Dawson City, Yukon – Top of World Highway 8/18-20/2009

We travelled on 8/17 from Fairbanks to TOK on our way to Dawson City, Yukon via Top of the World Highway.

In the morning of 8/18, we headed up Taylor Highway to “top of the world highway” which goes from Chicken Alaska to Dawson City. We arrived in Chicken for lunch, toured the town and headed towards Dawson City. Chicken was somewhat interesting but not worth going out of your way to visit. It is a good stopping point on the way to Dawson City. Only 4 people live in Chicken year round. It grows to 24 in summer. There are a couple of RV Parks, a Restaurant Cafe, a couple of Gift Shops, a gas station and a few historical points of interest.

After lunch, we drove he first part of the “Top of the World Highway” through Boundary and to the Canadian/US Border. The scenery was great. The road winds its up up to the top of ridges and runs these ridges across the top of the world. The views are beautiful! Much of the time you are above tree line looking over the valleys below and across to the mountains near and far. The road is called gravel but resembles hard packed dirt. The trailer was bouncing a little.

We came to a scenic viewpoint about a half mile past the border. We could see the border station on a neighboring mountain peak. We went for a short hike on the tundra and walked up a road out to the end of the canyon top. We spotted some caribou. We met another couple there. We all decided to stay the night high up on top of the world. It was wonderful. We took our chairs, wine, cheese and rice crackers out to the edge of the canyon. We enjoyed each others company while taking in the breath taking views.


 

In the morning, we finished the trip to Dawson City. The rest of the trip across the Top of the Work highway was much more pleasant. The road was in much better condition with half of it paved and the rest seemed to be coated with oil that made the unpaved sections very smooth.

We stayed in Dawson City for two nights. Dawson City has a large permanent population of about 1800. The Canadian National Park Service has guided a historical restoration activity here. Dawson City has wooded sidewalks on a huge downtown area. The Dawson City museum is a must see! There are a couple of movies about the Klondike Gold Rush. There exhibits was well done. In Dawson City, there is a mix of historical tourist type activity with the life of the town. It is a very pleasant place to just walk around.

 

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