On the road north of Haines we spotted this grizzly or brown bear. We're not exactly sure what he/she was finding to eat among all those spent dandelions.

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Today's drive took us up the Klondike Highway. We went past this area called five-finger rapids. Evidently they took the paddlewheelers up the Yukon River and through these rapids. They actually had to use a winch to get them between the rock islands and through the rapids. Glad I wasn't onboard.

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Needless to say I was excited when we spotted this moose wading through the lake. I have finally seen my moose in water and what a moose he was!

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We spent the night in Pelly Crossing at a campground on Northern Tutchone tribal land. The Selkirk people belong to the crow and wolf clans. As we sat in our rig overlooking the Pelly River we watched the natives across the river netting salmon, cleaning them and then hanging them in a tent and smoking them. It was quite interesting. According to what we read, this is their summer fishing grounds.

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On August 16, 1896 coarse gold was found in what is now called Bonanza Creek. By the summer of 1898, the population swelled to 30,000 making it the largest city west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco. Today, the streets of Dawson City are still dirt and many of the old buildings like the Palace Grand Theater are still standing and being used.

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Looking down some of the streets off the main drag, you see some of the old buildings that are just barely standing. The Klondike Visitors Association is pouring millions of dollars into building restoration (we assume this money is coming from the gambling hall).

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This church was built in 1902 and is an example of frontier mission architecture. It is a symbol of the long standing presence of Anglican missions in Canada beginning in the 1860's and ministering to Aboriginal peoples in the area and later to miners and settlers.

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Since we were having wonderful weather today we decided to take our ride over the Top of the World Highway and back. In order to do that, we first had to take the ferry across the Yukon.

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Although we didn't do the whole highway we did enough to be able to say we had the experience. The road on the Canadian side was quite good (though gravel) - it's the American side that has the less than desirable highway.

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Dawson City's world famous not-for-profit gambling hall was named after Diamond Tooth Gertie, a bona fide dance hall queen. Today, Gertie Lovejoy's moniker lives on with the town's unique gambling hall complete with slots and tables as well as three nightly shows when Gertie and her cancan dancers put on a fun-filled extravaganza for all to enjoy.

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In 1896 coarse gold was found in the Bonanza Creek bed. We figured that since we were here in gold country we'd try our luck at finding some "color". The Klondike Visitors Association (the same group the runs Gerties) also staked Claim 6 along the Bonanza as a place visitors can go to try their luck. Although we didn't find any gold, there were some who were panning alongside us who did find little flakes. No gold but we did have fun! P.S. We panned again the next day and did find a few flakes but nothing worth anything

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This dredge, which now sits on Bonanza Creek, is the largest wooden hull dredge in the world. These behemoths roamed the creeks of the Klondike until the early 1960's.

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Like huge stone worms or caterpillars, the telltale dredge tailings of the goldfields testify to the corporate enterprise that spawned the mammoth dredges of the Yukon Gold Mining Co. This photo was taken on the top Midnight Dome Hill which is at an elevation of about 3000 feet and looks down on the city and gives one a perception of how wide spread the use of dredges was.

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We found these lovely flowers on the top of Midnight Dome Hill. Unfortunately they will remain nameless because they don't seem to appear in our flower book!

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