Dawson City, UT to Whitehorse, YT: Highway 2

The clouds began to drip as we headed out of town, enough to make drop patterns on the beaver ponds along the road but not enough to put on the rain gear. Leaving Dawson City is somewhat of a downer because the road cuts through the “scats” of the dredge. All that is left of the bottom of the valley are the piles of boulders (a la Idaho City, ID); the binding top soil and life sustaining dirt was washed off during the dredging process. Soon we climbed out of the valley and all was well with nature again.

Twenty minutes into the ride, the rain proper began so we donned the Frog Togs and rode on. The nicest by-product of the rain is that there was no dust on the gravel portions of the highway. The mud flaps we installed in Anchorage are working perfectly on both bikes – thanks Kurt.

At Stewart Crossing we stopped for fuel, potty, late lunch and warmth (not necessarily in that order). After that the rain was intermittent and we got out of the rain gear at Pelly Crossing. Our tentative goal for the day was Carmacks, YT; it made sense on the map. However it did not proved to be our choice for an overnight so we fueled up again and headed all the way to Whitehorse, YT.

Soon after Carmack we saw a large black bear near the road (brown in color but a black bear nevertheless). We stopped at Braeburn, YT (a gas station / café / RV park) where the café is very famous for its cinnamon buns. Nine inches across and five high, the monsters are also very good: the dough is made just right. We bought one to try and ate a fair portion of it; even at $7 it was still worth it. We arrived in Whitehorse with 560 km for the day.