After
a couple of good nights rest at the Beez Kneez Hostel in Whitehorse,
I continued my journey northward with renewed spirit.
Dawson
City was pretty crowded with tourists. Everyone was
frantically looking for a vacant room in an expensive hotel.
Not me, I just took the ferry across the river to West Dawson City
city and went directly to the hostel. No problem there--there
was plenty of room. And only $14/night.
However,
waiting in line for a turn to get onto the little ferry could have
taken quite awhile. Notice in the picture above--my car is the
only car in line, and it's at the end of the line. There were
about 12-18 RV's in front of me. The ferry only carried 3 or 4
at a time.
Well, the
woman running the ferry walked back to the end of the line looking
for a small vehicle to fit into a small space. And I was
it. No waiting in line at all. She told me to come up to
the front of the line, and she said, "See, sometimes it pays to be
small."
Left:
There's the ferry that crosses the Yukon River. It's the only
way to cross, no bridges--heck there's only one road!
Right:
Information on West Dawson, and the ferry.
Below:
Dawson Hostel Sign
Right:
The Hostel also had plenty of room for tents.
Left:
The hostel is located right on the peaceful bank of the Yukon River
overlooking tourist ridden Dawson City on the other side.
Right:
This is one of the woman's cabins.
Bottom:
This was my bed. Place was neat, clean and had plenty of room.
My
dorm mates were two woman from Japan, and a woman from the
Netherlands.
Right:
If you wanted to take a bath (no shower), you had to chop your own
wood and stoke the fire to heat the water.
Right:
Me cutting wood. Well, pretending to cut wood. Was just
posing for the picture. I was waiting until I got to the next
hostel, Grandma Shirley's in Fairbanks--I read that she had a great
shower there.
Left:
The manager at the Dawson City River Hostel. He had the
outgoing, robust personality that you would expect. He loved
his job and it showed through his enthusiasm.
After
leaving Dawson City, I opted to take the "Top of the World
Highway". It's not really a "highway". Well, neither is
the Alaska Hwy. The "Top of the World Highway is "even less of
a highway..." But high above the treeline it meanders through
scenery like you wouldn't believe.
I
just found a web site that just about describes it pretty
well. It's a web site put up by a tour company (I didn't even
know they had buses that would drive there), but it's an informative
site with lots of information and better pictures than I have
here. So check it out:
Left:
Me throwing snow. Look at the height of that ridge of snow
beside the road. I'm 5'3", so that snow much be about 12'
high.
Linda,
the woman from the Netherlands took the picture. I met her at
the Dawson Hostel. She was backpacking around Canada.
When I told her that I want to cross the Arctic Circle and drive all
the way to Deadhorse, she asked if she could come along. I
said, OK. It might be fun traveling with someone else for a
change.
Above:
It had been raining hard most of the day. There were many
places where the road was almost washed out.
Right
& Below: Here are some more bad washouts. The bulldozer
here was trying it's best of prevent this one from totoally washing
away the road. We made it across.
It was
important to try to prevent total washouts because this was the only
road in and out. If it washes out, there'd be some people
stranded pretty much out there in the wilderness.
The
prospect of getting stranded out there didn't bother me at
all. I wouldn't mind hiking in off the road and setting up my
tent. Been there, done that, I'm proud to say--considering my
cousin considers me to be somewhat of a "city slicker". Guess
she doesn't really know me.
Right:
Poker Creek Alaska. Population: 2
Most
northerly land border in the USA.
The sign
under the "STOP" reads:
Welcome
to the USA: Remain in your Vehicle for Inspection.
Of course
I had to jump out to take this picture, so I got yelled at .
The place is so isolated--you'd think they'd be happy to see
someone--anyone. But I guess they have to be cautious--they
never know who might be trying to sneak over the border that
far north.
Finally
made it to Alaska!!!
The
"GOLDPANNER" was the "hub' of Chicken, Alaska. It was the
general store. Served good, hot coffee. I bought
T-shirts, sweat shirts, & post cards for everyone back home.
Left:
Linda pointing to the "Chicken Warning Sign". The warning was
written in Dutch, so Linda read it to me. She asked the store
owner why it was written in Dutch, and the wife explained that she
was born in Holland. Several years ago she took a vacation,
and ended up in Chicken, Alaska where she met her husband, and has
lived there ever since.
Right:
Me drinking coffee, smoking a cigarette (have since quit), and
filling out those 'ever present' post cards.
If you
look closely--you can see the river there beside the building.
It has overflowed it's banks. It wouldn't be long before the
bridge got washed out--again, the ONLY bridge!
It
rained & rained that day. We got out of Chicken and off
the "Top of the World Hwy" just in time. We later heard that
the road was no longer passable.
Above:
Drove through this one slowly.
Left:
Bear at the Tok Visitor Center in Tok, Alaska
Wouldn't
want to run into him while camping or while sleeping in my
car! A grizzly like that could just flip my Kia over in a
second.
Above:
Drove through the town of "North Pole" on the way to Grandma
Shirley's Hostel in Fairbanks. I wanted to stop to pick up
some post cards, and mail them from the North Pole Post office to
some children I know, but Linda wanted to drive straight
though. So I drove her to the Fairbanks Hostel, then I drove
20 miles back to "North Pole" to buy the post cards.
