This photo says it all!
Although, I don’t know why I’m using an exclamation mark, since this whole trip has been lovely, and Alaska seems like it will be just another nice leg. We will see.
Top of the World Highway
To get from Dawson City, Yukon, to the border crossing nearby, we drove along the Top of the World Highway, which is aptly named.
We pulled over off the side of the road for the night so we’d be crossing the border in the morning (the crossing is open only during the day).
Where we camped, there were wildlife trails that led over the hills and through the tundra, and they were so satisfying to walk. I even took my book that afternoon and sat in the tundra for a while.
Tracy’s hike was more productive: he found this caribou antler. We didn’t keep it because we figured the border patrol might object, plus where would we put it? So tempting to mount that thing on the front of the Airstream somehow.
Storms that night provided a stunning sunset, at 12:30 am, seriously. I didn’t want to wake Tracy up by slamming the door, so I took this photo from inside. I just sat there watching the sky all night.
Chicken, Alaska
I need to speed up this story! Our border crossing was much easier than we expected; we’d heard that the guys at the U.S. checkpoint up here were bigger jerks than at the southern Canada/U.S. border, but they asked us only about firewood and firearms and then waved us on through.
The tiny town of Chicken was is where prospectors found gold even before Dawson. They named it “Chicken” because they couldn’t spell “Ptarmigan.” Now the few residents capitalize on the silly reference, hilariously with a music festival each year called Chickenstock. We missed it by just a couple of weeks!
Our first night in Alaska was spent right outside of Chicken at a wooded campground that looks over the West Fork river. The beavers were a great excuse to practice with my new camera.
The next day of travel showed us the Alaska Range the whole way.
At the Delta visitors center, Tracy got attacked by a mosquito Not even a particularly big one, either, the baby.
We’re in North Pole, Alaska right now, which is outside of Fairbanks, waiting on Doug and Melanie to catch up from their adventures farther north (along with a new friend, Carl), plus we’ll be doing a million errands and repair work. So far so good in Alaska!
You are up there in latitude fer sure! How’s the bug situation?
It’s absurd. We’ve sprayed our clothes and ourselves and wear full clothing, but we’re still bringing them in trailer and unable to stand still in the woods. We bought horse fly spray for Banjo in a deodorant roller so we could roll it on her face, and it really isn’t helping. Deet is the only thing that helps.
I’ve seen a few of those suckers in my backyard this summer. (Mosquitoes, not beaver or caribou or ptarmigans.)
I imagine! This is an infestation for sure.