More Dawson

I last told you we were about done with Dawson City, and preparing to head north again, onto the Dempster Highway. But first, we wanted to visit at least some of the Highland Games events. The sporting events were scheduled for Saturday, but we could attend the mass band concert to be held atop “The Dome”, a mountaintop above the town, and locally called “The Midnight Dome”, referencing a tradition of locals (and tourists) coming to the top of the dome for the summer solstice to watch the sun at midnight. We were 8 days early for that, but it was still bright sunlight at 2300 that evening, for the concert. Very nice views over the Yukon River and the town below. 

Dawson and the Yukon River, from the Dome

The Commissioner of the Yukon, looking out over the Yukon River

 As we waited, a limousine pulled up and discharged the Commissoner of the Yukon Territory, with a mountie escort in dress reds....he was attending from Whitehorse. There was an amalgam of 3 or 4 pipe bands (actually parts of them), from Anchorage, Fairbanks, and local Dawsonites....the Whitehorse group hadn't arrived yet. In total, there were about 11 pipers with 2 snare drums, 3 kettle drums, and 2 bass drums. In spite of the small size of the Mass Band, they did an excellent concert. A few girls did some Scottish Dancing, and a young woman treated us to a few Robert Service poems.  I've “Vlogged” a bit here with a video clip, as well as a couple of pics. We quite enjoyed the evening, and headed back to our campsite at midnight (still bright) for our last sleep in Dawson.

Honour Guard and Commissioner meeting dignitaries

Interesting name for a Pipe Band

Scottish Dancers entertaining the crowd

The following morning came too soon, as partyers further down the campsite reveled until well after 3AM. But we still got the tent and equipment put away by 0800, and set out , heading for the Dempster Highway. We saw a fox with a bunny in his mouth as we drove eastward, and finally at 0900 we turned north onto the Dempster.