Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, George Black Ferry and Dawson City, August 10th to 11th.

The George Black Ferry comes across the Yukon from Dawson City.

Today we took the ferry early so we can spend the day taking in the sights of Dawson City.

Vehicles disembark and we get ready to load onto the ferry.

Riding the ferry across the Yukon to Dawson City.

We stay two nights at the Gold Rush Campground in Dawson City so we can conveniently  walk around town.

Dawson City is colorful and authentic. The street are dirt with boardwalks along the store fronts.

Dawson is colorful and authentic. They have a preservation society that keeps it looking much like the famed frontier town of the gold rush days.

Strolling through the streets of Dawson City.

Our Parks Canada guide gives us a tour of a restored saloon and tells us about the social proprieties of the frontier days.

I get to serve this rugged gentleman.

The story of Dawson and the Klondike Gold Rush is best told by costumed Parks Canadian staff at the Visitor Center who led walking tours of the town throughout the day. We took four of these tours led us through several of the historic buildings. The staff members were fun and engaging.

Our guide give us a tour through the original post office.

The post office windows.

The Dawson Daily News office.

The Dawson Daily News building is filled with old type setters, presses and paper folders. A treasure of printing equipment.

Next we tour through the grand theater. A gold rush town needs the best entertainment.

Inside the theater.

Looking down on the stage from the private box seats.

Frontier comfort and plush living quarters for the top-billing theater stars.

We also visited the Robert Service cabin and the Jack London cabin which inspired us to want to read more of both writers. They were the real deal, living the life and times of the Gold Rush.

Robert Service.

The Robert Service Cabin in Dawson City.

The Jack London Cabin in Dawson City was moved to town from it's original location.

Inside the Jack London Cabin. He inscribed his name on one of the logs. Can you imagine the inspiration he found here?

The Jack London Museum has a photo graphic history of his life and film clips from movies made from his novels. A must see for everyone who loves his work.

 

One of the beautiful restored homes in Dawson.

Dawson's homes are as colorful as the buildings in the business district.

Next time we visit the No. 4 Gold Dredge.

 

Until then,

Jackie



Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Chicken and the Top of the World Highway, August 9th.

Going to Chicken, AK on the Taylor Highway.

Chicken, AK is worth going to just for the name and to drive the scenic Alaskan back roads. If you travel the Taylor Highway to the Top of the World you'll go through Chicken.

A big welcome to Chicken, AK.

The pavement becomes gravel before we get to Chicken but it's not as rough as we expected. Some sections are newly paved.

Chicken, Alaska.

More of Chicken, Alaska.

Chicken's giant Chicken made from old school lockers.

More Chickens.

And more Chickens to welcome you.

Chicken is a small community in the hilly north country of Alaska. You'll find, friendly people, nice lodging, camping, gift shops and chicken sculptures everywhere.

Everyone can get laid in Chicken.

You just have to love Chicken.

Distant views of the country along the Taylor Highway.

Here we are on Top of the World.

When the Taylor Highway crosses into the Yukon at what must be the loneliest border crossing between our counties, it becomes known as the Top of the World Highway.

People make cairns at the highest point on the Top of the World. There are hundreds of them.

Indeed Top of the World is deserving of the name. It follows a long, rounded ridge with 360 degree view of mountains layered into the blue horizon. The gentle slope of the ridge shoulders its way into the valleys below.

The Top of the World Highway. Not a road to be traveled during wet conditions.

It’s an outstanding scenic drive and again the road is good packed dirt and not as bad as expected but wouldn’t be very good in wet conditions.

The Yukon River from the Top of the World.

Our camp site at the Yukon Provincial park along the river.

We watch a paddle boat from Dawson City go by from our camp.

The Top of the World Highway ends at the Yukon River at Dawson City and we decide to camp at the Yukon River Provincial Park before riding the ferry across the river.

There isn't a bridge across the Yukon so a ferry runs continuously through the day taking vehicles back and forth.

We're riding the ferry across the Yukon.

Disembarking the ferry at Dawson City.

More about Dawson City next time.

Until then.
Jackie

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Tangle Lakes, Tok and West Fork BLM Campground, August 5th to 8th.

Along the Denali Highway at Tangle Lakes.

We travel to Tangle Lakes on the Denali Highway surrounded by mountains, tundra and a bright dome of sky and cloud. We're at 6,000 ft. and at this latitude we’re above timberline. The country is open and tundra-covered glacial moraines roll away in all directions.

Big sky above the tundra at Tangle Lakes.

Beautiful scenery make for a great bike ride on the Denali Highway.

Bicycling the Denali Highway.

On our first day we take a bike ride on the 22-miles of paved highway that goes to Tangle Lakes from the Richardson Highway. The rest of the 135-mile Denali Highway is gravel.

Artic Tern.

Along the way I get lucky and get a photo of an Artic Tern calling from a post along the road. He’s a beautiful bird that spends a lot of time on the wing and has oddly small legs.

Wild Blueberries.

A handful of deliciousness.

On the second day we hike a trail from Tangle Lakes to the top of the ridge that cups the lake. There we gather wild blue berries which are just coming into season. I didn't know they were on my bucket list but here they are, so we picked a bucket. Its fresh berries on our cereal for the next week.

The BLM Tangle Lakes campground. No trees but a wonderful place to camp.

Tangle Lakes, fishing, kayaking and boating opportunities.

The BLM campground at Tangle Lakes is well maintained and worth going out of the way to spend some very peaceful nights.

Along the Denali Highway we see a pair of Trumpeter Swans with their two downy cygnets.

Our next destination is Tok where we are lucky to have good weather to do a 29-mile bike ride on their paved bike trail.

True to our mission to ride all the bike paths we can find, we take a few hours to ride this great path at Tok, Alaska.

We don't stay in Tok but take the Taylor Highway going to Chicken, AK. The road is paved and in good condition. Not as bad as we expected from things people have told us. Before we get to Chicken we plan to spend the night at a small BLM campground called West Fork, which we highly recommend. Site 22 is our favorite and has a bench overlooking a pond, very nice.

Our camp site at the BLM West Fork Campground on the Taylor Highway.

The bench at our site overlooks a small lake. A beautiful place.

Next time we’ll tell you about Chicken, AK and the Top of the World Highway.

See you then.

Jackie