On top of the World

Dawson City to Chicken

June 11^th, Sunday, travel day

June 12^th, Monday in Chicken

In order to get to Chicken, Alaska without backtracking through the Yukon, you can hop on the free ferry that operates 24 hours a day except for 2 hours a week, 5am -7am, when it shuts down for maintenance. 

The 5-minute ride will take you across the Yukon River so you can travel the Top Of The World Hwy. It really takes longer to carefully load everyone than to zip across! There were just two rigs on our load.

 

The Top of the World Hwy is a gravel road but well maintained.  No problems unless it rains and then they say it can become a washboard.  Our trip was full of gorgeous views that we had ample time to enjoy as our average speed was 35 mph.

  I did mention that it is not a paved road which equals road dust.  Oh my…did we collect our share…yes sir….and then some.  Thank goodness Dad had sealed up any areas that were open and subject to intrusion.  We are great inside, but because we met some traffic…not many mind you….but just enough to kick up some dust for us to drive through….and then the dust our own tires were kicking up. Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Just check out the back of our rig where were have the heaviest collection of road dust.

That tire cover was gray when clean!

The highway takes you into Alaska….WE MADE IT to Alaska😊.  The customs station is small…just one lane on our side.  We had to show our passports, Hickory’s papers and our vehicle registration before crossing but it was smooth gliding as we encountered a well-constructed, paved, complete with center-line-paint, road that had a fairly new look to it. 

About the time Dad made the comment, “Why can’t the Canadians build a nice road like this?”, everything turned to dirt, bumps, narrow and the worst road of the day.  We had 28 miles of Taylor Highway at an average speed of 22 mph.  Not a fun drive trying to avoid the worst of the bumps.  At least with the lack of traffic, we could use the whole road to weave around dips and bumps.

When we pulled into our campground in Chicken, Alaska, Dad said, “Are we in Woodstock?” as a festival was just ending.  No, not Woodstock…..Chickenstock!  Tents were being folded up, cars loaded up and it just looked like total chaos.  What simply amazed us was after the people vacated, there was absolutely no trash and you would never have known the area had been blanketed with tents, vehicles and people.  This is a well-maintained campground.  Such a contrast to the ‘parking lots’ we have been experiencing.  So tidy, neat and well groomed. 

Now let me share with you a few unique…. because of the area… amenities.  There are NO flush toilets.

  NO laundromat.  The water is trucked in, treated and available for you to fill your fresh water tank as sites have electric ONLY.  The frost is too deep to handle running water.  There is a black water dump for an extra charge.  If you want to make use of it, you contribute to the cost of having the dump pumped out rather than just charging everyone an increased rate for your stay.  Hey, it works.  I’m sure a lot of campers do what we did and just took our black water with us as we had a short stay. There is no cell service, no TV but there is limited wifi.  Winter population is 2 (two)….the postmaster and his wife.

There really isn’t much to Chicken.  This is downtown chicken. 

And the only other thing you will find are two campgrounds.  Our campground had a nice gift shop and café.  You could even pan for gold if you had an interest.

  The dredge and the chicken add to the personality and history of the area. 

The story is, the original settlers…the gold miners… wanted to name the area after the plentiful local birds that resemble chickens.  Because they couldn’t spell ptarmigan, they just settled for CHICKEN.

We did tour some of the older buildings of the original settlement.  It is amazing how the frost can heave the floor of the buildings and mess with the foundation.  This 'chicken' (or could it be a ptarmigan?) didn’t appreciate having us so close to her family so she tried to draw us away. 

Hickory

….on the road again