Tombstone Territorial Park, Yukon, Canada
Tombstone Territorial Park
Let’s get some fresh muffins
This morning when we got up: there was
some blue in the sky – wow we are super happy, so maybe we have a good start of
the trip up the famous Dempster Highway. But even before coffee we went and got
some Muffins – as we need some rewards with all that driving. Afterwards we
went to the Visitor info, so we could have coffee and internet before heading
out into the wilderness.
The Mammoths of the Yukon
When leaving Dawson City: we also had
to stop at the Woolly Mammoth – ok not a real one, but then who cares. They
lived here at some time and you can even buy a tusk for 6800 $ in the store.
- The woolly mammoths once roamed the Yukon in abundance during the Ice Age
- Today they are extinct, they could survive the cold dry grasslands of the Beringa. They say the first ones came over the Beringa land bridge from Siberia around one million years ago
- Fossils show that the last ones likely roamed the Yukon around 13.000 years ago
- They found bones, teeth (by the way they only had 4 teeth), tusk, some miners found a whole head which was like shoulder high – miners unearthed thousands fossil bones from the permafrost: most of all mammoth bones in Canada are found in the Klondike and Old Crow area
- Because they were in the permafrost they can do DNA analysis
At the stone hills: Tailing Piles
As we headed out of Dawson City, we
did had to stop because here there were a lot of stone hills, like piled up
stones – and no this is not natural. This is what happens when big dredges are
at work and pull up all the rocks and then dump them somewhere. It was amazing
to see – wow, I guess at that time they didn’t talk about environmentally
friendly.
- To use the hydraulic dredges they needed more water and it was decided to bring it in from the Tombstone mountain: the Yukon Ditch a 113 km long of ditches and pipes that carried 200.000 liters per minute, to built it they needed 7 Mill board feet of lumber: the flume was 6 ft wide and 4 ft deep. It took 3 years to built and cost over 3 Mill, employing thousands of men
- The Yukon ditch operated from 1909-1933, when it shut down because of the low price of gold
- The government approved 40 large leases for large-scaled mechanized mining in 1897
- The Guggenheims consolidated their claims as the Yukon gold Company and operated 12 dredges from 1925-1966
- A dredge is a floating sluice plant, the buckets continuously excavate dirt and gravel which is processed through a series of screens and sluice runs. The waste called tailing is fed on a slopped belt which swing from side to side to create a row of crescent shaped piles of washed gravel
- The Klondike dredge could dig and process up to 16.000 cubic yards in 24 hrs. Dredge #4 recovered up to 800 ounces of gold in a day
As we head further down when you look
on the sides of the road: you can see how mushy it all is, like everything is
covered in water and is swampy.
Breakfast on the Dempster Hwy
At the turn off is a Gas station –
perfect to fill up as the next gas station is in 370 km – so better be prepared
and full. But they do not have anything to wash the windshields – what a shame.
And then comes the sign: Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean and a bridge and
the gravel road starts. At this time Paul said we do a relaxed 60 km/h no
stress at all – ok, soon we discovered that we will not be that fast for a long
time, at some stretches there were lots and lots of potholes and we did barely
20 km/h – luckily in between we had some better stretches and could do our 60
km/h.
We soon found a turnout and decided
that this is a perfect spot for a breakfast.
At the beginning we drove through the
already known northern kind of skinny tree forest with the mountains looming in
the background and already we could sometimes see the endless valleys and
mountains covered with forest. Sometimes we could super far and we are only in
the first 50 km.
Also starting today we keep an eye on
the DTE (Distance to empty) which was 660 km.
Interpretive Center
Then comes the Tombstone Territorial
Park sign “the ragged mountain land”. We really shoulda had the sticker “I love
potholes”. And once in a while we come
by a river:
- The first nations call it “Ddhael Ch’el Cha Naen “ragged-peaked mountain land”
- The Dempster highway goes for 70 km through the Tombstone TP
- The boreal forest of the north consists of black and white spruce and the lodgepole pine as well as some Aspen
- Taiga: scattered trees are found in the transition area between boreal forest and tundra
Inside they have a lot of info – but
because the weather is so nice, we decide to head on and then stop on the way
back here to check it out more. We also saw the German weltreisen-truck again –
we saw in the last days several of those huge off-roaders.
A walk up to the Golden Sides
We find the parking lot and then we
walk up a gravel road and we were wondering if we should have driven up there –
because we literally walked for 2 km to the Microwave tower and this is where
the trail starts. Paul said – he is not interested in going up further, that he
sees enough and he has so many super cool views, he rather relaxes in the sun
and enjoys the view. So Gine went up – it was a good 45 Min up to the top of the
hill with a view with a bit over 400m gain and overall around 9 km return.
Going up the shrubs got smaller and smaller and the hill steeper. And finally
at the top of the hill you look over another valley and more and more mountains
– it is like never-ending. After taking off the jackets and sweaters because
you get hot – it’s time to put them back on as it is fairly cold here. But then
we are close to the highest elevation of the Dempster near the North Fork with
1289 m elevation. It is truly incredible to experience this beautiful spot.
- From our hike we could also see the tombstone peak 2193m high 20 km form here – it is part of the ragged tombstone range
Coffee with a view
As it is already after 3 pm, we
decided to drive on and stop at a place with a view – nearly every pullout here
has a nice view. When we stopped it was still cool – so we had the coffee
inside checked out the view and then kept going. It is getting more and more
beautiful. Every time when you think it can’t be nicer – there is another
twist: another valley, a lake, a river, more lakes, more mountains.
What we thought is super funny, inside
the park are 2 rest areas and on both it said: no overnight parking or camping
– but before and after you can camp and park everywhere????? We couldn’t
believe our eyes when we came by a horse farm.
Then we did stop because Paul wanted
to check with the construction guys, what they are actually doing, as we saw
them putting in an orange pipe in the ground. And see there they are lying a
pipe in there all the way to Inuvik, so they can put in a fiber optic strand
for fast wifi – really in the age of satellite internet??? One of the guys told
Paul it gives them a job and he also likes Paul’s truck and after a bit of
truck-call we keep on going.
Camping along the river
As it is now 5 pm and the sun is out,
we decided to look for a nice spot with view preferable at a river. We came by
a spot, when we walked down the road it was super crooked, next “road” we
walked down was so narrow we would have been unable to turn around. Then we
found a nice spot and thought it is perfect but then found a tent with a toilet
roll hanging on a tree- really that is weird, so we decided a no-go. And then
we found the perfect spot on a drive-through road right on the river we can
hear the water here, can look up on the mountains and we can see each “vehicle”
coming by which is like every half hour one.
Ok we should mention we saw two guys
on a bicycle – wow!!! And one girl with a backpack (what???), also like at 9
pm, a rental was still driving up the Dempster in high-speed and we wondered
where he has to be.
Sitting in the Sunshine
After supper, we took our chairs and
were sitting outside (after we put the mosquito repellent on) and enjoyed the
beautiful warm sun on us – hoping that a moose or bear will come to the river.
Even Mandy had a lot of fun outside. What an amazing spot.
And the best was we could watch the
mountains turning red in the evening light – super amazing (I may should
mention we did that from the comfort of our bed as it was 11 pm!!!)
And good morning not-so-sunny
During the night it was raining a bit
– but then we already decided as it is fairly cool in the mornings and often
cloudy to sleep in. Getting up we had some coffee and it was not raining!! And
like a new morning-ritual: Paul goes with Mandy for a walk on the leash – haha
those walks are super short like 300m. So let’s get on the road and hope for
the best: I mean we can see the mountains.
2025-05-22