Day 1: Dawson to Stewart Crossing – 172 KM
When we started eating breakfast this morning in Dawson City, it was 6 degrees. Cool morning to a beautiful day. We did a quick stop off at the local Home Hardware to say hi to the local owner and thank her for the HH sponsorship. It might be the northern most HH in all of Canada.
We dipped our bike tires in the Yukon River and headed out with the sun in our faces and wind at our backs! Just for fun, we cycled the first bit of the Dempster Highway. We’re sad that we will not make it to the Arctic Ocean, but we are thankful to be on our way with the hope of hitting the Dempster later in September.
The Klondike Highway had lots of construction. Three times our ride was interrupted in places where we were not allowed to cycle. We had to load up and follow a pilot car through the area. Plus we had significant sections where we rode on dirt.
The good news! The theme of sun in our faces and wind at our backs continued all day with some great views of the Yukon.
In fact, we decided to change our distance for the day from 92 km to 172. We found a great spot on the Stewart River to spend the night. The locals told us it would be okay to spend the night. We had a swim in the river. It sure felt good after a long day of cycling.