After an exhausting journey down Dempster Highway we decided to spend the day in Dawson City and around. Looking for adventure we ventured into the forest on our own. (having been warned by the locals that one has to stay very ' bearaware' as this territory belongs to grizzlies). Armed with bearsprays, we did feel slightly uneasy the whole time but luckily we had no bear encounters. (We do love to admire them but from a safe distance!).
The trek took us to beautiful cementeries hidden within the forest. We saw a masonic cemetery, a Jewish cemetery,Yukon Order of Pioneers Dome Cemetery and the Hillside Cemetery.
One could not imagine a more peaceful respite than being buried there amongst birch and willow trees with insects joyfully buzzing around. On our way we also saw a cabin of Robert Service, the bard of the Yukon known for cheerful poems such as 'Shooting of Dan McGrew' or ' The Cremation of Sam McGee' . We also heard about Robert Service the following day when I picked up a hitchhiker. The man turned to be very nice and told us about his grandchildren from Quebec and his life as a constructor in Dawson City. He looked as if he could have stepped out of 1900s with his long grey beard and a dark grey cap soaked with rain.
He quoted few verses of Robert Service poems which added to the mysterious atmosphere of driving down the foggy road in the rain. It also made our drive to Tombstone National Park more pleasant as the second time we got there the road has clearly deteriorated due to heavy rain and driving over 100 kilometres one way was a real challenge.
It was definitely worth it, however, as we spent lovely time eating dinner with backpackers in the campground's shelter.
We met two teachers from eastern Canada ( Nova Scotia, where I do need to go one day) and a 19-year old from Germany who decided to hitchhike from eastern to western coast after he graduated from high school. He told us about his adventures such as kayaking down the Yukon River for 5 days with no plans and no maps.
We then had a lovely hike in Tombstone amongst the winding pathway bravely forcing its way through milky fog. There was abundance of ruby red Fireweed which apparently can be used to make delicious jelly and a lot of tasty wild berries. When we came back we were soaked and cold but very content and going to Diamond Tooth Gerties, the oldest casino in Canada, was icing on the cake. Diamond Tooth Gerties welcomed us with roulettes, where we quickly lost everything we had decided to spend there and a very good cancan show. ( the stars of which come to Dawson City from Vancouver and other parts of Canada). Afterwards, we went to a pub at Downtown Hotel and had an opportunity to witness a tourist drink a speciality of Dawson City , namely sourtoe cocktail. Apparently, once one drinks sourtoe cocktail one automatically becomes the member of ' The Club', which comprises only 100,000 members. So what is the infamous sourtoe cocktail? A shot of whisky with a dried out human toe inside. The trick is not to swallow the toe as this can incur a fine of 2500 dollars. The rules are easy: “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe”'. Legend has it that the first toe came from an amputation being performed in the field on someone who developed gangrene. Since then 10 more toes have been acquired by 'donation' (whatever that implies).
We now regret not having tried it!
Po meczacym dniu na Dempster Highway zdecydowalismy sie odpoczac w Dawson City i okolicach.
W poszukiwaniu przygody wybralismy sie na hike do lasu. Mieszkancy ostrzegli nas, ze ten teren nalezy do misiow, zatem zaopatrzylismy sie w bearsprays i dzwoneczki ostrzegajace niedzwiedzie przed nami (tak jakby one mogly sie nas przestraszyc!). Hike byl przemily i sciezki porosniete mchem i grzybami (nigdy w zyciu nie widzielismy tylu grzybow!) doprowadzily nas do kilku uroczych cmentarzykow ukrytych w lesie. Widzielismy cmentarz zydowski, masonski, a takze wiele innych.
Na pewno milo sie im spoczywa w cieniu sosen i brzoz, sluchajac wesolego bzyczenia insektow.
Po drodze minelismy takze kabine, ktora nalezala do Roberta Service, znanego jako 'Bard Yukonu'. Do najbardziej popularnych wierszy zaliczane sa miedzy innymi ' Postrzelenie Dana McGrew' oraz 'Kremacaja Sama Mcgee) ( trzeba przyznac, ze oba maja bardzo radosne tytuly).
O Robercie Service uslyszelismy takze nastepnego dnia z ust autostopowicza, ktorego zgarnelam po drodze. Autostopowicz wygladal jakby nalezal do poczatku XXwieku. Byl okolo 80-letnim mezyczyzna z dluga siwiutka broda i przesiaknieta deszczem peleryna zasunieta na oczy. Opowiedzial nam o swoich wnukach z Quebecu i o tym, ze przez 30 lat pracowal na budowach w Dawson City.
Umililo nam to droge do Tombstone National Park, ktora przez dwa dni zdazyla sie zrobic jeszcze bardziej dziurawa. Co wiecej, deszcz sprawil, iz byla jeszcze trudniejsza do przejechania.
Przed kolejnym hike'm spedzilismy urocza godzine na kempingu rozmawiajac z dwoma Kanadyjczykami z Nowej Szkocji (musze tam pojechac! podobno jest cudownie!) oraz 19;letnim maturzysta z Niemiec, ktory sam podrozuje od maja autostopem oraz kajakiem przez Kanade. (najciekawszy odcinek jego podrozy to byl splyw kajakiem, 5 dni z rzedu, bez mapy oraz zadnych planow)
Hike w Tombstone byl cudowny. Szlismy przez pokryte gesta jak mleko mgla gory i moglismy podziwiac przepiekny karminowy kwiat tego parku Firweed, z ktorego podobno mozna wytworzyc smaczna galaretke. Delektowalismy sie takze dzikimi jagodami. Mimo, iz przemoknelismy i bylo zimno, bylismy zachwyceni.
Po powrocie do Dawson City udalismy sie do najstarszego kasyna w Kanadzie: Diamond Tooth Gerties, gdzie obejrzelismy wspanialy show.( Dziewczyny tanczace kankana przyjechaly z Vancouver). Udalo nam sie takze przegrac w ruletce wszystko, co zalozylismy sobie, ze przegrac mozemy.
Na zakonczenie wieczoru (a raczej nocy, chociaz na zewnatrz o 1 nad ranem bylo wciaz tak jasno jak w dzien), poszlismy do Downtown Hotel, gdzie moglismy zaobserwowac jak jedna turystka kosztowala sourtoe cocktail czyli koktajlu kwasnego palca (od stopy).
Legenda glosi, ze wiele lat temu po amputacji palca(ze wzgledu na gangrene), ktos znalazl po latach ten palec w sloiku z whisky. Stad wzial sie pomysl na koktajl- shot whisky z wysuszonym ludzkim palcem od stopy. Zasady gry sa proste: trzeba wypic shota, dotknac palca ustami, jednakze polkniecie go jest surowo zabronione i grozi grzywna 2500 dolarow. Po calym przedsiewzieciu mozna dostac certyfikat, ze od terazy nalezy sie do czlonka Klubu Sourtoe(do ktorego do dnia dzisiejszego nalezy ok 100,000 osob). Po pierwszym 'oryginalnym' placu, kolejne 9 zostalo ofiarowane i przeznaczone na ten cel (jest to wybitnie ciekawe, skad te palce sie wziely..)
Zalujemy teraz, ze nie skosztowalismy tego przysmaku!!!
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