Bye-Bye Dawson City – Hello ‘Top of the World’

 We bid a fond farewell to Dawson City by taking a drive up Dome Mountain for a top down view. It was a difficult drive for our old chariot, but she did beautifully.  

We stopped by the local 

museum. 

We took the RV for a ride a very small ferry that crosses the Yukon (takes about 5 minutes).  The ferry is free, takes any size vehicle and runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week between mid-May and the middle of October.  

That short ride dropped us off at a Yukon Provincial Park, positioning us well for an early morning departure. We snagged a waterfront site – right on the Yukon River – a wonderful change from the last 2 nights in town. 

We walked down the beach to an area where old sternwheelers got ‘pushed onto the shore’ to rot, and let nature reclaim. 

Kris painted, Tom read.  Great evenings rest before the challenging “Top f the World Highway” drive.

Dinner guest:

Top of the World:

A little explanation on today’s route – When we were back in Whitehorse, we had made a decision that would involve driving the ‘Top of the World Highway’.  We made the decision partially based upon the weather forecast, which was to be good. It is an 80 mile unpaved route, the northern-most that we will be driving.  The guidebook says:  “allow plenty of time …narrow, winding, steep grades, few guardrails, soft shoulders, loose gravel, washboard, potholes …”. 

The road winds above the timberline.  It was a route for early prospectors- a perilous route.  Just our kind of path.  That’s what we did today.  

Stinky is a little worries about navigation 'issues'.  Garmin says we won't 'fit'.  

Yikes !! Not much room for us.

The Top of the World threw everything at us … rain, 

fog, 

hail, snow … and we made it!  

We saw only 14 other vehicles (total-both directions) in the 65 miles between Dawson City and the Alaska border crossing.  It’s a pretty remote experience.

Working our way down the hill, returning to civilization, we passed through Chicken Alaska.  Population 23 in summer, 7 in winter.  There is no city water, electric, or phone service.  The town was named by early miners who wanted to name the town ptarmigan, but couldn’t spell it. 

When we landed at our Alaska state park, in a waterfront site, with the evening sun shining.  

There was even a rainbow ON the landscape - like thrown fabric.  Not above in the sky.  We'd never seen that before

 we were very happy to be home, even though there was a nearly clean moose skull in our site!  Kris  wanted to bring it home.  Tom said NOOOOOOO !!

Every day a new adventure.