May 28, 2010

Top of the World, Chicken, Tok

 

Up early and off to gas up at the cheap station the locals use.  Then through Dawson City to the ferry.  We shared the ferry with another large RV also pulling a car. 

Less than ten minutes to cross the Yukon River and then we were off on the days adventure.  The Top of the World Highway starts at the west bank of the Yukon River and goes up.  And up.  And up.  Eleven straight miles of up, much of it pretty steep, with no downs or even level spots.  Starts out paved and then alternates with stretches of packed gravel.  Gravel is actually nicer to drive.  It is graded smooth.  Pavement is full of frost heaves and potholes, only some of which are patched. 

 

Eventually the road is all gravel.  After the eleven mile climb the road truly is on top of the world.  It follows a series of mountain ridges for 60 miles with deep valleys on first one side and then the other. 

    

 

 

 

 

 

The view is forever with mountain ridge after ridge after ridge on the horizon. 

Sue got a better view than I as I had to concentrate on the road most of the time.  We did stop several places to take in the views.

 

 

This was once a road stop and supply post in the days when the road was mostly a trail.

 

 

 

 

After two hours of driving we came to the US/Canadian border.  Two buildings and a customs gate in the middle of nowhere. 

There are four border agents.  Two Canadian, two American. 

 

Here is the American agents housing.  Double click to read the sign. (If you can’t read it, it says POKER CREEK ALASKA  Pop. 2)

 

 

We showed our passports, answered a few questions, and that was it.  We were in Alaska.  But still in the middle of nowhere. 

This is the original trading post in a “town” called Boundary.  The “town” still functions.  There are a couple buildings to the left. Has a gas pump and even a small  airstrip that services a small mining operation nearby.  Also for emergencies I imagine.

 

Immediately the road changed for the worse.  Narrower and a lot less grading.  And what goes up (the road) has to come down sometime.  Long downhill stretches with some tight turns.  Still quite manageable but required full attention.  Drove through a lot of old mining sites, some still operating on a very small scale. 

 

This is a pilot car for what you see in the distance on the right.  One of two HUGE tourist busses.  That is another story.  Glad we met them here and not further on. See below.

 

This is the view from a section of road the locals call “Goat Highway”.  Two lane (almost) dirt road that clings to the side of the mountain with a near vertical drop of over a thousand feet one side, straight up the other.

 

Another 35 miles and we were in Chicken, AK.  Google it to learn the origin of the name.  Everything you read paints this place as some sort of Mecca for Alaska travel.  The buildings were quaint I guess but what we impression was that of some old buildings in poor repair filled with over priced souvenirs and food being sold by very unfriendly people.  We didn’t stay long and would not recommend the place with any enthusiasm.

 

This is the Chicken Post Office.  It was worth the trip.  Operating in same building for over 100 years.  AND, the postmistress was very nice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seventy more miles, most of it paved, and we were back to the Alaska Highway.  Twelve miles west and we are in Tok. (rhymes with Coke) It is a junction of two major roads but that is about it.  Three RV parks and some gas stations and a visitor center.  We may be here a day or so though.  There is a fire up the road a few miles.

We are done with dirt and gravel roads for a while (planned ones anyway) so we washed both vehicles.  They look much happier.