Dawson City to Chicken Alaska

Dawson City to Chicken
Spike posted new pictures of the tour at www.alaskarvtour.com.
Today (Saturday) we got up at 5:00 AM to leave Dawson City for Chicken Alaska. We didn’t hook up the pickup as we planned to do it at the ferry. The ferry would hold our MH, another small MH and the pickup. It runs back and forth across the Yukon river and is free because it is part of the Yukon highway system .We got there early to avoid a backup when 20 RVs show up at the same time. Once we crossed the Yukon we drove 11 miles to a wide turnout where we waited for the rest of the group. Once we all assembled around 9:30 we took off for Chicken. We drove 97 miles on gravel roads with no guard rails and steep drops of hundreds of feet at some points. The road was paved at one point but the maintenance was too high so they are letting it deteriorate to gravel which holds up better in the extreme weather. According to a couple that took the tour in 2003 the road (called the Top of the World highway) is much better than it was then. On the 2003 tour it was a single lane road with turnouts to use when you met oncoming traffic.
A few miles from the US/Canadian border one of the big diesel pusher Class A RVs called in to report he was overheating. Roger our mechanic, stopped to help. We were still 50 miles from Chicken and 140 miles from Tok which was the closest parts store. After a lot of discussion between Spike, Roger, and Leo (the RV owner), which at one point considered flying a part in from Tok to Boundary, they sent the rest of the tour on to Chicken. Spike joined Roger at the disabled RV. They determined that his serpentine belt had broken and they nursed it across the border to Boundary. Roger and Leo drove to Tok to pick up a new belt. Leo’s wife and 91 year old mother stayed at the RV with Teresa (another staff member). By the time we arrived in Chicken all the towed vehicles were covered with thick dust. One couple left a window cracked open on their fifth wheel and it was full of dust and dirt.
The temp Saturday afternoon was 84 with a few clouds. Did I mention that gas in Dawson City was $5.00 per gallon?
Top picture is Chicken Alaska (old section is across the road), Others are the Comissioners house Poker Creek crossing (most northern crossing point in US-no illegals here), and old dredge in Dawson.

Around Dawson City

Yesterday was a busy day. We started off with a guided walking tour of Dawson City, visiting a bank, the old Post Office (that was abandoned after a few years because it took 300 cords of wood to heat it during the winter) and an old theater. All had been restored and were in great shape. After lunch we attended a reading at Robert Service’s Cabin (he is a famous poet of the Yukon), Jack London’s cabin, the RCMP cemetery and the Midnight Dome. All that took until about 5:00 PM. We rushed back to the MH and ate some dinner. At 6:30 PM we drove about 10 miles to an open claim where we panned for gold until around 10:00PM. Everyone found a few flakes of gold and had a good time (we will try again Friday afternoon). Today we go on the Commissioners’s Tour. Friday we visit a gold dredge near where we panned yesterday and we will pan some more after the dredge tour.Right about now I would trade the sticky bun for chips and salsa at On The Border.

Dawson City

Tuesday we drove to Dawson City (297 miles) our longest drive of the tour. We made several stops to view five fingers rapids, buy huge sticky buns, and view the Tintina Trench (a big valley caused by plate movement). Today we have a walking tour of historic Dawson City, visit Robert Services and Jack Londons cabins and then go gold panning. Last night after dinner we walked around the RV park and down to a creek behind the park. After that we stood around and talked until about 10:00. The sun was still shining at 10:30 when we went to bed.
In Dawson City we are about 150 miles south of the Artic Circle. We have talked about driving up to the Artic Circle but the road is gravel and it would take about 5 hours each way. In Fairbanks we are about the same distance from it. Maybe we will consider driving from there.

On To Dawson City

Yesterday Pat and I went to the Transportaion Museum and the Macbride Museum in Whitehorse. After that we ate at Earls (a Canadian chain). We ate at Earls in Prince George and it was good. The one here was good as well. Then we did some shopping at Canadian Tire (kind of a Home Depot) and The Super Store (pretty good prices). We didn't go to Walmart because we heard they don't have fresh produce. Last night we hd a group steak dinner at the RV park. Today we take off for Dawson City which was the destination of the stampeders in 1898.

Whitehorse Yk

They call it Whitehorse because the rapids look like the mane of a white horse. We just got back from a play, '98 Follies, it was cute. There was a little fox in the RV park when we got back. It wasn't afraid at all and kept running up and down the driveway. Pat got a left over hot dog and I threw him a piece of it. He ran over and grabbed it and ran up the hill to eat it. A bunch of people were standing around watching him. Then he came back for some more hot dog. This all happened at 10:30 PM and it was light enough to take pictures without a flash. We also got mor pictures of an eagle.
The weather today was in the 70's with a few rain showers. We toured an old stern wheel paddle boat today(the Klondike). They used to travel up the Yukon river from here to Dawson City. The train would bring goods from Skagway and they would load them on the boats to go to Dawson City (300 miles north). It was a day and a half to Dawson City (downstream) and 4 days back to Whitehorse (upstream). We also toured a museum where they had a lot of exhibits of the extinct animals. Tomaorrow is a free day. We plan to gas up and maybe wash the motorhome.

Skagway Ak to Whitehorse Yk

Today we left Skagway. On our two free days (Thursday and Friday) we did laundry one morning and walked around Skagway trying to avoid the “boat people”. Spike was so worried about us touching the boat people or touching something the boat people touched, he gave us all pen sized sanitizer sprayers to carry around. It was a big joke (Spike was serious) about asking everyone if they had touched a boat person. When he first mentioned it in Ksan I expected to see Vietnamese boat people walking around. I finally figured out he meant the 15,000 people that get off the boats in Skagway every day.
On our trip to Whitehorse today we saw a bald eagle and a bear. We stopped at Carcross (an old railroad town) and Caribou Crossing where we met a famous female musher. She ran the Iditarod this year. She had 60 dogs there. She provides dog sled rides for a price which also is good exercise for the dogs. We also had a BBQ chicken dinner. When we arrived in Whitehorse (pop. 23,000) we took a short tour to find the markets, Walmart, Starbucks and places to eat. Tomorrow we have a busy day.

More Skagway Pictures