We found out late Wednesday night from the DOT website that the road north from Chicken that had been closed would reopen Friday morning--maybe. A pilot car (truck) would take two convoys per day out of Chicken over to the junction with the Boundary Spur leading to the Top of the World Highway, the first leaving at 8:00 am Friday. We left Tok Thursday morning planning to take the Alaska Highway out as planned, but as we got closer to the Taylor Hwy. leading to Chicken, we discussed the possibility of taking a chance that the convoy really would go through this time as planned. At the last minute, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision and turned onto the Taylor Highway. When we got to Chicken, they verified that DOT had made the decision to take a convoy north Friday morning. So we hung out in Chicken the rest of the day, spending our time panning for gold in Chicken Creek (we didn't find anything), and spent the night there. The area around Chicken, called Forty Mile, is still an active gold mining area, and people often find little flecks of gold in the creek. We weren't very patient and didn't really know how to pan properly, so we gave up easily. But at least we tried it!
Friday morning we lined up in the convoy, which left a few minutes before 8:00. It was slow-going and very dusty with so many vehicles traveling together on a dirt and gravel road, but the scenery was worth it! The pilot truck dropped us at the Boundary Spur Road; a short time later we went through customs at the Canadian border very smoothly, and proceeded onto the Top of the World Highway, which is very aptly named! Again, gorgeous scenery and perfect weather! The Top of the World Highway ended at Dawson City, Yukon Territory, which we spent a little time investigating. It's an old gold mining town and still retains the flavor of the old town, with quaint little shops in old-timey buildings and wooden streets. A fun place to spend an afternoon!
We thought about driving a little further but weren't sure about accommodations within a reasonable distance, so we decided to spend the night in Dawson City. Tomorrow we'll try to make it to Whitehorse, which will be a pretty long day (more than our usual 200-250 miles).
Again, the internet here has bandwidth limitations, so I can't upload pictures again. Maybe in Whitehorse . . .
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