People don’t know how to get to the Dome. It’s the one point someone always raises at the fall roundup held each year by the Klondike Visitors Association.
That’s one of the reasons the Dome hike is highlighted on the new Dawson City trail map. The map was released this month by the city’s parks and recreation department.
“It was a harder thing to do than you might think,” says Paul Robitaille, manager of parks and recreation. There are a ton of trails in Dawson.
“But some are just social trails that have turned into public trails … you want to make sure (the ones on the map) are safe and there is some maintenance and they’re not leading into someone’s backyard.”
So far, so good on that front, he says. No one’s called yet to complain that the map, which lists routes and distances for 18 different trails and trail connectors, cuts through their property. In fact, there haven’t been any requests to remove things from the map. Rather, Robitaille says people have made suggestions for what to include in the second draft of the map, which Robitaille’s department will work on this winter. Some of those additions include elevation, notes on topography, and the locations of outhouses and boxes that offer dog poop bags.
People have also mentioned increased signage, which is something the city is working on as well, especially at trail heads.
Robitaille says trails are a focus for the department for a number of reasons. Not only are there world-class trails in the city that deserve to be promoted, he says the cost to build and maintain a trail is “a pittance” compared to what it costs to build and maintain something like the Dawson City pool, which is only open a few months out of the year.
The operational costs of the local hockey rink, for example, could be in the hundreds of thousands. A trail might have capital costs of $50,000 to $100,000 to establish, but trails typically only require a few thousand a year to maintain after that.
“For me, the payoff is huge. The return on investment is great,” Robitaille says.
The trail map is just one of a number of trail projects on the go this year. Robitaille says there are plans to fix up the 9th Avenue Trail, which is part of the Trans Canada Trail. He says the contract has also been awarded to build a new trail to the Dome.
The current trail is tough to find, Robitaille says. The grade is nearly 45 per cent and people often mix it up with nearby mountain bike trails, which could result in uphill hiker/downhill biker collisions.
The new trail will consist of switchbacks, cut at a 10 per cent grade, with views of Dawson all the way to the Dome.
Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com
