From Fairbanks to Dawson

Nice 5 hour drive, with a lot of wildlife, gold mines, trapper log cabin, flowers, old towns and rivers before we get to Fairbanks

 

It feels strange to be in Fairbanks, close to the start of the Dalton Higway, that would lead me to Prudhoe Bay.

The picture below was taken a bit after midnight. The sun is going to set at 12:47 and will rise at 2:57, and there won't be any night in between.

And here is the garden during the morning:

The first visits downtown are for the Sled Dog and Mushers Museum, the Visitor Center and the Yukon Quest Headquarters.
The Yukon Quest is a 1000 mile sled dog race run every February between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world".
In the competition, first run in 1984, a dog team leader (called a musher) and a team of 6 to 14 dogs race for 10 to 20 days. The course follows the route of the historic 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, mail delivery, and transportation routes between Fairbanks, Dawson City, and Whitehorse. Mushers pack up to 250 pounds (113 kg) of equipment and provisions for themselves and their dogs to survive between checkpoints.

 

The heat beats records today: 95°F / 35°C

The quote of the day: "You know it is the end of winter when:
- road construction begins
- the first mosquitoes come out of hiding
- the first truck breaks through the ice road over the Chena river"

For mosquitoes, I can confirm that winter is over... :(

The afternoon is spent at Pioneer Park, with its Gold Rush Town. Despite the cartoonish name, it is a block of genuine relocated historic cabins.

Boarding the Riverboat Discovery Tour, in order to see the magnificent houses built along the Chena River, see a sled dog demonstration at the kennels of Susan Butcher, four-time winner of the Iditarod, another mythical race, and stop at a replica of an Athabascan village, in a historic stern-wheeler.

 

Leaving Fairbanks southbound to Dawson City, you cross North Pole (no kidding) and the house of Santa Claus

Then the famous Alaskan oil pipeline

Long day on the road, with a lot of moose along the highway (which is actually a gravel and dirt road), and smoke in the air As soon as the sun is hidden by the smoke (or clouds), the temperature falls  dramatically: 60°F today.
If it goes on like that during 3 days, frost can appear. Never forget that you are standing on an ice cube. There is a lot of water in the rivers, because the ice contained in the soil is melting, with the high temperatures faced during the last days.

Short break in Chicken, in the middle of the gold dredges:

And then the border crossed on the Top of the World Highway, welcome to Yukon!