Trevor makes me a big mug of the Belgian Hazelnut coffee every morning.  It is ambrosia, one of the highlights of the day.

It's wonderful when we first get in the canoe in the morning - everything is so peaceful and quiet and the day stretches invitingly ahead.

Today was perfect weather, no rain, no headwind, cloudy with some sun - it became sunnier as the day progressed but not too hot.  Neither of us does well in the heat.  The wind picked up off and on later in the day but we're used to it by now.  We had a few scattered showers as well, but they are very pleasant and don't last long.

We are getting close to Dawson, and there are more signs of life.  A river boat here and there, a helicopter in the sky.  There are also more gulls - very pretty pure white with black tips on their wrings.  They seem to travel in pairs and swoop over the canoe, crossing paths with each other just above us and calling away.  Trevor throws them bread but they don't seem to notice, and after a while they stay behind and the next pair appears.  We are very grateful when their deposits miss us!

We saw two camps tucked away in the trees with the canoes pulled up on the beach.  It looks very cozy.

Trevor found a wonderful river.  We pulled up and walked around.  He cast a few times but there didn't appear to be any fish.  More moose tracks, and surprisingly, motorcycle and dog tracks.  Shortly afterwards we spotted a moose and her very young calf on the beach.  They moved away quickly but we got a good look at them.

Soon we could see the Top of the World Highway in the hills ahead. 

As we were rounding a point, we could hear dogs barking and howling, then a couple of young Husky puppies appeared.  As we drew closer to shore, more appeared, and three young pups and an adult Husky waded out to the canoe, wagging their tails and whining.  We thought they might be looking for food. 

Then Dawson appeared - we made it!  We initially thought we would camp and pulled in across the river from Dawson, carried our tents and whatever else we could carry up to the Yukon River Campground about 300 metres up the road.  Trevor was going to go back for the rest of our stuff while I put up the tents as usual.  HOWEVER the mosquitoes were there in droves, so "we" changed our minds and carried everything back to the canoe. 

We paddled upriver on the west shore, and when we had gone far enough made a dash for the opposite side.  I was afraid we wouldn't make it and started to make noises about the fact we should have gone further upriver first, so Trevor told me to 'be quiet and paddle'.  It was very strenuous and we arrived on the beach with me very quiet indeed and extremely sullen.  We discussed it in an animated fashion for a few minutes and each of us made our point and made up.

It was uncomfortably hot in Dawson.  We went to the Tourist Information Office and a wonderful woman named Peggy made us a reservation at the Downtown Hotel and arranged bus transportation to Minto for 1:00 the next day.  She also allowed us to store all our coolers and containers and gear in a back room, so we lugged it all up the bank from the river and down the street in stages, then got to our hotel and showered and cooled down. 

It rained for a short while which was perfect because it cooled everything off.  We went out for a nice dinner (and drinks) at Klondike Kate's and retired blissfully with our books to our beds.

The End