First of all, there are two additions we've made to the Blog. If you click on the "Trip Photo Album" on the right side of the blog page, you'll find all of the pictures we've taken so far, and you can view a slideshow of them if you'd like. Also, we've updated "Our Travel Map" which you can see if you click on the link, "View Larger Map".
When we left Whitehorse, we also left the Alaska Highway. We traveled north along the Yukon River for about 300 miles to the town of Dawson, Yukon Territory, in the heart of the Klondike Gold Rush area. In 1897, gold was discovered along two tributaries of the Klondike River, which flows into the Yukon at Dawson.
The resulting gold rush brought thousands of miners, most of them over the White Pass or the Chilcoot Trail from Skagway, Alaska through Whitehorse to Dawson. Many fortunes were made in the next few years, but many miners were disappointed to find that most of the gold bearing creeks had already been claimed. Dawson was the first capital of the Yukon Territory, but the territorial government moved to Whitehorse in 1953.
We stayed two nights in Dawson in a downtown campground, spending our time checking out the numerous attractions in the area. The guys visited the No. 4 gold dredge, the largest wooden dredge in North America, and tried their hands panning for gold on a claim specifically designated for tourists. No luck! 
The gals visited most of the shops in town as well as the cabins of Jack London, and Robert Service, the poet who wrote, “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and many other well-known tales.
There is a legend in town about a newcomer who tried to pass himself off as a ‘sourdough’, so the local miners told him that to be considered a ‘sourdough’, he had to drink a shot of whiskey with the preserved, frostbitten big toe of an unfortunate miner. He passed the challenge, and thus, a tradition was born. Debbie just had to have a ‘sourtoe’, and she talked Diane into joining her. 
The ‘sourtoe’ is a one-ounce shot of Yukon Jack with an ugly preserved toe resting in the glass. The toe must touch the lips for the ceremony to be legitimate, but take care to not bite the toe, because there’s a $500 fine for eating it.
As we prepared to leave town, we had to purchase enough fuel to make it into Alaska. We paid the highest price so far, $6.13 per gallon!!!
The start of the trip up the ‘Top of the World Highway’ from Dawson, begins with a free ferry ride across the Yukon River. The tiny ferry could only carry two RV’s at a time, so Tom stayed back until the next ferry trip, about 10 minutes later. While we were fueling, the gals took our cars across on the ferry, so they were waiting for us to ‘hook up’ and get underway.
The very scenic ‘Top of the World Highway’, which winds above the timberline for many miles, is seal-coated, but with lots of gravel stretches. It was damp, though, so we didn’t raise too much dust.
The highway is 79 miles long, and ends in Alaska, near the town of Chicken. Once in the US, the highway deteriorates to little more than a one-lane dirt road with steep drop-offs and hairpin turns. Chicken consists of about 3 sets of buildings, consisting of cafes, fuel pumps, gift shops and RV parking. The summer population is about 30 people, and there is no electricity except generators, phone service or running water. The merchants, who take Visa and Mastercard, have to take their machines to Tok, Alaska, about 95 miles south, so that the bank can download their transactions.
After lunch and souvenir shopping, we took off again, this time, south on the Taylor Highway for 96 miles, back to the Alaska Highway and Tok, where we spent the night. The highway from Chicken to Tok was mostly paved, but with frost heaves in the road that seem to launch the motorhomes if traversed at more than 25 mph. The very nice, wooded RV Park has a high-pressure washer wand for cleaning RV’s and cars, so we took advantage of a reasonable price and cleaned most of the dust and mud from our rigs. Diane knew of a Gift Shop Outlet with good merchandise and equally good prices, so the gals scooted over there to shop.
The following day, Saturday, I think, we left Tok and made our way the 200 miles or so to Fairbanks. Stops were made along the way at the Gerstle River Bridge, a “steel through truss-style” (that’s for you engineers) built in 1942, and dedicated to the almost 3.700 black veterans who were part of the construction of the Alaska Highway.
When we left Whitehorse, we also left the Alaska Highway. We traveled north along the Yukon River for about 300 miles to the town of Dawson, Yukon Territory, in the heart of the Klondike Gold Rush area. In 1897, gold was discovered along two tributaries of the Klondike River, which flows into the Yukon at Dawson.
The resulting gold rush brought thousands of miners, most of them over the White Pass or the Chilcoot Trail from Skagway, Alaska through Whitehorse to Dawson. Many fortunes were made in the next few years, but many miners were disappointed to find that most of the gold bearing creeks had already been claimed. Dawson was the first capital of the Yukon Territory, but the territorial government moved to Whitehorse in 1953.
We stayed two nights in Dawson in a downtown campground, spending our time checking out the numerous attractions in the area. The guys visited the No. 4 gold dredge, the largest wooden dredge in North America, and tried their hands panning for gold on a claim specifically designated for tourists. No luck! 
The gals visited most of the shops in town as well as the cabins of Jack London, and Robert Service, the poet who wrote, “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and many other well-known tales.
There is a legend in town about a newcomer who tried to pass himself off as a ‘sourdough’, so the local miners told him that to be considered a ‘sourdough’, he had to drink a shot of whiskey with the preserved, frostbitten big toe of an unfortunate miner. He passed the challenge, and thus, a tradition was born. Debbie just had to have a ‘sourtoe’, and she talked Diane into joining her. 
The ‘sourtoe’ is a one-ounce shot of Yukon Jack with an ugly preserved toe resting in the glass. The toe must touch the lips for the ceremony to be legitimate, but take care to not bite the toe, because there’s a $500 fine for eating it.As we prepared to leave town, we had to purchase enough fuel to make it into Alaska. We paid the highest price so far, $6.13 per gallon!!!
The start of the trip up the ‘Top of the World Highway’ from Dawson, begins with a free ferry ride across the Yukon River. The tiny ferry could only carry two RV’s at a time, so Tom stayed back until the next ferry trip, about 10 minutes later. While we were fueling, the gals took our cars across on the ferry, so they were waiting for us to ‘hook up’ and get underway.
The very scenic ‘Top of the World Highway’, which winds above the timberline for many miles, is seal-coated, but with lots of gravel stretches. It was damp, though, so we didn’t raise too much dust.
The highway is 79 miles long, and ends in Alaska, near the town of Chicken. Once in the US, the highway deteriorates to little more than a one-lane dirt road with steep drop-offs and hairpin turns. Chicken consists of about 3 sets of buildings, consisting of cafes, fuel pumps, gift shops and RV parking. The summer population is about 30 people, and there is no electricity except generators, phone service or running water. The merchants, who take Visa and Mastercard, have to take their machines to Tok, Alaska, about 95 miles south, so that the bank can download their transactions.
After lunch and souvenir shopping, we took off again, this time, south on the Taylor Highway for 96 miles, back to the Alaska Highway and Tok, where we spent the night. The highway from Chicken to Tok was mostly paved, but with frost heaves in the road that seem to launch the motorhomes if traversed at more than 25 mph. The very nice, wooded RV Park has a high-pressure washer wand for cleaning RV’s and cars, so we took advantage of a reasonable price and cleaned most of the dust and mud from our rigs. Diane knew of a Gift Shop Outlet with good merchandise and equally good prices, so the gals scooted over there to shop.
The following day, Saturday, I think, we left Tok and made our way the 200 miles or so to Fairbanks. Stops were made along the way at the Gerstle River Bridge, a “steel through truss-style” (that’s for you engineers) built in 1942, and dedicated to the almost 3.700 black veterans who were part of the construction of the Alaska Highway.
At that turnout, LaVan discovered that one of the tires on his “toad” was worn down to the steel cord, and so we exchanged it for the spare.
We stopped in the town of Delta Junction to see the milepost marking the end of the Alaska Highway. Delta Junction is home to a large herd of American Bison, transplanted here in the 1920’s. The Alaska Pipeline also passes through town, and the Army’s Fort Greeley is also located near here.
We arrived in Fairbanks around 2 PM, and settled in to our RV Park on the banks of the Chena River which passes through town. There is an endless stream of kayaks, canoes and power boats running up and down the river during the day (which begins with the sunrise at about 3 AM and ends at sunset at about 12:30 AM the next day). Needless to say, if you need darkness to sleep, you’re out of luck around here during the summer!
We’ll be here for five nights, seeing the sights, getting & reading the mail that’s been forwarded to us from home, and getting caught up on everything else. We’ll cover our adventures in Fairbanks in a future posting.
We arrived in Fairbanks around 2 PM, and settled in to our RV Park on the banks of the Chena River which passes through town. There is an endless stream of kayaks, canoes and power boats running up and down the river during the day (which begins with the sunrise at about 3 AM and ends at sunset at about 12:30 AM the next day). Needless to say, if you need darkness to sleep, you’re out of luck around here during the summer!
We’ll be here for five nights, seeing the sights, getting & reading the mail that’s been forwarded to us from home, and getting caught up on everything else. We’ll cover our adventures in Fairbanks in a future posting.
No comments:
Post a Comment