Top of the World Highway to Dawson City

  Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Top of the World Highway to Dawson City

While driving the scenic Seward Highway on September 14 from Anchorage to Seward, I became aware of a special designation - the All American Road. (EXCURSIONS: Blog 44).

- Seward Highway - an All American Road

This is a designation reserved for the most scenic and unique roads in America. According to the sign, there were 13 such routes having this appellation.

A look at: http://www.answers.com/topic/national-scenic-byway reveals that the list has now been expanded to 27

As I drove the Top of the World Highway from the Alaska border to Dawson City, I quickly came to the conclusion that if Canada had such a list, this road would definitely be "right up there"!

- from Tok to Dawson City via Top of the World Hyw

Congratulations to whoever was responsible for naming this road. How can one read this name on a map and not have the immediate desire to drive this road?

The name also creates a preconception as to the nature of the drive. I imagined a high alpine valley drive through towering mountain peaks.

Therefore, as I drove the Taylor Highway east towards the Yukon border, I kept looking for the suitable mountain peaks through which the Top of the World Highway could possibly wind its way.

However, a look around revealed that there are no jagged mountains peaks so characteristic of most other mountain drives.

While the altitude is high, the mountain tops are uncharacteristically rounded creating long ridgelines which make road construction in this terrain possible.

The greatness of a road can also be measured on the "Exhilaration Scale". On mine, the reading was a scintillating 9 out of 10.

While this term is my own creation, it easily measures the degree of enjoyment elicited by this drive.

So what were the factors that contributed to such a high reading?

First, there was the realization that indeed I was on "top of the world". Ridgeline driving means, for the most part, being at the top or near the top of a mountain range. There is a huge sky above, a panoramic horizon of rolling, rounded mountain tops all around and plunging valleys below.

- making the grade

10-- epitome of ridgeline driving

Yes, classic mountain drives like the Icefields Highway in the Canadian Rocky Mountains or the Richardson Highway from Glennallen to Valdez, are spectacular drives but they are mostly valley driving except for the odd mountain pass. Since they are not ridgeline driving, they do not give that sensation of being close to the sky nor the "on top of the world" feeling.

18--

10-- epitome of ridgeline driving

Second, the utter sense of isolation and emptiness adds an element of uniqueness to this experience. I felt that I had all of this beauty exclusively to myself. (notwithstanding the preceding blog where I later found out that at least two cars were behind me)

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Third, the recent and unexpected snowfall accumulation only added another colour and dimension to my drive. The slight element of danger didn't hurt to get my attention focused toward being more aware of my surroundings.

- winter driving for a short while

Lastly, the extraordinarily clear, crisp evening afforded spectacular views in all directions. My enjoyment was only dampened by a sense of urgency brought on by a waning day. I wanted to take in as much of this as possible before nightfall.

The last 45 minutes of my trip to Dawson City was indeed in darkness and there was a sense of excitement when my headlights caught the first welcome sign to Dawson City - a faux building facade reminiscent of a Hollywood set.

22-- welcome to Dawson City

This was followed by a series of pleasant surprises.

Unknown to me, my radio was on silent "scan mode" and as I neared Dawson City, it suddenly picked up a local station and burst to life with the sounds of my all time favorite album - Pink Floyd's - Dark Side of the Moon. Wow, the right music on a moonlit night, driving on a deserted road in the Yukon towards Dawson City, that was just the right touch.

Driving over the last mountain crest revealed the subdued lights of Dawson City in the valley below. But, what was that overhead? I saw streaks of dancing ribbons of subtle multi-coloured lights running east/west in a narrow band across the night sky! That could only mean one thing - the Northern Lights! (unfortuantely, the lighting conditions were beyond my camera)

I pulled over to the side of the descending road with my motor running to enjoy this phenomenon more closely. This was short lived as I saw in the distance the lights of a ferry waiting to cross the Yukon River to Dawson City. They must have been waiting for me because as soon as I drove on deck, they proceeded to leave for the other side with only two cars on board. At this time of night, I wondered when the next crossing would have been.

Within moments of the ferry crossing, I was standing on the main street of Dawson City.

That's when the magic began. It was dark and dimly lit as I was standing in the middle of Main Street in disbelief - at the absence of traffic, at my feet standing on hard packed smooth clay instead of asphalt, at the wooden sidewalks and at the clap board building right out of the Old West.

This town could pass for Dodge City, Kansas at the turn of the 19th century - a pure definition of the west, minus the horses. Its uniqueness is right up there with Old Quebec City, Williamsburg, Virginia or St. Augustine, Florida.

It is now after 22:00 and finding a place to eat is a problem, therefore I was pleasantly surprised to come upon the Drunken Goat Taverna Greek Couzina which was still open. After a great Greek salad and a large Golden Yukon Ale things were looking even better.

26-- luckily the Greeks eat late

25-- only meal of the day

After supper I had to call Barbara and tell her about my exciting day, although hers in the Nass Valley was not bad either.

Back on the streets of downtown, I continued to walk around exploring and occasionally stamping my feet on the smooth clay, still in astonishment. My surprise at the lack of neither vehicular nor pedestrian traffic on a Saturday night was only surpassed by suddenly stumbling across a famous establishment - Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall.

When I entered, it immediately became clear to me why the downtown streets were deserted - everyone was here.

After all, this is the famous gambling hall where the legendary "Klondike Kate - Queen of the Gold Rush" was the main attraction in a show that used to entertain the legions of gold miners with seductive song and dance. While the entertainment was of fame, separating the gold miners from their hard earned gold at the gambling tables was the name of the game.

When I asked a bartender about "a show", I was floored to hear that the last performance of the season was starting in 10 minutes at midnight!

27-- let the show begin

29--

So let's see, I had driven for weeks all through Alaska and parts of the Yukon only to arrive within 10 minutes of the last show at Diamond Tooth Gerties in Dawson City on a night when the Northern Lights were sparkling overhead. That took some incredible planning!

Coming: Dawson City