Chicken and Top of the World Highway

July 30 & 31, 2012  CHICKEN  AND TOP OF THE WORLD HIGHWAY

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The Chicken chicken

Barb and Gary's rig was finally finished about mid-afternoon, and we headed up the Taylor Highway for Chicken.  It was a dusty, bumpy ride with soft shoulders and some steep drop-offs, but really not a bad trip at all.  About 5 pm we arrived in Chicken AK   (it was supposed to be named Ptarmigan but no one knew how to spell it so they named it Chicken instead) which has a population of 7-20 people in the winter.

The Goldpanner RV Park

Huskie puppies for sale

 We did a quick set up and went to the local restaurant (a trailer with a covered picnic area beside it) so Barb could fulfill her wish to "eat chicken in Chicken."

Eating chicken in Chicken

Jim and Lana had arrived earlier in the day and were panning for gold in the stream beside the campground while we ate dinner.  We were all tired, so we delayed out sightseeing and gold panning until the next day.  Bad idea!


 When we woke up the sky was black with clouds, and Gary and Steve decided that we had better try to beat the storm across the Top of the World Highway, so we did a quick pack up and hit the road.

Goodbye Alaska,  : (

Top of the World Highway

To tell the truth, I did not enjoy the ride on the Top of the World Highway.  In fact, it was very nerve-wracking to be on that partly paved, partly gravel, slippery road with clouds below us and the rain pelting down.  We didn't get to enjoy the views this highway is famous for because of the clouds and rain.  We had to pull over and stop for long caravans of RV's  and some huge trucks coming from Dawson City.  Steve seemed tense to me, but once we reached the end of the road he said it wasn't "too bad."

Boarding the ferry

Disembarking the ferry.

At the end of the road, there is a tiny little ferry that takes you across the Yukon River.  With our two RV's on board there was only room for about 3 cars.  Fortunately the ride across the river is short, only about 10 minutes, but getting on and off the ferry was an adventure in itself.

We checked in at the Bonanza Creek RV Park where Steve immediately washed the RV and the Jeep (even though it was still raining) which were both covered in mud and muck.  After getting set up we celebrated our successful crossing with a much needed happy hour.