April Updates

I’m so sorry I’ve been woefully neglecting you, my loyal blog readers.

I’m just finishing up week two of a fitness challenge I joined, so that means outside of working, I pretty much exercise, consume protein, and sleep. Bad news for you, it is a 12 week challenge.

So let’s get caught up, shall we?

It’s April 26 here, the weather is getting warmer (+15C out there right now!), the Klondike River is in the process of breaking up so residents of the Klondike Valley are on flood alert. The Yukon River will follow soon – I’m thinking next week? We’ve got 20 tickets in this year’s Ice Breakup Pool with our guesses of when the river will break, so 🤞 ! I outsourced half of my guesses to a lucky friend from North Carolina, so I think the odds are in our favour this year!

Our streets have gone from deathly icy to walk on, to very muddy. The dyke along the Yukon River is just about entirely clear of snow now, which makes walking nicer. I’m missing the 9th Ave Trail something fierce, but soon it should be ice and snow free too so I can resume hiking.

I’m started doing my morning walks before work again. I’m finding them pretty boring, to be honest. Even with music, or a podcast, and sometimes with Hank along, I miss walking on the trails in the trees with some hills. Maybe its just the season of mud and winter piles of neglected dog poo getting to me, but we only have so many streets in this town to walk up and down and around. It has been said, though, that those of us who are early risers know all the town’s secrets. I’ve seen several people in pj’s and robes walking about the streets (or walking home the morning after!)

Hank’s very happy to be spending his afternoons in the sun in his outdoor dog run. Jeff shovelled it out a few weeks back, and then Hank begged every day to stay out there. I still make him wait until the sun hits it in the afternoon.

Now the yard has far less snow. It’s melting so quickly! The photo above was April 16. And right now, 10 days later, the view from my office window is this:

Last weekend I drove up to the top of the Dome to check if any crocuses were poking out of the ground yet, but nothing yet.

Although I have seen the crocus plants already growing along the dyke trail, so I’ll drive back up this weekend to check again.

The Triple J opened their restaurant this week for the season! That’s a sure sign of summer!

Speaking of summer, it’s already light long before I wake up, and long after I go to sleep. It’s amazing how fast we go from being in the dark, to being in fun daylight all the time! The gold miners are back in town, some tourists are kicking ‘about, and I even saw a CanaDream RV driving in town yesterday. Even the car wash is open, and I need it badly! My truck is coated in muck. (Our car wash is just a pressure washer on a timer that eats your loonies, but that’ll do!) We hear small planes and choppers pretty regularly now too – planes flying the river watching for ice jams, and choppers shuttling West Dawson residents across the river as needed (the ice is too deteriorated to cross even on foot).

The US border agency has agreed to open our border crossing to Alaska for 4 additional weeks this summer, making it back to a normal schedule I suppose, post-Covid, finally. Alaska is going to open on May 17th for us this year, and not close until September 15. (link to announcement) That means the ferry should be crossing the river by the May long weekend, providing the ice has melted or floated past by then.

Well, I need to go lift a dumbbell or something, so I’m off. Leave your Spring in Dawson City questions below and I’ll be back with more updates soon!