“Top of the World” Highway & Chicken (Aug Vacation Part 5 of 5)
Read (Part 1) North Pole to Haines
Read (Part 2) Haines
Read (Part 3) Skagway
Read (Part 4) Dawson City
TOP OF THE WORLD HIGHWAY - Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Steve and I were up pretty early. We only had to drive about 120 miles, but we had heard from some folks that this drive could take 5-6 hours depending on the weather. The condition of the “Top of the World Highway” is the biggest hindrance to making good time, as there are long stretches of washboard and potholes, as well as narrow switchback portions.
I was able to catch up on my reading of my friend Linda’s blog, and she and her husband had driven the road several days earlier, while under clouds and rain. Her trip wasn’t the most enjoyable because of the slippery mud, the lack of visibility, and the nonexistent spectacular views - so often described by travelers. Fortunately for them, they had much better weather the next day, and went back to drive a portion of the highway to see what they had missed.
Downstream from Whitehorse, only a single bridge crosses the Yukon River. It’s the one that carries the pipeline along the haul road (Dalton Hwy) here in the interior. Crossing the river at Dawson City means putting your vehicle on the free George Black Ferry run by the Government of Yukon. This boat can handle about a dozen small cars at once or a couple of large trucks with an extra car or two tucked in wherever there is space. It takes about 15 minutes to cross the river.
We watched the ferry in action the day before, so we didn’t have any qualms about taking it. You drive onto the back of it on the Dawson side, and continue off the front of it when you land on the other side. The only consideration is time, as Customs is only open from 9am-9pm each day (8am-8pm AK time). Also, the road is only open in the ‘non-snow’ months.
As we ascended into the hills, things didn’t look very good. The clouds were low hanging, and we were soon driving in them. I worried that our experience would be the same as Linda’s was. But after a few miles, we suddenly came out of the clouds and were driving above them! Seeing the thick white cotton filling the valleys around us, was absolutely lovely. The sun was shining too.
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The views were stunning, and we stopped frequently to enjoy them. While autumn foliage hadn’t fully come to the higher elevations when we drove it, that might have changed over the last few days as we’ve already experienced overnight freezing temps here in Fairbanks. We did see quite a bit of deep magenta in the hills - the last of the blooming fireweed. And some of the tundra was beginning to turn to gold and orange and red.
We came upon an informational panel about the highway:
Yukon Highway No 9 began as a pack trail our of Dawson City shortly after the Gold Rush. It serviced Sixtymile and neighboring Gold Creeks. The trail was gradually improved and came to be known as Ridge Road.
In the 1930s the road was extended to the border and from there to Jack Wade and Chicken, connecting these Alaskan communities to Dawson City in Canada. In the late 40s, Alaska’s Taylor Highway gave all these communities road access to the outside world by way of the newly completed Alaska Highway.
In 2004, we had horrible fires here in the interior. The Boundary Fire and the Taylor Complex Fire both burned many thousands of acres in the area where the “Top of the World” and Taylor Highways are. The result of those fires is acres and acres of fireweed. I bet it was unbelievably stunning in this area about a month ago, when the fireweed was in full bloom. But now, the fireweed has gone to seed and all that remains is the deeper pink/puple colored stems. In large concentrations, it’s still visible to the eye, even without flowers.
Rolling Hills:
Fireweed and some tundra color changes:
Red, yellow, pink:
Fireweed and dead trees:
We stopped to stretch our legs and walk Sedona at the summit of the highway (4127′). The pull out is about 1/2 mile before the border crossing. There’s a short trail to a large cairn at the top of a hill across the highway, and folks have created many smaller cairns with rocks found in the area.
Here are photos taken along the way and at the rest stop:
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The border crossing was easy again. The typical weapons question, and that was about it. No request for the furkids’ wellness certificates. I’m so glad I had their checkups done on Fort Wainwright. It only cost me $22 for both animals. When we came up from FL, I think I paid more than $100 for both of them at an outside vet. If you’re a military family and planning a trip through Canada - definitely utilize on post/base facilities (if you have them) to save some money.
What a difference a country border makes - and not in a good way! While the Yukon side of the highway was in pretty good shape, with some paved areas, and fairly well-maintained roads (we even saw graders at work on our drive) - the American side was a huge mess! As soon as you pull away from the border crossing, you hit washboard and potholes. Any good time we made was lost on that portion of the drive to Chicken. Kudos to Yukon Canada for looking after their roads.
The photo to the left is of the Boundary Roadhouse. Boundary served the mining community in the Walker Fork, Cherry Creek, and Canyon Creek drainages for many years beginning in the 1890s. This is only part of the 
original Boundary Lodge, which was built in 1926, that is still standing.
The photo to the right is another burned area that has started to rejuvenate with fireweed.
This next photo to the left is of the Fortymile River. The Fortymile River was an old prospectors route in the Yukon.
A few miles later, we crossed the Chicken Creek one-lane bridge. We had arrived in “Beautiful Downtown Chicken”.
From Wikipedia:
Chicken was settled by gold miners in the late 1800s and in 1902 the local post office was established requiring a community name. Due to the prevalence of ptarmigan in the area that name was suggested as the official name for the new community. However, the spelling could not be agreed on and Chicken was used to avoid embarrassment. A portion of Chicken, with buildings from the early 1900s and the F.E. Company Dredge No. 4 (Pedro Dredge) are listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Chicken is the outpost for the 40 Mile mining district. There are still active gold mines in this area. Enough gold was mined here to make it worthwhile to haul huge gold dredges to this remote location. There are still several inactive gold dredges in the Chicken area.
Chicken has one important former inhabitant: The teacher Anne Hobbs Purdy, co-author of the book “Tisha” (together with Robert Specht, Bantam Books), lived here for 1 year in the late 20s teaching the local children. Her famous and captivating book tells her story in the Alaskan wilderness and how she faces the difficulties of a close-set community, prejudices against natives, and the hard winter.
We camped at Chicken Gold Camp. On the premises was an RV park, several cabins, outhouses, a gift shop and a cafe. Right next door to our campsite was the Pedro Gold Dredge (also called Dredge #4).
From the Explore North website:
The Pedro Dredge was owned by the Fairbanks Exploration Company (FE Co.), a subsidiary of the United States Smelting Refining & Mining Co. (USSR&M). It spent less than a 1/3 of its operating life on Chicken Creek. The 3-cubic-foot dredge (measurement of the bucket capacity), the smallest in the FE Co.’s dredge fleet, was originally built to mine the fairly shallow gravels of Pedro Creek, north of Fairbanks.
During its production years on Chicken Creek, the dredge washed about 2,500 cubic yards of gravel each day (29 buckets per minute) at a cost of around 30 cents per cubic yard. Between 0.30 and 0.80 ounces of gold were recovered from each cubic yard of gravel. There were normally 16-20 men employed in the operation, with 10-12 involved directly with the dredging and the remainder mostly associated with thawing ground ahead of the dredge. The dredge mined over 55,000 ounces of gold in the eight years on Chicken Creek.
There were tours offered of the dredge, and I had a coupon for a ‘buy one/get one’, but we were told that the man who gives the tour was in Fairbanks for the day. Even though I didn’t get to go inside, I was able to take plenty of photos from the outside. I loved all the fireweed and squirreltail grass surrounding the dredge and the dredge buckets.
There were several troughs of water for anyone who wanted to try their hand at panning for gold (at a price). I watched for a little while, as first a couple and then only the man worked the dirt around in the flat pan. I didn’t ask if he’d found anything.
The “town” of Chicken doesn’t have traditional electricity. They get their power from generators. The generators come on at 7am and shut off at 9pm. Talk about a forced ‘lights out’! Our RV site had power (when it was on) so we could watch a movie and make our coffee in the morning. There was also free WiFi, which was a surprise for being in the middle of nowhere - but it shut off with the power each evening.
Steve and I saw a map of the area, and decided to go in search of Tisha’s grave. Tisha - formally known as Anne Hobbs Purdy - was born on November 10, 1901 in Missouri, and grew up in Longmont, Colorado. She came to Alaska in 1928 and taught for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Eagle, Tetlin, and Chicken. She married a gold miner, Fred Purdy of Chicken, Alaska, in 1940. The couple adopted and raised eleven children. In 1976, Anne Purdy wrote a popular book, Tisha, based on her experiences as a teacher. She also wrote another book, Dark Boundary, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Anne Purdy died at Dot Lake on April 15, 1987. I read the book Tisha on a long plane flight to Madison to visit my kids last winter. I enjoyed the book, as it’s not only based a true story, but a love story as well.
Unfortunately, the only way to see Tisha’s gravesite and school house, is by paying for the private tour, and Steve and I wouldn’t be in Chicken long enough to do that. So we decided we’d drive up the road and see if we could at least find the general area where she was buried. As the road went deeper into the woods, and became more rutted, I doubted we were heading in the right direction. I made him turn around and go back. Another look at the map showed that we were probably only a couple hundred yards from the location.
Nevertheless, with all the ‘no trespassing’ signs posted at the base of private driveways along the way, I didn’t want to risk getting onto someone’s property and being shot. I suppose I’ll have to return to Chicken someday and take that tour. Maybe. Did I mention that the population of Chicken is less than 20? It’s not exactly a major metropolis. Don’t plan on spending a week here. One day worked for us. We did have one memorable experience… A warbler decided that the bushes around our camper were just perfect for hanging out in. We were able to watch him from the camper window, and he was only inches away! Or maybe he was a miniature chicken? *grin*
Photos from Chicken:
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Because the power was going to go off at 9pm, we put a movie on and went to bed very early. The movie put me to sleep, so I didn’t even hear the power go off. Steve did though… it woke him. He doesn’t sleep very well when it’s too quiet. I had no problems at all.
The next morning we took our time packing things up. Chicken is about 275 miles from Fairbanks. We made it home by 3:15pm. I took a few photos while traveling on the Taylor Highway to Tetlin Junction, but after that, it was familiar territory so I put the camera away and read a book to Steve. Here are some scenes from the Taylor Highway:
It was so nice to get home to our house and our comfy bed, but I was also sad that our vacation had come to an end. We had a terrific time, and saw so many new and wonderful places and things.
Steve’s talking about going to Valdez in September for a few days. Right now, I don’t even want to think about camping again, but I know that if we go we’ll have a good time. Summer is just about over - we need to squeeze in as much as we can before the snow flies.
I hope you enjoyed coming along with us on our vacation. If ever your travels bring you to Alaska and beyond, I would highly recommend including Haines, Skagway, and Dawson City on your itinerary. The Gold Rush history is so interesting, and you really have to see the landscape to appreciate the tenacity the stampeders had in making such a long and difficult journey.
Until next time…
Awesome pictures as usual. I’m so glad to be getting an honest person’s perspective of these different places. I read all the touristy (is that a word?) stuff, but that’s not what I want to see if I’m ever able to go to Alaska. The whole cruise ship, see what thousands of people see, kind of thing, while wonderful in it’s own way, I’m sure, is not what I want to experience. I want to know what there is to see and do from a regular person, living it everyday, and you have provided just that. Thank you so much.
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hi Paula, and thank you. If you like to see the ‘real’ Alaska, you really do need to get away from the shopping district at these stops. In Haines, there’s really not much as far as shopping goes (when compared to Skagway) anyway, but I wonder how many visitors got a chance to drive up to Chilkoot River and Lake and watch the bears fish? Not many, I bet. If you were to cruise to Haines, it would be worth it to have a car at your disposal, but to be honest - I don’t remember seeing any car rental places, but I might have overlooked that. I did see a van taking photographers around for bear photos (which are more abundant in August, I found out). That van charges about $85 for a two hour drive. While a car in Skagway isn’t as necessary, it would make it easier to get around in a timely fashion. The hike to Yakutania Point and Smugglers Cove can be done by cruise passengers, as it would only take about an hour and a half to walk those trails and get back to the ship.
If you have any questions about other destinations that I may have visited, don’t hesitate to email me.
Take care,
Susan
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Comment by Paula — August 24, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
Thank you for the wonderful trip!! You have taken so many of your readers with you in your travels. You should really consider publishing a book on your life from Florida until present day. It would fly off the shelves. Thank you again for sharing Alaska thru your eyes.
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
You’re so welcome Donna. I’m glad you enjoyed traveling with us. We try to have some great adventures in the summer months so we’re exhausted when winter comes! *grin*
Thanks for commenting,
Susan
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Comment by Donna — August 24, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
Hello Susan,
I enjoyed every word of your trip journal and enjoyed the photos as well — they evoke such a feeling for the country. The pictures of the Top of the World Highway are especially interesting. I never drove to Alaska, though I visited the state many times and have driven the Alaska highways. Thanks for sharing the trip with us “armchair travelers.”
Regards,
Diane
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Hi Diane and thank you for commenting. I am really happy that Steve and I were able to make this trip. It was brand new territory for us, and I felt like a tourist in my own state - but yet so proud to live here too. I’m sorry it took me 6 years to get to Haines and Skagway (as well as up to Dawson City), but better 6 years than never. I don’t know how we will be able to top this trip. Although, we do have hopes of visiting Kodiak sometime - another part of Alaska we’ve never been to.
I’m happy that you enjoyed traveling with me. When we drove up here in 2003, I remember telling my husband that we needed to come back and see more of the Yukon someday. Now I realize why I made that statement. This part of the country/continent has so much unspoiled natural beauty, and it was a joy to be a part of it again.
Take care,
Susan
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Comment by Diane — August 24, 2009 @ 5:00 pm
Loved the pictures. We enjoyed Chicken also. When we drove out of Alaska, we left Fairbanks at 8:00 and drove to Chicken then onto Dawson City. Man was that a trip. We didn’t get into dawson until 7:00 p.m. Didn’t enjoy it too much because by the time we got there everything was shutting down. Wasn’t interested in taking the kids to Gerties. If I remember correctly we didn’t get a real dinner either. We got junk food from a convenience store because most places were already closed for dinner. Oh well. Thought I’d also let you know I have a friend who drove a bus for princess tours and she is a member of the sourtoe club. I can’t believe she did it. Yuck. Glad you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for bringing back memories of our trip to and from Alaska. Can’t wait to move back.
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Hi Tammy,
Chicken is certainly a ‘different’ sort of town. The folks running the lodge and RV park were really nice. I would have liked to have gone to Tisha’s grave and schoolhouse, and maybe panned for gold while we were there, but we were both in that ‘I’m looking forward to getting home again’ mood and feeling rather lazy. Then it started to rain, so that put a *damper* on things.
While the Fairbanks to Dawson City route doesn’t sound bad in mileage (about 385 miles), now that we’ve driven the Top of the World Highway, we totally understand why it takes several hours to drive that short stretch. I bet you couldn’t wait to get out of your vehicle. Sorry about the shops being closed. We found that too. The only thing open after 5 or 6pm was the bars. That’s not good when you have kids in tow, for sure.
Ewww on the sourtoe cocktail club. There is no way I’d put an old toe against my lips! BLECH!
When you move back, we’ll have to finally meet!
Take care,
Susan
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Comment by Tammy Kauffman — August 24, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
Hi Susan! My husband and I are currently living in Hawaii but I am hoping to transfer to Elmendorf in October! You make Alaska sound so great! I am from New England and I really miss having seasons (I know winter will be way more extreme). I can’t wait to make Alaska my new home! Thank you for keeping this wonderful journal!
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Elmendorf is in the Anchorage part of Alaska, so you shouldn’t have too big of an adjustment to make, as Anchorage is a decent sized city with most of the same amenities you’re used to there in HI. However, winter will be a big change! Anchorage’s winters are a bit wetter than Fairbanks’ winters, so that chill can go to the bones down there. And there’s more of an issue with black ice and slick roads there, so you’ll need to learn defensive driving. But don’t let that scare you.
Anchorage is the gateway to the Kenai Peninsula, and if you’re avid fishermen, campers, hikers, etc. - you’ll be close to all of that! And summer’s are awesome here, as it’s not very humid or hot.
I visited HI (Oahu and Kauai) in January for a week, and we enjoyed ourselves very much, but the one thing that ‘bugged’ us was the humidity. We just couldn’t get used to feeling ‘wet’ all the time! On the other hand, while locals were telling us it was chilly out, we were happy in tank tops and shorts and going in the water! Chilly? No way! We had left -45F in Fairbanks when we made that trip. It was heavenly!
I hope everything works out for you and you get to experience Alaska too!
Susan
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Amanda Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Thanks,
My husband is really going to love all the sporting there! And I can’t wait for the races, the ice sculptures, native artwork…etc! We’re really excited! We live on Oahu now and you’re right, it’s really muggy here. I think it’s a nice place to visit, but I don’t enjoy living here. I know it sounds strange but the constant sunshine all year round with no real change in weather is depressing to me. I’m an east coast girl and I need my seasons!Well, thanks again for the reply, and for teaching me so much about alaska through your journal!
Take Care
Amanda
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Comment by Amanda — August 24, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
Hello Susan!
I’ve been away for a while, and spent my morning catching up on your blog. Wow, what a great holiday!! I was really interested in visiting this part of Alaska/Canada while I was in Fairbanks, but I heard stories of people getting in trouble re-entering Alaska with a exchange student visa, so decided to keep it simple and stay in Alaska. Thanks for taking me there through your blog though, I really enjoyed your stories and the photos… They are all great, but the photo you took of the view over the Yukon river is just stunning!! I also love the one with the eagle sitting in the tree with the dark skies behind him, it’s almost eerie how the eagle stares into your lens.
Take care, Hanneke
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:46 am
You would love Haines and Skagway, Hanneke, but I certainly understand the worry of border crossing on a student visa. Too bad.
What really stood out, besides the natural beauty and wildlife, were the really tall and fat spruce trees. I tend to forget that Alaska has rain forest areas too, because those towns are so remote. I’m glad we have a road to get to Haines, but after driving that last stretch into Haines (very steep!) I can’t imagine what it must be like if there’s snow on the ground. Best we keep our visits to that area to the warmer months.
The Yukon River view from Midnight Dome was a “perfect timing” photo. A few minutes later and the clouds rolled in obliterating it. We were there at just the right moment. I was thrilled.
Thank you for commenting!
Susan
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Comment by Hanneke — August 25, 2009 @ 12:14 am
Now thats the right type of vacation to have. Sounds and looks absolutley Wonderful!! I’m making a list of all the places in Alaska that I want to visit….pretty much every where…lol
Thank-you Susan :}
Liz
FL
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Alaska is such a big state, that to visit everywhere you’d have to live here for a couple of years! *grin*
I do hope you’ll come for a visit someday. Although, if I were coming as a tourist, it would be hard for me to decide where to go. And I’d need at least a month to make the rounds; longer to actually experience it!
Susan
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Comment by Liz McCollough — August 25, 2009 @ 5:28 am
Isn’t it nice to be able to explore our state this way? Our goal every time we came home was to explore a highway. Unfortunately this time around with Bo’s schedule that has not been feasible and I am so bummed because as you know we leave again in December. But I do get to drive the Alaskan Hwy again and experience the drive to Haines and the Ferry.
We are hoping to get a berth on the outside part which has windows. One of the stops is Ketchikan and I am so excited since I have never been to that part of the state.
Too bad you did not get to see Tisha’s grave. That would have been neat.
Thank you again for taking us on vacation with you. Through your stunning pictures!
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I’m sorry that Bo’s schedule didn’t allow you the flexibility to spend more time in the great outdoors and roadtripping, Abby. I’d be disappointed too. But at least you did some traveling. I’m sure you know many folks who come here (by way of the army) and never leave Fairbanks. They sure do miss out on the things that AK has to offer.
I’m glad we were finally able to make this trip to Haines and Skagway. It’s so beautiful there - in a natural Alaskan way. And the drive to get there is breathtaking. I’m sad that you’re leaving, but I hope you have a great trip “out”.
Susan
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Comment by Abby C. — August 25, 2009 @ 6:24 am
Wow! Spectacular views and that Fireweed must be just stunning when its in full bloom! What an awesome vacation! And what a trooper Sedona is, she’s a great little traveler and cute as ever!
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I’m glad that my furkids enjoy roadtripping with us. I feel bad for Sedona that she has to stay cooped up in her crate when we’re on the road, but we make up for it when we ‘land’ and can take her out for walks/hikes. Airborne has free roam of the camper, but all the movement usually finds her curled up under the sofa until the motion stops!
Fireweed is stunning, especially when it covers entire hills.
Susan
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Comment by LynnMN — August 25, 2009 @ 6:54 am
Thank you for letting my husband and I ride along with you on your vacation. I really feel as though I’ve been back to Alaska just by reading your journal. Thank you, Susan for a very wonderful trip. (These journal entries were the first my husband has read, although I am always talking about you. He says you should be a travel guide.) I’m sorry “our” vacation is over, Susan, but thanks for a wonderful trip.
Marylyn-NC
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 26th, 2009 at 9:58 am
You’re quite welcome, Marylyn. I’m glad you enjoyed reading and coming along with us. Tell you husband I said thanks, and that Steve and I have often joked about becoming travel guides. Right now, we’re enjoying the traveling at our own pace and on our own schedule.
Thanks again,
Susan
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Comment by Marylyn Jessup — August 26, 2009 @ 8:39 am
Thank you, thank you,
I’m not sure how but, I am so glad that I stumbled onto your blog. I am in the midst of planning a trip to Alaska and madly researching everything I can find about where to go, what to see and what not to do. I am becoming a full time rver so I can take off and go wherever I want whenever I want and stop wherever I want. I can’t wait to visit your beautiful state.
I won’t even try to express how grateful I am for such a quick, beautiful and enlightening education about travel in Alaska.
You have saved a lot of worry and stress about so many of the exact areas that I plan to go. For example: the crossing from Skagway to Haines and beyond and the heads up on shopping in Skagway (I’m an earring freek). I will definitely look elsewhere.
I have put you in my “favorites” and look forward to your next jaunt.
Thanks again, from a anxious to start traveler,
Nancy
[Reply]
susanstevenson Reply:
August 26th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Hi Nancy, and thank you for commenting. I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed my blog and photos.
Good luck to you as you move into the world of full time RVing. We’ve thought about it as a future for us too, although we really do love it up here. Perhaps a half-time RVer for us? We’ll just leave for a few months in the winter. *grin*
The ferry ride from Haines to Skagway was a piece of cake, and truthfully, we could have checked out of our RV park that morning as scheduled and dropped out camper in the parking lot at the ferry. There weren’t many folks scheduled on the 10pm ferry to Skagway.
Also, in Skagway, the RV park we camped at (Pullen Creek) pro-rated our first day since we didn’t arrive until after midnight. Granted, it was only a few bucks saved, but a few bucks is a few bucks. Some campground will make you pay for the site for the whole day even though you don’t arrive until after midnight.
There were SO MANY jewelry stores in Skagway. If you are an earring freak, I’d personally look for locally owned jewelry stores, and Skagway wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice. When I found out that the cruise ships have a huge take in those stores, it bugged me. I know they have to make a living too, but - as I wrote - if I were coming to AK to visit, I wouldn’t be looking to buy jewelry brought in from the outside. I’d rather buy hand made local jewelry.
If you have any questions about other locations in AK, feel free to email me privately at susan@susanstevenson.com. We’ve been just about everywhere the road goes here in AK and I’d be happy to give you my insight and personal recommendations for things that I consider a ‘must-see’.
Regards,
Susan
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Comment by Nancy/SF — August 26, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
Enjoyed every “mile”!!! What a gift you have given so many by your images and words!
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susanstevenson Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Thank you Susan, and thank you for linking to my blog in your blog.
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Comment by Another Susan — August 27, 2009 @ 8:56 pm
Hi Susan,
After reading all the sections on your vacation I feel like I took the trip with you!! It was great to read about all of the”out of the way” places and to enjoy all your pictures. I told you we had been to Haines before and rafted through the Bald Eagle Preserve. It was in the summer but I’d love to see it during the festival. We’ve cruised Alaska 3 or 4 times and taken side excursions,
but the best times we’ve had were when we planned a couple of trips on our own. We had hoped to get back this summer but my daughter got married and our vacation went toward their honeymoon. Hopefully, next year. By the way, are you going to do a 2010 calendar this year. I want to get on the list if you are. Take care and keep writing and taking photos. You indeed have a gift for both! Dewise
[Reply]
susanstevenson Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Thank you Dewise! I’m glad you enjoyed going along for the ride. It was such a lovely getaway, and seeing new places for the first time was so exciting too. We really had a good time, and good weather. We met a lot of really great folks too.
I’ve never cruised, but I was told that when you book excursions through the cruise line they’re overpriced anyway. I’d be more apt to book my own too. I’d like to visit Sitka and Ketchikan. Might have to do that on the ‘poor man’s cruise’ - as we call our ferry system. *grin*
As for the calendar, I just created a prototype and I’m ordering one from the printer to see how it turns out. It’s a new printing company that allows me more options, but the cost is a few dollars more. I’ll let you know if I will be offering the calendar again this year by posting about it in my blog. Thank you for your interest.
Take care,
Susan
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Comment by Dewise Bailey — August 30, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Hi Susan,
Glad you didn’t have to “back tract” through the top of the world Road. Looking at your pictures, I see what we missed just before the Customs for the US. For us, the stretch just after customs was the worst, where we couldn’t see 5 feet in front of us.
I loved Chicken, and did try my hand at panning, but didn’t have much luck. I had some old timers helping me, but I just didn’t get the hang of it. I guess some people really do the panning to help supplement their living. We met two really nice guys. When we went past Dawson city, and got to Jade City, I heard one old timer talking to the guy who brought in the Jade. He said he was doing pretty well with gold this year. As I said, I don’t understand it, but some people do, and are more committed than I am at getting the gold out.
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susanstevenson Reply:
September 7th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I was so happy when we came out of those clouds after crossing the Yukon and starting our drive to Chicken. I thought for sure we’d have the same kind of trip you did with overcast skies, storms, no visibility, etc. It was a beautiful drive and so very scenic. I’m glad you got to at least back track and see some of it.
I’ve panned several times locally (Eldorado Gold Mine and Gold Dredge #8), and I seem to be able to do it fairly well, but WOW - it’s a lot of work! A friend of mine here has a sluice box that he uses to sift through the dirt. That’s much easier.
I liked meeting nice people everywhere we traveled. And the history along the way was so interesting!
Thanks for commenting,
Susan
[Reply]
Comment by Linda Kauffman — September 7, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
Hi Susan,
Just wandered into your blog looking for some postings about Chicken and my hats off to you for your great pictures and read. I have to apologize though, for I am the guy that should have given you the tour of the Pedro Dredge; one of the very few days of our long season that I was not present. But I promise that if come through Chicken again and give me a head’s up, I will do all I can to make it happen. You also will have a new photo opportunity of the dredge as I just finished moving it closer to the RV park this fall.
You mentioned that you did not take the tour of Tisha’s grave site and school house. Actually, the grave site is on the Purdy’s private property and not accessible through the tour of the school house.
And lastly, although our park does shut off the generator during the night, our Wifi stays on 24/7 as it is run on batteries.
Looking forward to more of your other northern travels/pictures as our summers are pretty much limited to the Chicken area.
Thanks,
Mike
[Reply]
susanstevenson Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Hi Mike, and thanks for commenting. I’m sorry we couldn’t do that tour, as I’m sure it would have been interesting. I’ve toured the Gold Dredge #8 dredge, and visited the Chatanika Dredge a few times (never climbed inside though), but it’s always good to get information from someone who knows a lot about the big machines.
I didn’t know that about your WiFi. It wouldn’t have mattered for us though. Our laptop batteries aren’t very efficient unfortunately, so we had to unplug before the generator shut down.
We do the bulk of our traveling in the summer months, but try to get down to the Kenai area in early spring as well.
We’d like to visit Eagle sometime. We missed it on this trip because the rain came and the road was in pretty rutted condition (especially for towing a camper).
Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
Take care,
Susan
[Reply]
Comment by Mike Busby — October 19, 2009 @ 3:40 pm