Alaska - Tok, Chicken, Dawson City

We crossed the border into Alaska on June 16^th.  We enjoyed our travels through Canada and found the Alaska Highway to be in much better shape than we had been told to expect.  There were plenty of sections under construction and long sections that had a lot of frost heaves; driving on these sections was like being on a washboard.  But we weren’t in any hurry so we drove slow and enjoyed the scenery.  

 

We spent one night at an Alaska state campground in Tok.  The next morning we left our coach at the Coast Guard Loran Station in Tok and drove across the Top of the Mountain Highway back into Canada to Dawson City.  Many RVers take this route on their way to Alaska but it is 180 miles of mostly dirt and gravel roads with steep climbs and no guard rails.  We decided to do this as a side trip and save the wear and tear on the coach.  We were very glad we did it this way.  It was a beautiful drive along the mountains ridge line but the road was every bit as bad as we had heard.  The views were incredible with wide open vistas stretching out for miles.  It took six hours to get to Dawson City with a short lunch stop in Chicken, Alaska.  Chicken is a very small community with a post office, gas station, RV park, and restaurant.  No flush toilets in town, just the “Chicken Poop” outhouse.  Lunch was good but expensive with Don’s hamburger costing $13 and my chili was $5.50.  A draft beer was $6.  

We crossed back into Canada at Poker Junction, population 2 – the border crossing guards.  Surprisingly, the road improved once we crossed into Canada.  At the end of the road we had to take a ferry across the Yukon River into Dawson City.  The river is very wide and very fast, and the ferry seemed to go sideways across the current.  It was a very small ferry, carrying just one or two RVs or large trucks and three or four cars.  The information brochure said the wait could be three or four hours during peak times but we only waited a few minutes.

Dawson City is a very old town established in the late 1800s during the Klondike gold rush.  The streets are mostly dirt with boardwalks along the front of the stores and businesses.  We got a “cheap” room at the Midnight Sun Hotel for only $79 – very basic room, double bed, TV, bathroom.  After checking in and dropping off our luggage (one backpack), we went exploring.  It took about an hour to walk from one end of town to the other and back to the hotel.  Many of the buildings have had some restoration or at least a coat of paint but they are all very old.  The town is a regular tourist stop for the Princess cruise lines and a couple tour bus companies.   We walked through the old church and visited a small museum with photos from the gold rush days.   After dinner we listened to music at one of the many saloons along the main street, enjoying an excellent piano player and singing old songs.  We saw a floor show at the very small casino and then returned to the hotel.  It was 11:30 at night and the sun was still shining.  The sun “sets” around midnight and then comes up again at 3:20 a.m.  It never gets really dark and we haven’t seen any stars since we left Montana.

We headed back to Alaska the next morning.  It rained most of the way – no dust on this trip but lots of mud.  The rain clouds over the mountain peaks were beautiful in their own way.  We ran into sleet several times and once watched the Jeep outside thermometer drop from 60 degrees to 41 degrees in just a few seconds.  It was an interesting trip.