The settlement of Chicken.
A very steep and scary road.The barren top of the mountains with the border & customs buildings.
Saturday, June 4
We met Bob & Becky for coffee and sourdough pancakes. Bob also had reindeer sausage that he thought was pretty spicy. Anyway, breakfast was delicious and conversation was great. Bob & Becky had a lot of advice for us on camping. They promised to email us sites and names of guidebooks for free or inexpensive camping. They invited us to Texas (not far from my cousins, Bill & Cyndy) and we invited them to Michigan and Canada. There is a fairly good chance we'll see them this fall in Canada. We finally hugged good bye and packed up for the trip to Chicken and Dawson City.
About 12 miles out of Tok, we picked up Highway 5 to Chicken. The road was narrow, but paved and it wound and climbed into green, mosscovered mountains. We saw a porcupine right away and a little later, a fox trotting down the road carrying something that looked like a skunk or snowshoe rabbit.
We saw very few cars and we stopped often enjoying the view, the air and the quiet sounds.
At a rest area, we met four older guys on motorcycles traveling in the opposite direction. Their sense of humor made us laugh as we compared things we had each seen along the way. They advised us to travel slowly and enjoy the moment. Isn't that just life!
We came over a large hill and as the road turned to dusty gravel, we saw the small mining settlement of Chicken below. Old mines were scattered around with some small shops. There was a lot of Gold Rush history there. We did a quick stop (toot & wave) and got t-shirts and soup and cookies to go.
After Chicken, the gravel road got steep and winding with no shoulders and huge drop offs. I held my breath and closed my eyes often. There was NO room for error and I felt it my duty to remind Bob of that often!
We kept climbing until we were way above the tree line. You could see forever. It is properly named The Top of the World Highway. We drove through miles of the barren top of the mountains to the Canadian border. The border consisted of a checkpoint with an office and a few cabins. It was cold and sprinkling rain and they had a small campfire going. We stopped and enjoyed chatting with them for a while as no one else was around. What a remote job. They told us it was an hour more to get to Dawson City. We had not seen any wildlife and they said there wasn't much at this time of year. In July, Canada's largest caribou herd migrates across and that brings bears.
We were ready to stop as we came over the mountain and saw Dawson City below. The road ends at the Yukon River and you drive right up on to a ferry that is free and takes you across to Front Street in Dawson city.
Front Street was the only paved road in the authentic frontier town of Dawson City. We felt like we'd stepped back in time.
We stayed in an RV Park a few streets over, right in town. We were packed in like sardines and we had trouble getting in and out of the door, but the convenience was nice.
We walked to town and had fabulous seafood chowder at Klondike Kate's. We met the sweetest two older ladies who had been born there in town and had traveled back to reminisce. They were appalled that Front Street had been paved. Their daughters had come along to laugh and hear the stories.
After dinner, we walked to the casino, Diamond Tooth Gertie's. I threw away $10 and Bob won $10, so we pretty much broke even, thanks to his "Fish Kid" luck! We stayed for half of the show and wandered back to squeeze into our trailer for the night.
The ferry ride into Dawson City.
The ferry ride into Dawson City.
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