Dad came for a visit, and we put him to work!

Of course we also wined(beered) and dined him!

We put him to work

Dad was a great help for Operation Firewood! He wasn’t in town more than a few hours before he already helped Jeff buck up a load of trees in the trailer.

Over the week, they bucked up 3 loads while I stacked. We went out to the forest fire site on another day to get another load together:

He also helped Jeff install some hooks to hang meat in the garage (for when he brings home a caribou or moose).

He also reinstalled most of the electrical outlets in our house that had been installed with a reverse polarity.

Touristy things

Dad and I went to a special night at the Robert Service cabin. They had handouts of several of his poems and people got to sign up to read them. It was pretty neat! I have to say that the best reading was actually done by a kid who hadn’t even pre-read the piece!

We took in a couple shows at Gerties, so I made sure to get Dad’s picture with Gertie, and with the backup Gertie who fills in a couple nights a week!

OK Let me get in on one of these!

One morning, we went up to the North Fork of the Klondike to investigate the old water ditch and steam shovel used to create a channel of water to a power plant a hundred years ago.

We wandered through the old pioneer cemetery.

Went wandering on the dome. Here’s some bear poop:
This is the second time Dad has visited at the end of August, hoping to get some fabulous fall foliage shots on the Dempster, and around Dawson, and just like last time, the rains came in and he got skunked. Well not fully, he took a trip up the Dempster and got a day with some sun and clouds!

We hit Happy Hour at the Pit a couple times, and listened to Harmonica George play a set.

We drove the Top of the World highway to the Alaskan border looking for caribou. Didn’t see any but saw a neat little boreal owl when neither of us had our long lens on.

In the fall, cloud will sit right on the Yukon River valley in the morning. It makes it difficult to predict the day’s weather, when it appears so clouded over in town, and it also makes it difficult for Air North to land any morning flights!

Every autumn is different, and this time we haven’t had a good frost yet, so the red tundra plants weren’t as red as they were on this day two years ago.

Here’s some caribou poop:

We drove down the Clinton Creek road and I told Dad about the old asbestos mine that was here and how an entire company town was once here. It was getting later in the day, and Dad was getting a little nervous about breaking down in an area where no one else was, but we still took a quick wander into the old town site of Forty Mile. Turned out we weren’t so alone. Five other groups of people had also signed the Forty Mile guestbook on the same day, and went met 3 other groups of people hiking in or out.

Last time we were out at Forty Mile, a couple of years ago, we met Earl from Clinton Creek who was just starting the base of one of these cabins. We missed the Grand Opening by just a couple of days! We took in more local fun, and watched the Mud Bog last weekend. I always love a good mud bog, tractor pull, demolition derby, really anything where testosterone gets people to do really damaging things to their vehicles!The timing of Dad’s visit also allowed him to see Bear Creek, the old YCGC compound that run the gold dredges until the late 1960’s, that was open for a Discovery Day pancake breakfast.