DAY 49 (6/21): Top of the World Highway

From Tok, we took the Taylor highway towards a town called "Chicken" (yes, Chicken - it was supposed to be named after the Alaska State bird - the Ptarmigan - but apparently people had a hard time spelling it, so they went with Chicken...more on that later.).  The drive again is beautiful, and the weather great when we left.  We are learning all about permafrost on this trip and how it messes with the roads and buildings.

There is really nothing along this stretch, and as we near Chicken, we really need gas.  We are trying to keep the tank at least half full all of the time, but we forgot to fuel up in Tok, so here is the gas experience in Chicken:

The gas station is also a Store/RV Park, and then there is another Store/RV Park just down the road.

This might be the "real" town of Chicken...?  Another store, a bar & cafe - they obviously get by on tourism.

As we leave Chicken, we get closer to the "Top of the World Highway", and we spot a herd of Caribou!

This shows you our whereabouts for today's drive:

Here we are at the "Top of the World"!

And those ominous clouds did turn into hail, but then cleared up!

As we approach Dawson City (our destination for the day) we start to see signs of town, but we are not actually there yet.  You need to take the George Black Ferry across the Yukon River to actually get to town!

When I was researching this trip, I read about this, but since the Top of the World Highway is  shut down for the winter, you can't look up actually how long it is going to take to do the drive, ferry, etc.  Ends up it is exactly as they say...ferry runs every 15 mins, and you just get in line and go when they say it's your turn...and it is free!

The entire drive left Barry exhausted...our van pretty dirty!

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 189 (Tok to Dawson City)