Top of the World

This morning we bid farewell to Dawson City and boarded the George Black Ferry for our trip across the Yukon River. Darned thing seemed awful small to be carrying two trucks, a travel trailer, our Winnebago with Jeep in tow plus a motorcycle and trailer.  It was a bit of a squeeze getting on but we made it without incident.

Crossing on the George Black Ferry

After disembarking from the ferry the road took us from around 1900 ft elevation to almost 4000 ft in about 12 miles.  The views at the top were amazing.  What wasn't amazing, or even amusing, was the sight of storm clouds to the west.

View from Top of the World Highway

The guide books promised us a nice paved road but what we got was a lot of gravel with a few paved sections.  I taped up my remaining lights to protect them from the rocks and we made our way toward the Alaska border.

Top of the World Highway

The rain started about 30 miles in to the journey even though the forecast was for sun with some clouds with the possibility of a shower in late afternoon.  We were cautioned about driving this section of road in the rain but here we were.  We stopped for lunch at a pull out in the rain and then decided to continue on to Chicken.  We crossed the border into Alaska at about 1:00 PM and the road took a turn for the worst.  What had been wet gravel before the border now became wet, slippery mud and the rain continued.  At 10 miles into Alaska we saw one of the original Road Houses for the Gold Rush.  It didn't seem like a great place to spend the night so we continued on our way.

Boundary Lodge Road House

The road was narrow and the rain made for interesting times when meeting other vehicles. Thankfully they were few and far between.  We descended from our maximum elevation of 4500 feet back to around 1900 feet at Chicken.  We arrived safely at 2:30 PM Alaska time with many pounds of mud on both vehicles.  We cleaned the windows of the Jeep, scraped the mud off the running boards and cleaned the entrance and steps of the motorhome, just enough to get by.  We would have done more but all of the water in Chicken is trucked in and they didn't want us using it to wash our vehicles.  

Jeep after Top of the World Highway & Some Cleaning

We celebrated our successful travel day by enjoying a nice glass of Alaska Amber Ale and a great hamburger at the Chicken Creek Saloon.  It was nice and quiet at the time we were there but they told us to come back at 9:00 PM when the locals arrived if we wanted to see some excitement.  One thing we didn't expect to see was the four tour buses that stopped in while we were there.  Apparently the options for where you go on cruise/bus vacations is endless.

Mary at Chicken Creek Saloon

Is there something strange about the fact that we have the best wireless Internet connection of the trip here in Chicken, Alaska, a town without its own water supply.  

Our plan for tomorrow is to arise early and take a day trip in the Jeep to Eagle, Alaska, a round trip of 200 miles on the same kind of roads we drove today.