On the good advice of friends we had met in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, we decided to take a side trip from Tok to see the "town" of Chicken, Alaska and then go to Dawson City, Yukon to spend the night in a Bed & Breakfast. The road over to Chicken and then the "Top of the World Highway" to Dawson City is the roughest we had seen. We drove the Jeep and were very happy we had not taken the motorhome or we would have had scrambled eggs when we arrived. Jim calls it the "Top of the World Jeep Trail." Since it was about 68 miles to Chicken plus another 115 to Dawson City, we took 2 days to make the trip.
This is Lynda in front of the "famous Chicken, Alaska Post Office." This post office serves miners who live way out in the hinterlands. There are many "Family mines" in the area, some as far as 50 miles off of the road. This is their post office. Chicken got it's name because they wanted to name the town after the state bird, the Ptarmigan and no one could spell it. So they settled on chicken, which looks like the Ptarmigan and is easy to spell! We did see a Ptarmigan cross the road on the way back from Dawson. (The P is silent).
Lynda is here talking with the postmistress, Robin Hammond, who coincidently has a daughter attending Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia and another daughter getting ready to go to some small college in Columbus, Ohio to study Equestrian Management or something similar. How about that! She & her husband are miners so I believe they are still taking gold out of the area! (These are private women's colleges!)
One of the few birds I saw! This, I think is a White Crowned Sparrow. Anyone agree or disagree?
This is "downtown Chicken" or as you might say, "the Chicken Mall". There is a cafe, a general store and a gas pump. All the electricity comes from a diesel generator in back.
These are the fanciest outhouses I ever sat in! They were very neat & clean with wooden regular toilet seats and linoleum on the floor, as well as sanitizing hand dispensers on the wall- just first class! Note the sign on top.
I believe this is the second largest drege in the world with the largest being in Dawson City. We had toured one before in Idaho and it was impressive! We did not go on this one nor the one in Dawson City. (You've seen one, you've seen them all! :-) ) They can go down a creekbed and pull up rocks from 20 feet down and extract the gold. When in operation, you can hear them for miles.
This is one scene of the Top of the World Highway from Chicken to Dawson City. You can see the road is all dirt (this was the best dirt section), and goes along near the top of all these mountains. It is maybe the highest longitudinally of any road in this hemisphere which travels east to west. The area is all alpine.
This is another view of the road as it approaches the Customs Station, the tiny grey area in the center near the last dome mountain.
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This is another view from the Top of the World highway. I was brave enough to drive the Jeep over to Dawson but had to have Jim drive back. The road going east from Customs was particularly hairy for me.
This is the old bank in Dawson City, in obvious disrepair, in which Robert Service once worked. He wrote the poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Next to it is a paddleboat, similar to the ones which run along the Yukon River. They have one here which runs from Dawson City to Eagle, Alaska.
This is the downtown street in Dawson City that houses all the hotels. There is no pavement in town and the sidewalks are wood planks, as they hold up better than cement in the winter.
This is the Jack London Cabin, where he stayed while in Dawson City, prospecting for gold. He was only here less than a year and did not write any books here.
Jim is in front of the Robert Servcie Cabin which he rented while here in Dawson City. While here he worked at the bank and was there when he met Sam McGee, for whom he wrote that famous poem. Just remember that he used a lot of poetic license in it, but it did use Sam McGee's name, with his permission.
When Dawson City was the territorial head of the Yukon Government, this is where they met. It is now a museum and they still hold court on the second floor. The current territorial government city is Whitehorse.
This is a view of Dawson City, the larger Yukon River and the samller Klondike River on the left, taken from on top of the famous "Midnight Dome". They originally came up here on the longest day to hold bonfires and celebrate the longest day when there was practicall no darkness. (June 21)
We had to ride this free ferry across the Yukon River both coming and going from Dawson City via the Top of the World Highway. (They used the word highway loosely there!)
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Top of the World Highway going back east toward Chicken and eventually Tok. This was great dirt road compared to the very narrow, hairpin turns, steep sections on the Alaska side.
.JPG)
Another view of the top of the World Highway. There were many times when you could not see beyond the road until you approached certain areas. This must have been enroute up the mountain to US Customs.
This is the cabin at Customs and reads, " Poker Creek, Alaska, elevation 4,127 feet, Pop(ulation) 2, Most Northerly Land Border Port in the USA."
This is just a "Top of the World" view of the surrounding mountains, near the Customs Spot.
This is a view of the South Fork River Valley just before going over a mountain toward Chicken from Dawson. It was very pretty. We stopped at a BLM campground and ate our lunch by the river.
This is firewood, a noxious weed which blooms in late June in the mountains. It is a billiant pink and very pretty all along the roads.
These are some alpine yellow wildflowers.
View of dirt road from Chicken back west to Tok. Note the road in the distance.
.JPG)
Another view of the rough road from Chicken back to Tok. It was almost all dirt and full of washboard & potholes!
Lynda is here talking with the postmistress, Robin Hammond, who coincidently has a daughter attending Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia and another daughter getting ready to go to some small college in Columbus, Ohio to study Equestrian Management or something similar. How about that! She & her husband are miners so I believe they are still taking gold out of the area! (These are private women's colleges!)
One of the few birds I saw! This, I think is a White Crowned Sparrow. Anyone agree or disagree?
This is "downtown Chicken" or as you might say, "the Chicken Mall". There is a cafe, a general store and a gas pump. All the electricity comes from a diesel generator in back.
These are the fanciest outhouses I ever sat in! They were very neat & clean with wooden regular toilet seats and linoleum on the floor, as well as sanitizing hand dispensers on the wall- just first class! Note the sign on top.
I believe this is the second largest drege in the world with the largest being in Dawson City. We had toured one before in Idaho and it was impressive! We did not go on this one nor the one in Dawson City. (You've seen one, you've seen them all! :-) ) They can go down a creekbed and pull up rocks from 20 feet down and extract the gold. When in operation, you can hear them for miles.
This is one scene of the Top of the World Highway from Chicken to Dawson City. You can see the road is all dirt (this was the best dirt section), and goes along near the top of all these mountains. It is maybe the highest longitudinally of any road in this hemisphere which travels east to west. The area is all alpine.
This is another view of the road as it approaches the Customs Station, the tiny grey area in the center near the last dome mountain..JPG)
This is another view from the Top of the World highway. I was brave enough to drive the Jeep over to Dawson but had to have Jim drive back. The road going east from Customs was particularly hairy for me.
This is the old bank in Dawson City, in obvious disrepair, in which Robert Service once worked. He wrote the poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Next to it is a paddleboat, similar to the ones which run along the Yukon River. They have one here which runs from Dawson City to Eagle, Alaska.
This is the downtown street in Dawson City that houses all the hotels. There is no pavement in town and the sidewalks are wood planks, as they hold up better than cement in the winter.
This is the Jack London Cabin, where he stayed while in Dawson City, prospecting for gold. He was only here less than a year and did not write any books here.
Jim is in front of the Robert Servcie Cabin which he rented while here in Dawson City. While here he worked at the bank and was there when he met Sam McGee, for whom he wrote that famous poem. Just remember that he used a lot of poetic license in it, but it did use Sam McGee's name, with his permission.
When Dawson City was the territorial head of the Yukon Government, this is where they met. It is now a museum and they still hold court on the second floor. The current territorial government city is Whitehorse.
This is a view of Dawson City, the larger Yukon River and the samller Klondike River on the left, taken from on top of the famous "Midnight Dome". They originally came up here on the longest day to hold bonfires and celebrate the longest day when there was practicall no darkness. (June 21)
We had to ride this free ferry across the Yukon River both coming and going from Dawson City via the Top of the World Highway. (They used the word highway loosely there!).JPG)
Top of the World Highway going back east toward Chicken and eventually Tok. This was great dirt road compared to the very narrow, hairpin turns, steep sections on the Alaska side..JPG)
Another view of the top of the World Highway. There were many times when you could not see beyond the road until you approached certain areas. This must have been enroute up the mountain to US Customs.
This is the cabin at Customs and reads, " Poker Creek, Alaska, elevation 4,127 feet, Pop(ulation) 2, Most Northerly Land Border Port in the USA."
This is just a "Top of the World" view of the surrounding mountains, near the Customs Spot.
This is a view of the South Fork River Valley just before going over a mountain toward Chicken from Dawson. It was very pretty. We stopped at a BLM campground and ate our lunch by the river.
This is firewood, a noxious weed which blooms in late June in the mountains. It is a billiant pink and very pretty all along the roads.
These are some alpine yellow wildflowers.
View of dirt road from Chicken back west to Tok. Note the road in the distance..JPG)
Another view of the rough road from Chicken back to Tok. It was almost all dirt and full of washboard & potholes!
I haven't heard the "Cremation of Sam McGee" in years! Wow! More amazing pictures. Neat!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathleen!
ReplyDelete