Long Dusty Ride...with showers at the end.
The day started sunny and dry as we pulled out of the Yukon River Campground and onto the Top Of The World Highway. We were on our way over the top to Alaska.
The map in the Milepost shows the Top of The World Highway as mostly paved but in reality it is mostly gravel except at the ends, not exactly what is on the maps. It started out paved enticing you to think that this is going to be quick and easy, but it turns into gravel within ten miles and, except for a couple of short stretches, stayed that way until a few miles from the border.
The road was definitely a high road and the views across the valleys and into the mountains was tough for the driver as it was hard to keep your eyes on the winding rolling road.
Why does the the Willow Ptarmigan cross the road? That is hard to answer, but a pair of them walked out right in front of Harry and Sally, fortunately with time for them to stop. They walked across the road, down into the ditch and then up onto the rocks along the side, giving us all very good looks at today's life bird.
After the ptarmigan, we came to some pavement and an easy border crossing at Poker Creek, AK (pop.3...only 2 presently). The border officer was one-half of the current residents of Poker Creek, which has a population of zero for eight months of the year. The road is closed and the border as well for all but four months each year.
As we left the border, a brand new paved road lay ahead. This was unexpected as the map showed the road as unpaved all the way to Chicken, Alaska. Once again, it was 10 miles of new road to soften you up, then 35 miles of gravel ending in road construction (muddy gravel). The road in Alaska was even rougher, narrower and steeper than in the Yukon. It traveled over ridges and along streams that were still being mined for gold. We saw operations using diggers and bulldozers and claims with one man, a pick and a sluice box in the river.
Finally, we arrived in Chicken in the midst of large heavy trucks, They are doing some type of road construction and it was even rougher and muddier than the rest of the road.
But which Chicken was it? It turns out there are several Chickens. There is the "Town of Chicken", The Golddigger lodge, restaurant, gas stop and purveyors of the world's weakest cafe latte. There is "Downtown Chicken", a rustic strip with general store, liquor store, saloon and restaurant (featuring chicken) where we had lunch, and there is Historic Chicken which we didn't find. All are privately owned. How can you own a town?
Chicken was a bit of a bust, without much charm. We'd originally thought we might overnight there, but decided it wasn't worth it and continued on to the Taylor Highway, which was actually paved, albeit a bit rough and bumpy from Chicken to the Alaska Highway at Tetlin Crossing.
We turned right at the Alaska Highway and made our way to Tok, stopping at the Three Bears Outpost in Tok for fuel. The outpost is more a hunting and fishing emporium than anything else with lots of camo gear, fishing supplies and lots of guns and ammo.
After a bit of research, we decided on the Tundra RV park as a spot to stay for the night. This turned out to be a good choice, although a little pricier than our usual stop, but it had wooded, flat sites, hot showers with no extra fees or buttons to keep pushing, a laundromat, a dump station and good-tasting water.
After a long trip to the showers and doing the laundry, we had a nice dinner outside among the trees, retiring in time to get settled before the inevitable overnight rains.
No comments:
Post a Comment