmart that had around 30 RVs staying in the parking lot (we were told they even have a dump station for RVers). The road from Watson Lake to Whitehorse was a two lane mostly paved with a few areas that were gravel. Rough places and frost heaves in the road were well marked. No problems with traveling this section of the Alaska Highway if you will reduce speed when you see one of the warnings. We fueled up in Whitehorse where we paid $1.31/L or $5.16/gal for diesel.

This was our campsite. It had full hook-ups for $35.91/night.

With idle time in Whitehorse, I had to find something to do???

Whitehorse to Dawson City

We left the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse and took an alternate route, the Klondike highway, to Dawson City. This was another beautiful route very much like the Alaska highway. The Klondike Highway also has many provincial parks and rest areas that are accessible to most RVs. We saw a limited number of wildlife; however, the wildflowers made up for not seeing the wildlife. The following are some of our favorite pictures we took along the Klondike highway.

The fire weed was everywhere.

One of many campsites along the Klondike highway. These campsites were $12.00/night with no hookups; however, they have water available, outhouses, fire pits and free fire wood.

These next few pictures are of the Klondike highway.

These two pictures are of an old stage coach stop along the Klondike highway between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

These next few pictures show some of the beauty along the Klondike highway as it parallels the river.