Dawson City, Yukon - August 5th

Well, our plans changed a little bit thanks to our friend Judy from Missouri! She said we just had to visit Dawson City because it was her favorite place on their trip to Alaska. An email from my friend, Diane said she enjoyed it too.

So we left Valdez on Saturday, drove north through Tok, Ak. and started up the “Top of the World Highway” to Chicken, Alaska. Thirty miles short of our destination we pulled into a turnout overlooking a series of mountain ranges and stopped for the night. The road to Chicken is 65 miles of a very narrow gravel road with steep inclines, soft shoulders and no guard rails. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining because it can get dangerous.

This morning, as we were preparing to get under way, a car pulled into the turnout and the fellow inside asked Jim if he wouldn’t mind taking a picture of him with the mountains as a backdrop. It turns out he was a physician from France traveling alone. He asked lots of questions about our trailer so we invited him in. He was amazed and took lots of pictures of the interior and exterior and us! I’d love to be a fly on the wall as he shows those pictures when he gets home.

We finally left for Chicken. After miles and miles of a dusty road and unbelievable scenery we arrived. Chicken’s a gold mining town with active claims but it’s becoming a tourist spot. There are several campgrounds, a post office, a unique bar and a couple of gift stores. We stayed long enough to take pictures of a gold dredge, visit some of the stores and talk with another couple from Texas who had a Montana like ours. Then we were back to the dust, pot holes and washboard filled road towards Dawson City. After another 30 miles we reached the Canadian border and passed through customs without a hitch. I had our birth certificates in the truck this time but the agent didn’t even ask for them!

The Canadian side of the road was paved… well at least for a while, until we ran into long stretches of gravel. It started to rain the minute we crossed the border and that helped keep the dust down a bit and it wasn’t coming down hard enough to turn muddy.

Around one of the turns we surprised two caribou grazing on the side of the road. I think we got some good photos of them before they took off. Jim’s still wishing to see some brown bears that close.

We finally spotted the Yukon River off in the distance and knew that Dawson City couldn’t be too far away. It wasn’t long before the road ended at the river and we were first in line to drive onto the ferry that takes you across the river. It’s a free ride provided by the Canadian government. The river runs very fast and it was interesting watching the ferry cross back to our side with a load of cars. It doesn’t hold too many, maybe 8 all together. I think our truck and 5^th wheel took up one side of the ferry. We had to ride inside the truck so I couldn’t see who was behind us, if anyone.

We will be spending two nights here at a campground near town and then we will be heading home for sure!