Chicken Alaska 

Day 21

7/11/26

Mosquito count: saw a couple. We had a breeze and used our thermacell when we sat outside in the evening

Dawson City YT to A view of the Alaska Range AK taking the Top of the World Highway

Tour of Dawson. Today we are spending about half the day in Dawson before we head to Alaska on the Top of the World Highway.

We took a city walking tour by Parks Canada. The guide gave important history information but also gave us the aspects of current full time life living in Dawson. 

Dawson City streets are dirt and the sidewalks are boardwalks built up off the ground. 

Currently the workforce is mining and tourism. Both are seasonal May to September. Winters are long but winters are when the locals collectively engage through their arts, schools, and cultural communities. Imagine almost 24 hours of darkness. 

The ground this far north is all permafrost. Because of this they put all the buildings on pylons above ground. The old original buildings are sinking into the ground. They have left some of them for historical purposes. The prominent ones they have lifted and restored to the original. Parks Canada owns 26 buildings in Dawson.

Banks wanted to be made from stone but it’s too heavy for the permafrost so they used tin to look like stone. One of two original banks in town. Canadian Bank of Commerce is the only one still in existence today… different location obviously.

Heritage bylaws by the City of Dawson means that buildings must be their original character on the outside.

Originally the Carnegie Library. Wood building with tin for stone look. Now it’s the Masonic Lodge

Original post office 1900. Preserved by Parks Canada.

Palace Grand Theatre

Banks used to have to measure the gold content when customers came to make a deposit for money. They assayed all the different creeks and claim areas. Dawson gold flakes and nuggets in the area typically 80% gold and 20% silver. True to this day… interesting fact. 

I had no idea what to expect of Dawson except for minimal knowledge of mining and that it is a gambling mecca in Yukon for tourism. I have to say learning about the dredging operation and seeing the immensity of area that gold was discovered and the boom and bust but ultimately survival of the town was fascinating. I like that they have preserved its original character and the fact that so many people live here year round. The community is a nice blend of miners, tourism and First Nation culture. The locals spend half the year in total daylight and half in almost total darkness. It’s the darkness that amazes me…and the isolation of this town. Just wow!

Where in the world is Mr Wawe? Mr Wawe is still with us! He was spotted in Dawson at the visitor center as we are leaving town. 

Moving on from Dawson. We are taking the Top of the World Highway from Dawson to Tok. It is the northernmost Canada/USA border. 

Ferry across Yukon River. It’s 1pm and we are in the cue for the ferry across the Yukon River. It runs 24 hours/day until the river starts to freeze. When it starts to freeze they pull the ferry to shore until after Spring thaw… maybe 4 weeks. Once the river freezes over they build an ice bridge for people who live on the west side to drive. Those that live on the west side can be isolated for 4-6 weeks.  Survival of the most prepared for isolation. 

The actual ferry crossing is quick. Maybe 3 minutes. Adding loading and unloading maybe 10 minutes. Pretty efficient. It’s obvious they have to rebuild the landing every year after spring breakup. 

Top of the World Highway. For the most part it is all gravel/dirt road. Luckily for us it has been raining a lot this summer so the road is nice packed dirt and not terribly dusty. 

After the ferry we immediately climbed up and out of the Yukon valley and now the highway looks high over mountains and drainages below us. There are layers of hills beyond us in all directions. Once again we have smoky skies so the scenery is very hazy. The highway seems to be riding a ridge line and drops below us on both sides. Turns out they refer to this as Ridge Road. It started as a trail from Dawson to Tok. 

A little bit of snow on the edge of the road. This highway gives us Beartooth  Highway vibes.

USA Alaska Border here we come!

It takes about 1.5 hrs to get from the ferry to the border. Once again we have consumed (apples) or juiced (limes) all of our fruits and veggies (except blueberries) and boiled our eggs.  What have I forgotten? As it turns out they didn’t care at all about our produce or anything just fireworks or firewood. Neither of which do we have.

Before we get to Chicken the big river is called the South Fork of the 40 Mile River and it has a Wild & Scenic designation. It flows into the 40 Mile River which flows into the Yukon near Dawson. Also found plenty of gold in that river.

Chicken! We are officially in Alaska for several weeks now! Our first little town to stop and check out is Chicken. Named by miners because they didn’t know how to spell Ptarmigan. It is also historically a gold mining town.  We have seen some active mining along the  Jack Wade Creek as we come downhill off the Top of the World  toward Chicken. 

2 people live year round in Chicken. The postmaster and her husband. 3 businesses in chicken. Cafe, Bar and Gift shop. 

Chicken Bar is special. Spruce Ale (of course) Hat collection and Police badges. Cutest little old bar in town. I had a good time taking photos in this bar

Pedro dredge was the working machine for the placer mine in Chicken.

Trommel. The part that drops out the big rocks 

Chicken Post Office. Established in 1903. Amazing and so cute. Mail arrives by plane 2x/week. 

After Chicken we are looking for a wild camp spot before Tok. Finally the smoky haze is not as thick in this area. We have nice views. 

Tomorrow we get to Tok Alaska. We were going to go to Valdez but a weather check shows ALOT of rain for the next several days. We may pivot to Fairbanks. We will decide by the time we get to Tok tomorrow. Hmmmm