Dawson City -- Epilogue

One last look at Dawson City

As you know from Betty's post, we are already well down the road from Dawson City--in fact, we are now parked for two nights in Stewart, British Columbia, just next door to Hyder, Alaska:  we took this little side trip hoping to see the famous "bears of Fish Creek" outside of Hyder.  Went out late this afternoon in the rain...lots of salmon in the creek, but no bears having dinner.  More on this later!

Discovery Days Parade

As I have already mentioned, we came upon a weekend celebration in Dawson City--we didn't plan it, I can assure you!  It just happened that our clock is aligned on this trip [The Gods certainly are with us!!] and here we were in the Gold Rush Capital of the World for a big party!  And what community celebration would be complete if there weren't a parade!  So Saturday morning, we walked from our campground through the forming up area and then down to the main street--Front Street it's called because it runs right along the eastern bank of the Yukon River.  Here are a collection of photos and captions from the Discovery Days Parade in Dawson City!

The Honor Guard starts to form up with old cars carrying Dawson City's oldest residents right behind!

There is always a queen or two in any community parade...riding on the back of a convertible, of course!

And here is Mr. and Mrs. Dawson City...we have no clue, but they got a convertible to ride in, too!

Never did figure out who this group was, but they had an upfront location in the parade!

Have you ever been to a parade that didn't have music, usually at least one marching band?  Well, I hadn't until Dawson City--at least as to the bands!  But there was music...a Scottish bagpiper did lead the parade!

Here he is warming up the tubes!

And here he comes, leading the parade out in front of the color guard!!

And here he is again, after the parade, serenading folks in front of one of the downtown stores!

And what city in Canada would host a parade without their contingent of the RMP?  Check out the two guys in the back--big boys, for sure!  Ain't many grizzlies would want to go up against those fellers!

Hey kids!  C'mon down, decorate your bikes and ride in the parade...small towns every do this, don't they?

Fire trucks are mandatory, aren't they, in all parades??  Here is a repeat from Dawson City II...the "girls" from the saloon!

Another old fire truck in grand condition...featuring....damned if I know now, but they waved and through candy!

The parade also featured aerial displays...here is a hang glider flying down to City Park!

Not every one saw this display, but he touched down right on the river bank in the City Park!

One of the observations I have made up here in the North Country is that there are a lot of pickup trucks and many of those are four-wheel, seems to me.  Most likely, this is due to the issues of driving in the winter...or getting out of your driveway!...or selling plowing services!  Nonetheless, there are a lot of pickemups, and many have the big, noisy mufflers!  Back in my day in the '60s, I think we called them Glasspacks!  Loud, OMG!!  Well, we still had a Big Event to go to during Discovery Days:  a mudbog!  That was the finale event on Sunday, and we couldn't resist going up to see it!  But first, we got a preview in the parade of several of the vehicles who would participate in the mudbog race....some photos!

Check out this "high-rider" pickemup!  And look behind:  here comes Inferno!!

Belching fire and smoke!  A mudbogger shows his stuff in the parade!  Oh, and noise!  Lots of that!

Now VW never imagined looking like this!!  Really good clearance for the mud and water in the bog!

OK, Now We Have Seen the Mudbog Preview...onto the Real Thing!

Sunday morning broke bright and sunny...this trip has given us some bad weather at times, but almost every time we needed good sunshiny days, we got it.  Sunday in Dawson City for Discovery Days was certainly no exception!  The feature event was, of course, the mudbog races.  They were held up on a hillside north of town just below the Moose Hide Slide which you have seen now and then in these pictures.  Here is a full shot of it:

City Park market tents in the foreground with the Moose Hide Slide on the hill in the background!  It is an old geological formation dating back millennia...but there is a myth and story from the natives about how it occurred to save their village!

Anyway, partly up the hill toward the slide...the Discovery Days Agenda said "below the Moose Hide Slide"...there was a mudbog bit dug for the mudboggers to race in, and the spectators to sit up on the hillside above it to watch.  I won't post all the photos that I just couldn't resist taking...but here is a sample:

A Hummer goes against "Big Yellow"!  They have gotten the "GO" flag and mud is already flying!

This is "Big Yellow" after Round 1!  Check out the racing lanes just above the top of "Big Yellow"!



Trying to do a little clean up on "Big Yellow"...notice the mud scrappers being used!



I will come back tomorrow for the addition of more pictures...I am on a limited WIFI site and I think I am about out of MegaBytes....more to follow!