...🙂...OK, first of all, I just wished to use here today the nostalgic "All Aboard" phrase that we once used to hear on the Railway Stations in this part of the world (I do not believe it is (or was) prevalent in other parts of the world). The train conductor would shout "All Aboard" just before the locomotive's brakes are released along with that unmistakable hissing and howling sound...and instantly with much anticipation we would be on our way...🙂...Also, earlier this week I caught (re-run) bits of the (2004) animated Christmas film "The Polar-Express"...Oh boy...20+ years have already passed since it was first released...clearly time and tide (and graying of hair...🙂...) wait for none. So, I got to hear again that soundbite from Tom Hanks, playing the role of the Conductor, who famously announces this iconic phrase "All Aboard!" at the beginning of the film, inviting the (skeptical) Hero Boy on a journey of magical adventure and restoration of belief...Oh well...

Next, about the Klondike Gold Rush part of my post: though I've visited northern Canada in MSFS, I've been meaning to do a (virtual) trip to the Klondike region. I was further motivated after I happened to recently catch a re-viewing of the 1991 film adaptation of Jack London's "White Fang", a film I'd first seen more than 30 years ago. Per the plot, at the time of Klondike Gold Rush, a young prospector arrives in Alaska, from San Francisco, seeking to find his deceased father's mining claim in Klondike, in the process befriending a wolfdog (hybrid of a wolf and a dog). Ethan Hawke looks like a schoolboy in that film...🙂...compared to his mature action movie roles of recent times.

If you glimpse the Wiki page of "Klondike Gold Rush", it contains a single image of the long line of prospectors painstakingly climbing up the Chilkoot Pass, a memorable scene of the above film's plot, which is well-reproduced. The history of Gold Rush in North America, whether it's the California Gold Rush of the ~1950, or the Alaska Gold Rush or the Yukon (aka Klondike) Gold Rush of the ~1900, remains a most fascinating (and somewhat tragic) segment of human endeavor, of massive influx and migration of mankind irresistibly allured by the common goal of finding gold (and striking it rich). The Yukon Gold Rush is also called the Klondike Gold Rush because the gold discovery that sparked this frenzied rush occurred in the Klondike region of the Yukon Territory, in (remote) northwestern Canada, specifically near the Klondike River.

OK...it's a bit too late for us now to stake our mining claims in Yukon's Gold Territory...🙂...actually we're late by about 130 years. In a short 3-year period, between 1896-1899, an estimated 100,000 people, from all walks of life, by no means hardened mountaineers, attempted to reach the Klondike Goldfields during the Yukon Gold Rush. Actually, only about 30,000 to 40,000 made it there (most succumbed to the cold, starvation, or illness).  

In sharp contrast, we're travelling today in the comfort of air travel...🙂..., with the destination of our journey being Dawson City (CYDA Airport) that is situated at the confluence of the Klondike River and the Yukon River. In the images below, you will see these rivers shining below my approach path to the runway of the Dawson City Airport. Yes, those were the rivers that served as the primary sites of Klondike Gold Rush, and the (one time boomtown) Dawson City was inseparably linked to (and widely considered the heart of) the Klondike/Yukon Gold Rush. In 1896, the first prospectors found gold in a small creek that flows into the Klondike River, which joins the Yukon River at Dawson City. The news spread like wildfire across the continent, and the California Gold Rush, having already ended, all those eager prospectors now headed north to the Klondike.

So, we are indeed travelling here to the epicenter of the historic Klondike Gold Rush, and this virtual passage is the best yours truly can do for you today...🙂...until hopefully some of us may one day (IRL) get to visit Dawson City, seemingly a most beautiful and off-the-beaten-track town in the heart of Yukon Territory. I did notice a poster in the (CYDA) Airport Building (see below for one picture) proclaiming, "WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL TOWN OF DAWSON CITY".

It's to be noted that the majority of the prospectors to the Klondike Gold Rush region came from the U.S. e.g., from California and Alaska. So, here, I start out from Juneau (Alaska) flying almost directly north, "as the crow flies", from PAJN/Juneau to CYDA/Dawson City. I've only one en-route waypoint (see my EFB Map Route) for Skagway (PAGY/Alaska), btw, the locale for film adaptation of another Jack London classic, "The Call of the Wild". I found Skagway to be (geographically) a most remarkable place. Located along a narrow water inlet and surrounded on the sides by high and stunning mountains (see several pictures below of my overfly at ~12,000 ft), the town was a vital gateway to the Klondike gold fields further north, just as we are tracking our passage today. Skagway even hosts the historic "Gold Rush cemetery" that served as the final resting place for many of the prospectors who came in search of the gold but were unable to survive the harsh elements of winter.

For the choice of conveyance for our adventure, I am using the (Asobo/Carenado) Cessna C404 Titan twin-prop, a most enjoyable aircraft to fly in the SIM, though not equipped with the most advanced avionics suite (see e.g., one image of the stone-age...🙂...rudimentary autopilot panel, below the pedestal). This livery (the only one available) is of the Medical Mission Air Ambulance Charity (see my last 2 images below; including an interior shot). This is the same livery, btw, that you see for the (MSFS2024) PC-12 NGX flying in the opening video, every time you launch MSFS2024...

Hope you enjoy this collection of pictures from our flight today, as we go gold-prospecting...🙂...into the heart of the Klondike region...far up north in Canada's Yukon territory...!

Thanks for viewing...!

Great shots, P_7878 and I love your introduction to your screenies. I can imagine that it's a bit of work to put it together.

14 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

Great shots, P_7878 and I love your introduction to your screenies. I can imagine that it's a bit of work to put it together.

Glad you liked these pictures, bernd. As you very well know ...🙂...posting screenshots anyway takes some time of preparation. And mine (and yours...) takes a bit of extra time. I do not feel my (virtual) flight is complete without knowing a bit more than what I see...🙂...

Appreciated the note. Cheers...!

Edited March 29, 20251 yr by P_7878

Great set P_7878. nice aircraft and scenery! 🙂

On 3/30/2025 at 8:04 AM, andiflyit said:

Great set P_7878. nice aircraft and scenery! 🙂

Thanks, Andreas, for catching this set of my/our Gold Rush expedition pictures... 🙂...

Cheers...!

nice series

Fine set, like the landscape around the Klondike..

cheers 😉

12 hours ago, jankees said:

nice series

Thank you for the note, Jan. Glad you liked this series of images...!

 

3 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Fine set, like the landscape around the Klondike..

cheers 😉

Thanks. Yes, pmplayer, MSFS has actually done a decent job of this whole region...e.g., for the entire route I flew here from Juneau to Klondike, especially around Dawson City. The (default) CYDA airport has at least a semblance to the real thing...🙂...world apart from the old FSX days...

 

[Note: Folks, I just noticed on another reading of the text that I'd a typo error about when California Gold Rush took place. It was ~1850... (1848-1855) ...NOT ~1950....🙂...]