Good Bye Dawson City Hello Tombstone - Monday August 29, 2011

After picking up a few groceries and enjoying a great breakfast at the Triple J Hotel, Marci, Lucy and I (might as well admit to the fact that the Cat forms an integral and identifiable member of our expedition) headed up to the top of Dome Mountain to enjoy the "recommended-by-everyone" view. It was a beautiful morning as we coaxed the toyota and trailer up the steep and seemingly endless climb to the summit. as you can see the trip was worth it!

The next stop was the "last chance" ($1.77 /litre) gas station at the start of the Dempster Highway some 40km back down the Klondike Highway from Dawson City. $94.00 to top up the tank and fill our 20litre spare tank. The next gas is 370Kms up the Dempster at Eagle Plains. Road conditions and several long climbs through two mountain ranges dictate the need for extra gas especially when towing a trailer. 

Our plan was to spend two and a half days driving the 700Kms to Inuvik. Our first destination was Tombstone Territorial Park only 70Km up the road. We arrived at the interprtive centre at around 3:30pm on Tuesday. The centre was established two years ago at an old gravel pit used to source material for the highway.

After finding a campsite into which I was capable of successfully backing up the trailer, we set up camp.

The next task was getting the cook stove going and preparing supper, vegitables and cooked hamburger over rice noodles.

Then finally to enjoy the results in an idealic setting.

And an after-dinner walk in paradise!

Before retiring for the evening we locked all food and other "consumbles" in the trailer and bedded Lucy down in the car with her food, water and private commode lest she too attract the attention of possible night-time merauders looking for an easy meal. 

So ended our first and easiest day on the Dempster. The real fun was yet to come on our way to Eagle Plains.