2016 Aug Alaska 1

We crossed the Yukon at Dawson City and headed quickly up the "Top of the World Road" toward Chicken, Alaska. 

This fox was chasing me while I was waiting outside for the ferry. It must have been fed by humans before.  Scared me big time.  I'm sure I made someone laugh watching me jump into the coach.

We crossed on the ferry at 6:00 a.m. because we heard there were two caravans of RV's crossing that day (over 40 rigs).  Good thing we did, because it became a 6 hour wait.

Sunrise at the top of the world.  What a gorgeous day we had.  We talked to people who took this road the next day when it was rainy and foggy.  They missed all the beautiful scenery. 

These pictures don't do the view justice.  You could see hundreds of miles for 360 degrees.

The unimpressive border crossing into Alaska.  The woman Border Patrol asked us if we had any chocolate.  She was going to have to confiscate it if we did.  Funny woman.

The "Top of the World Road" has a reputation for being very rough.  It deserves this reputation.  RV's had to slow way down to pass each other.  No one lost a windshield, but we all had extra screens on our radiators and guards on our tow vehicles to prevent rocks from hitting the tows.

And then we made it to Chicken, Alaska.  Fun little place.  When the founding fathers were trying to come up with a name, they thought of calling it the Alaska state bird , Ptarmigan, but then they decided no one would be able to spell it, so therefore Chicken was born.

And this is basically all there is to Chicken, plus an RV park and a few remote houses.

This chicken lays golden eggs.

Part of our group enjoying breakfast. 

Another dredge tour in Chicken.  The Gold Rush left Dawson City area and moved all across Alaska in the early 1900's.  Above are the buckets used to scoop up the rock.  Each bucket weights 600 lbs empty. 

Above are bones dug up by the dredge, all prehistoric mammals.  The skull is from a Steppe Bison.

The sluice is where the fine rock is washed leaving behind the gold.  It's just amazing how this huge machinery worked and how it was engineered in the first place.

Above left is how man made sluices worked.  Above right, our group helping each other wash our rigs.  The road was so dusty, it was awful how dirty our RV's were.  Gail is trying to give everyone a shower.

So we reached the Northern end of the Alaskan Highway just south of Fairbanks.