10/2000 Thru 7/2005 Travels: ALASKA TRIP, PART 7

When we left Dawson City on Tuesday, June 19, we boarded the free ferry, the George Black, which carries passengers and vehicles from Dawson City across the Yukon River to the beginning of the Top of the World Highway. It took about two hours for all three rigs to make it across the river as the ferry is quite small and only holds a few vehicles each trip.

Our rig on the ferry:

The Top of the World Highway had some fantastic views, but the road was in terrible shape -- we averaged only about 25 miles per hour on this stretch of highway.

One view from the Top of the World Highway:

Two weeks after leaving Dawson Creek, B.C., we finally made it to Alaska! We crossed over the border at the United States' northern-most border port, Poker Creek, Alaska, population 2.

Border crossing:

Entering into Alaska!

We totaled only 96 miles today, stopping at the Walker Fork BLM Campground about 20 miles north of Chicken, Alaska. It took us four or five hours to drive that 96 miles, not counting the time it took to cross the Yukon River on the ferry.

The next day, we drove into Chicken, Alaska for breakfast. Chicken got its name because the early settlers wanted to name their camp Ptarmigan, but didn't know how to spell it and settled instead for Chicken, the common name in the North for ptarmigan. Chicken is the home of the late Ann Purdy, whose book, Tisha, was based on her experiences as a young schoolteacher in the Bush.

While having breakfast, the waitress (owner?) was complaining about how hot it was, so Earl went back to the rig to get one of our spare fans. She was so grateful, that we got free breakfasts and got to go next door and pick out a T-shirt!

We found that the Taylor Highway, a gravel road which we had been dreading because everything we'd read made it sound like a horrible, dangerous road, was actually in much better shape than was the Top of the World Highway. In fact, the road from Chicken south to Tetlin Junction, was in better shape than a lot of the paved roads we've been on -- even in the lower 48!

We caught our first sight of the Alaska Range today -- the range that includes Mt. McKinley (Denali), although it cannot be seen from this side.

Alaska Range from the Taylor Highway:

We drove 96 miles to the Sourdough Campground in Tok, Alaska. Before we settled into our site, we took our rig over to the wash area and sprayed the worst of the dirt and grime off. After we'd set up, Bill, Gisela, and I drove into Tok to pick up our mail.

On Thursday, June 21, we drove 203 miles to Riverview RV Park in North Pole, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. On our way to North Pole, we stopped in Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway -- the road from Delta Junction to Fairbanks is called the Richardson Highway.

Official end of the Alaska Highway:

While in North Pole, we cleaned the inside of our rig from all the dust we'd accumulated on the Top of the World and Taylor Highways. One day, we took a four hour narrated cruise down the Chena and Tanana Rivers on the stern wheeler, Discovery III.

Stern wheeler, Discovery III

The first part of the trip is down the Chena River whose banks are lined with old homesteads, brand new houses, and bush planes. Some of the "houses" on the Chena were quaint -- like this small stern wheeler which had been made over into a home:

The boat made a stop at the river front home of Susan Butcher, the first woman to win the Iditarod -- and she won it four times! While she's no longer racing, she still trains and breeds sled dogs. [Note: Susan Butcher has since died, of cancer I believe.]

Susan Butcher:

Some of Susan's dogs:

We also saw some reindeer. Did you know that reindeer and caribou are the same animal? Reindeer are domesticated and caribou are wild. If you don't believe it, look up the Latin name for both animals and you'll find that, in both cases, it's the same -- Rangifer tarandus.

Rangifer tarandus:

We were able to see the smoke from the fires that have been raging around Nenana, about 58 miles southwest of Fairbanks.

Smoke from the Nenana fires:

At the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers, you can see the difference between a river made of snow melt waters (Chena) and one made of glacial melt waters (Tanana). The glacial melt waters contain a lot of glacial "flour," making the water grey in color.

Confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers:

One of the highlights of the trip was a stop at the Old Chena Indian Village where we went ashore for a guided tour with two young Alaskan Native women. They told how their ancestors hunted, fished, sewed clothing and built shelters. Before leaving, we were treated to a dog mushing demonstration.

Chena Village: