Yukon River Dawson to Circle. 10 days. Class I. Yukon Territory and Alaska.

Yukon River, Dawson to Circle

After doing the Whitehorse to Dawson section of the Yukon River, we returned the next year to do the Dawson to Circle section.  This is a bit shorter.  We took 11 days, but could have easily done it in less.  Logistics were harder since getting out of Circle required a trip on the mail plane and we could not rent canoes.  We bought Ally foldable canoes and they were great.  We have since used them on another couple trips.

Full blog with pictures: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/yukonriverdawsontocircle

This was a beautiful mellow trip.  It was basically a float trip.  There wasn't as much history to visit as on the Whitehorse to Dawson trip, but the history we did get to see was especially nice.  We spent a day and a half at the Slaven's Roadhouse and had a great time exploring the gold dredge there.  The geology is very interesting in this section also, as the pictures show.  We stayed in the public use cabins along the way for 4 nights, which made things rather posh.

Logistics
Getting there  We used AirNorth for Vancouver to Dawson, then mail plane from Circle to Fairbanks, and AirNorth for Fairbanks to Dawson and Dawson to Vancouver.  This was about the most expensive way we could have done it.  Much cheaper would have been to do a round-trip Seattle to Fairbanks and then AirNorth for Fairbanks to Dawson and mail plane Circle to Fairbanks.   Do a google search to find the current mail plane company out of Circle.

Baggage and small planes.  You pay for your luggage by pound and it'll be expensive.  Go light.  The mail planes don't have a lot of room and might be limited by weight.  You can mail stuff home out of Circle.  Ask someone in town where the post office is.  They have boxes you can buy.  It's about a 15 min walk from the river.

The Circle mail plane:  When you get into Circle, head to the post office and ask them when the plane is coming and where to meet it.  You can camp at the landing strip and that'll be quieter than in town.

Canoes  You'll need foldable canoes unless someone is renting Dawson to Circle.  I highly doubt that since there is no way to get the boats back to Dawson.  There is a place in Fairbanks that rents Ally foldable canoes.  Do a google search.  We bought our Ally canoes from KanoePeople in Whitehorse.  The place in Fairbanks sells them too.

Camping  Along the river and in the free use cabins in the Yukon-Charley National Preserve.  In Eagle, there is a campground.  In Circle you can camp out the take-out but it's a party zone.  We camped there but I wished we'd hiked to the landing strip and camped there.

Public Use cabins:  They are free and in the Yukon-Charley National Preserve.  Just do a google search.  These were really fun to stay in.  We stayed at the Nation Bluff cabin, the Kandik River cabin and the Slavin Road House.  The last one is not to be missed.  You can get showers at Slavin's by hiking into the Coal Camp.  Some of the cabins have propane stoves.

Water The Yukon was so silty on this section that even letting the water sit didn't make it very appealing.  We resorted to finding side streams.  Most of these were brown in this section of river and also not very tasty.  We knew good water was a problem on this section and took some water bags.  We'd fill up at the clear water sources and that would last 1-2 days.  Most of the time we did not treat the water, and if we did treat, we used iodine tablets.

Dogs Allowed, but see next comment.

Bears Definitely. I've never seen so many black bear tracks along the river, but we didn't actually see any live bears, just tracks.  We saw grizzly tracks on one place (we were going to camp there but moved on).  We took bear spray (1), but mainly kept a clean camp and steered clear of fish camps.

Maps There is a guide book and I downloaded google maps and printed those off.  I also downloaded the geology map from the Yukon-Charley National Preserve website.  The guide book you want is Yukon River (Dawson-Circle) by Mike Rourke.  You can get it from http://www.yukonbooks.com.  It takes awhile to get so don't delay.

Difficulty Easy.  This is a class I float, but it is a big river so you really do not want to flip in it.  It would be a long, long swim.

Dawson: There are good grocery stores in Dawson and you can get all the food you need there (if so inclined). There is only a small outdoors shop, the Trading Post on main street, but they are surprisingly well supplied. The have white gas (Coleman fuel). There are ATMs in town. 

One of the big headaches is getting from the Dawson airport into to Dawson. If you are staying at the Dawson hostel, they might give you a shuttle or there might be someone running a shuttle. Try calling the Dawson Visitor Center to find out who runs the shuttle. Another option is to stay in a hotel that runs a shuttle. In my photos, I have some fliers from hotels that have shuttles. If you have a foldable canoe, you might just hike over to the Klondike River and start from there. Beware of sweepers (fallen over trees) on the Klondike.

There is lots of interesting tourist stuff to do in Dawson. Plan at least a few days there to explore. Head to the Visitor Center to learn about everything there is to see and do. If you have time, make sure to check out the nice hike to a top of the Moosehide with great views.

Lots of places to stay in Dawson: camping, hotels and hostel. The first year we camped and the 2nd year we stayed at the hostel. It was very nice to have a cabin to pack up in. The bathhouses at the hostel are great. There is an RV camp in town, but quieter is the campground across the river. Head to the canoe camp spot which are on the right as you enter the camp.

Eagle You have to check in at customs here.  There is a shack but it was defunct when we were there.  Instead we checked in at the National Preserve Visitor Center.  There is a store and post office.  I didn't go in the store.  There is a plaque/statue for Roald Amundsen who came here in 1905 to telegraph the news of the NW Passage.

Circle There is a general store (well stocked given the size of Circle and they had white gas), burger joint, post office, and laundry/showers.  It's dry (no alcohol).  People had commented that things were a little 'tense' in Circle (heard from 4 different people in Dawson, Slavens,Fairbanks and Circle), but we talked with a number of Circle locals (both First Nations and not) and everyone was friendly enough---given we were smelly, disheveled, and walking around in pajamas (long underwear).  We did get a talking to for wasting their water to clean our Ally canoes before packing them---which was deserved since they have to truck the water in.  We should have packed up the boats dirty and cleaned in Seattle.  I could have done without the night at boat take-out; party central with a big fight, some domestic violence and lots of drunk-driving.