Chicken & Tok Alaska

ALASKA At Last: Chicken & Tok:

July 25-30, 2013

Day # 12 of our Alaskan Adventure provided us with more excitement than was expected. Our travels started out by crossing the river by ferry. The boat was small and only took 1-2 rigs on a crossing. So after about an hour of waiting I got on with the little Prious, and 3 boats later Mike made it over with the MoHo and the tow-dolly (only a 7 minute trip). We got back together, hitched up and got back on the road. Not just any road, but the Top of the World Highway. This drive climbed up from the western banks of the mighty Yukon. This could have been a very picturesque drive, but with the low clouds/fog we really could not see much on either side of us, or in front of us.  A slow 66 miles later saw us crossing from Canada back into the good ol’ USA. The road that had been fairly bumpy and narrow went from bad to worse; what the heck is Alaska doing to maintain their roads, potholes, potholes, and more potholes; washboard, washboard, and more washboards.  The weather turned from gray to wet and the dirt road became a very slippery bumpy mess. We drove very slowly (5-10 mph) for the next 40 miles or so and just tried to stay on the road, minimize the bumps and avoid the soft shoulders. Mike’s calm and skilled driving skills kept us safe and sound – after a very long day: 108 miles that took us about 6 hours we were both exhausted. Driving into the little town of Chicken the road improved, we were greeted with a beautiful view of the Fortymile River and fields of bright cheerful purple/pink fireweed.  All the rigs eventually made it into camp (one rig had to be towed out of a very slippery shoulder-took them an additional 6 hours) all of us were very grateful to be safe and sound, even though all of our rigs/tow vehicles were plastered with mud, what a sight!  The small community of Chicken (pop. 37 during the summer, 3 in the winter) was quite interesting. This little town was once a mining hub for the Fortymile District.  As the story goes the miners wanted to call their town Ptarmigan (sort of like a quail) after the bird common in the area. Unfortunately people could not agree on the spelling the unusual name, so they settled on Chicken. The name stuck.  Along side the campground was a big gold dredge – the Pedro Dredge that mined gold on the Yukon River from the early 1900’s to 1968. The tour took us through this machine; what an interesting multi faceted piece of equipment.

Miles for the day: 108  Total miles for the AK Adventure: 1316.7

Chicken Alaska, sign is other foul cities

Gold Dredge

Dirt form the Top of the World Highway

Slick with pot holes

Day #13 of the A.A. took us on the Taylor Highway, better road conditions generally, some potholes, and such, but NOTHING like the previous day’s journey. We were treated to marvelous views of the Alaska Range Mountains, brilliant green forests and valleys of the fireweed. This was a short day’s travel to Tok, Alaska. Our group of 23 MoHos gathered at the truck washes in the campground and with help from Mike and a few others the grubby rigs and toweds were bathed.

Miles for the day: 78  Total miles for the AK Adventure: 1394.7

before RV wash

fireweed

after two long days of driving