NOTE: Before reading this blog, I highly recommend you first read The Dempster Highway Experience by MFI published September 1, 2024. Her blog helps put this one in proper perspective.
Our plan, and only option, was to drive the Dempster Highway south, stop at the same campgrounds we’d done on the way up, and hang a right to Dawson City on the Yukon Highway. For this blog, rather than describe the drive in text, I decided to illustrate the return trip with our “better to best” pictures and a video finale.
Inuvik to Fort McPherson
Fort McPherson to Eagle Plains
On the leg from Fort McPherson to Eagle Plains, we again saw the bicyclist we’d seen pedaling north on the Dempster 8 days earlier. She was approaching the Arctic Circle landmark, which meant she’d covered 288 miles, assuming she began in Dawson City. We recognized her rain gear and hair braid from my original picture. What an incredible goal she’d set for herself. We had to admire her strength, willpower, tenacity, and love for adventure. We silently wished her continued good fortune.
Eagle Plains to Dawson City
According to truckers and other travelers we spoke with in the Eagle Plains restaurant, a winter storm from the north was headed our way. As a result, we didn’t stop at the Engineer Creek Campground and risk getting snowed in. We got an early start next morning, made great time, and comfortably reached Dawson City around dinner time.
Dempster Highway Finale
We gassed up before entering dawson City and washed Sid/Arthur at the fuel station’s wash rack. It was a much better facility than Bob’s, but we still dropped about 50 loonies to get both vehicles shiny clean. We decompressed for three days at the Gold Rush Campground. In the 11 days we’d been up north, the occupancy had dropped significantly as the season was drawing to a close. Most of their rental Class C RVs had been returned, cleaned, and parked, all ready for next year’s tourists.
During our initial visit to Dawson City, son Jon had questioned (tongue in cheek) “How funny would it be to enjoy a Klondike® Bar while on the Klondike River in the Klondike“? We couldn’t have agreed more. All we had to do was find a grocer with a Klondike® Bar. Who knew our options would be so limited. We checked the Bonanza Market in Dawson City and the Northern Store in Fort McPherson with no luck. Surprisingly, we found them in an ice cream freezer at the NorthMART in Inuvik. Our only problem then was keeping them frozen until we returned to Dawson City, as Airstream freezers were notoriously poor at keeping things properly frozen, and ours was no exception. They were partially melted, but we made it happen regardless. Readers who are our age will remember the Klondike® Bar commercials. In my opinion, the style and format of their ads were similar to those done by Red Bull® today.
