Alaska Bound - Part VI - Over the Top ... to Alaska

(May 29 – June 1, 2018 – Top of the World Highway to Chicken, Alaska)

Moving on from Dawson City, we crossed the Yukon River on the George Black Ferry, a free ferry service provided by the Canadian Government. Arriving at the landing – a short gravel spit bulldozed into the river – we were pleasantly surprised there were only a few vehicles in line ahead of us. It was fascinating to watch a large RV pulling a Hummer ease across the metal ramp on the small ferry. Several more pickup trucks packed on the ferry and, with a roar of reversed engines, it backed away from the landing, swung out into the river current, and chugged across to the far shore. In just a short time the ferry returned, dropped its ramp, discharged a load of vehicles, and it was our turn to board. We noted the round trip for the ferry had taken about 20 minutes.

Crossing the Yukon River

Travel Itinerary 2018 – Part VI

Since my rig was the largest on this crossing, I was first to board the ferry – easing the F-350 and fifth-wheel across the gravel landing spit and across the metal ramp to the ferry – a process managed without any dragging of leveling jacks, dings, or scrapes. Kim also made it on with our Toyota Tundra, followed by a medium-sized Class-C RV and a bicyclist or two. Vehicles loaded two-abreast.

Crossing the Yukon River went smoothly, although Jasmine and Pepper were not impressed by the loud engine noises and weird movements of the ferry. After a few moments of nervously looking around, the pups decided it was alright and settled down to sleep again.

Over the Top of the World

The ferry discharged us at the landing in West Dawson and from there we on the famous Top of the World Highway. Initially paved, the highway became well-graded dirt and gravel just a few miles past West Dawson. The road climbed ever upwards into the hills and then wound along the ridge lines, continuing to climb until we were well above the tree-line.

The highway lived up to its name, as we enjoyed seemingly endless vistas of hills and low mountains marching to the horizon only to meet with distant snow-capped ranges. You truly felt like you were on the Top of the World driving this route. Along the way we saw many attractive turnouts where one could safely dry-camp a few nights.

Surprisingly, road conditions were quite good along the Top of the World. The road had some sections of pavement, but was mostly dirt and gravel. The road had been recently graded with only a few sections of wash-boarding, potholes, or old ruts in evidence. As we climbed higher, we passed old snow banks along the road, although the road was clear.

Along the way we ran into increasingly heavy cloud cover, rain, and even snow showers at higher elevations. The rain helped to keep the dust down on the road, but was not heavy enough to turn road surfaces slick. We met a few oncoming travelers along the way, but never had any issues with rock damage or narrow roads – even at the narrowest sections, the road was wide enough for two vehicles to pass without issue.

Alaska … At Last!

Almost before we knew it, we were approaching the US/Canada border crossing at Poker Creek, Alaska / Little Gold, Yukon Territory. The border crossing went smoothly – we presented passports, answered a few standard questions and were waved through. We made it! Goodbye Yukon and hello Alaska!

On to Chicken

From the border crossing, the Top of the World Highway was nicely paved, but for just a few miles where it transitioned to the Taylor Highway, reverting to dirt and gravel surface. The Taylor Highway section was rougher than anything we saw along the Top of the World, but still not too bad.

We finally arrived at Chicken, Alaska, a town famously known for a muddle over names. As the story goes, the townsfolk wanted to name the town after the Ptarmigan (state bird of Alaska), but could not agree on spelling or pronunciation of the name, so settled on the next best thing – Chicken!

We stayed for 3-nights at the Chicken Gold Camp RV Park, a lovely little park with scenic views, gold panning, displays of antique mining equipment, a historic gold dredge and, of course, a giant chicken sculpture. Also, home of the Chickenstock Music Festival. Our campsite was pull-through with water and 30-amp electric. Unfortunately, due to the late spring, campsite water lines and the RV dump station were still frozen. We were able to fill our fresh water tank from a hydrant at the office. Neither lack of water hookup or RV dump was an issue for us on such a short stay.

We did a little sight-seeing around Chicken – there’s not a lot to the town – several RV parks, cafés, and gas stations; a downtown consisting of a gas station, mercantile emporium, liquor store, saloon, and Cafe; a post office and interesting displays of historic mining equipment. (Oh … and lots of chickens!) Still, this was a fun stop and we enjoyed our stay here.