May 22 & 23, Highway to the Top of the World? I call it Highway From "HELL!"

Our new adventure today was to follow the Klondike Loop to Dawson City, then follow the “The Top of the World Highway,” across the Alaskan border, stop in chicken, and camp at Tok, Alaska.  We knew that it was going to be a slow-going trip and that most of those 400-so miles would be on gravel roads.  We found out that others have a different definition

 of gravel roads than we have.

Dawson City is only 165 miles from the Arctic Circle; but that's not what people remember it for.  It was the center of the Gold Rush of 1896.  By 1898, this area had a population of 40,000 people.  Guess that's what you call "Gold Fever!"  By 1899, the Gold Rush ended and the town dwindled to about 8,000 people.  Today, there are about 1,300 people living there.  Looking at these old buildings makes you wonder what life was like back in those late 1890's.

No bridge to the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City!  We had to take a ferry across the Yukon River.  We drove our motorhome on and within a few minutes we were on the other side.  A little scary because that river has a very strong current.  It must have been really frightening for those who had to use it for their main means of travel in the early days.

The Top of the World Highway is one of the most northerly highways in the whole world at that latitude.  The higher we went, the more snow there was.  We even had some flakes in the air at about 4,000 feet.  The scenery was beautiful and the gravel roads were not too bad……yet!

Oh boy........was I wrong!  

Now this takes courage.  We met these bikers almost halfway through our journey.  I don’t know where they came from; but wherever it may have been, it had to be a long way on some pretty rough roads and steep elevation.  From Dawson City to Tok, Alaska is about 200 miles, minus lodging and food.  Temperatures were in the 30’s and besides…there are bears!

  

 Crossing the US border into Alaska. Did you know that Alaska is our most northern state, our most westerly state, and also our most easterly state?  Don’t believe me do you?  Google it… J

This US/Canadian border is only open from 8 in the morning to 8 at night.  If you miss that window...it's a long wait!  It also is closed during the winter months.  Must be a lonely job working up here.

NOT A GOOD SIGN OF THINGS TO COME!  Some pretty rough roads and we were lucky if we could go 20 M.P.H!  Only 45 miles to the next town...called "Chicken."  Hummmm...interesting name.

Chicken was founded on gold mining and is still today one of Alaska's few surviving gold rush towns.  The town has a population of 7 and as many as 17 year round, due to the mining in the area.  We stopped there and saw at least 1/2 of the population in the cafe and gift shop.  Maybe the other half were in the saloon. 

When this settlement was trying to figure out a name for their town, it was suggested that they call it "Ptarmigan" because of the effort to preserve this chicken-like bird of the area.  No one knew how to spell "Ptarmigan" and wanted to save the town from embarrassment of not knowing how to spell it.  Sooooo.......that's where the name "Chicken" came from.  It's the only town in the whole, wide world with this name.  

Finally, a road with potholes!  It's better than what we have been on for hours and hours today.  Actually... the road wasn't too bad to our destination. Tok, Alaska is a small town about 200 miles from Fairbanks.

Tok originated as an Alaska Road Commission Camp for the construction of the Alcan Highway and Glenn Highways back in the 1940's.  The Tok Race of Champions Dog Sled Race takes place in March and is the oldest dog race in the state.  Nice little town with a beautiful view of the mountains.  We were here 3 years ago, maybe a week later, and the campgrounds were practically full.  It's Memorial Weekend and hardly anyone is here.  We talked to one of the gift store owners about their busy season.  He said more people come through the area starting in June; but things have really slowed down over the past 3 years.  Even the Holland Bus Company isn't running their buses because 

they can't fill the buses with tourists. 

We were surprised and saddened by his information. 

We checked out some of the sites around town.  Look at all the front accessories added to these vehicle.  Not a surprise.

We're spending two days in Tok to relax.  We have driven over 4,000 in 11 days and need some time to fix things, wash clothes, do some grocery shopping, and just, plain reorganize. As our son Brian said when he called..."you mean you're taking a vacation from your vacation?"  Great way of putting it...but it's true. Traveling day after day puts you in another world and sometimes you just need to slow down and get back to reality and check on what day it is and...pay some bills.  Tomorrow....off to Fairbanks, Alaska.