Alaska 2011 - Dawson City, Yukon to Tok, Alaska

Alaska 2011 – Dawson YK to Tok, Alaska

We had a great ferry ride across the Yukon River and headed up the “Top Of the World” highway that connects the Yukon Territory to Alaska. It is a very slow dirt road and one that you do not want to travel if the weather is bad. There are no guard rails and there are some pretty steep drop-offs to places unknown to man below. The road is 107 miles to Chicken, Alaska which is mainly a prospecting town now. There are a couple of campgrounds, with generated 20 amp power, but no water or toilets. It is very remote!

However, there is the Chicken Café, which serves up some pretty awesome meals. You can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner and that is where most everyone eats that lives in the area. Nancy and I shared the sourdough blueberry pancakes that were served in a gold pan. There are a few tour buses that pass through every so often, giving tourists an opportunity to see how people survive in the remote Yukon Territory.

There were several gold prospectors that were staying in the campground with us. We got to meet a couple of very successful prospectors who had several mining claims in the area. We really enjoyed learning about their trade and the stories they shared. Don’t think for a minute, that the “gold rush” is not re-occurring in this area again.

We left Chicken, Alaska and headed to Tok, Alaska. Tok is on the Alaska Highway. It is the only town that you will pass through both going and returning from the interior of Alaska. We stayed at the Sourdough RV Park, which is known for their famous nightly pancake toss. If you are lucky enough to toss a sourdough pancake into the bucket, you will get a FREE breakfast the following morning. Skip won a FREE breakfast with his second toss.

We left Tok and headed to Valdez hoping to find a beautiful campsite in the mountains. Unfortunately, we ran into some rainy weather and drove the distance to Valdez. We passed the Alaska Pipeline on several occasions, but in the spring and summer you cannot see it from the road. You don’t dare drive off the highway to see it either, or you will be in big trouble. The surveillance of the pipeline is unbelievable.

Watch for our next blog Valdez, Alaska to Whittier, Alaska and our tour of the 26 glaciers in Prince William Sound.

CLICK HERE to watch our slideshow. You will especially want to see pictures of the two gold prospectors that we met in Chicken, Alaska.