The Ridge Road Heritage Trail |

Last night’s hike took us to just a few km from Dawson to the Ridge Road Heritage Trail. This trail used to be the first government-built wagon road in the Yukon. It was built in 1899 as a major supply route to the mines on Dominion and Sulphur creeks, not far from Bonanza Creek.

Quoting from the brochure:

Roadhouses, stores and freighting companies operated successfully along the route despite spring glaciers and a steep descent to the placer mines. Gold miners along Bonanza Creek ridiculed Commissioner William Ogilvie for supporting the project and lobbied for a more convenient route. After good roads were completed up Bonanza and Hunker creeks, the Ridge Road was abandoned in 1902.

This trail takes approximately two days to hike end to end and there are campgrounds within a day’s hike of each trailhead. We only got to about 3km UP the Jackson Gulch trailhead before the mosquitoes had us running back to the van for cover!