We decided to stop in Tok (pronounced toke) AK at the visitors center to see if they have any info on Chicken, Eagle, or Dawson. The visitor Center is really nice, a big log cabin with many different displays about the different parts of Alaska, including life in the interior where temps soar into the 90's in the summer, with almost 24 hours of sunlight a day, then plummet over 150 degrees in the winter, with no daylight and a record low below -80. Yikes.
I ask the attendant about Dawson, and he informs me the Border crossing at Boundry, AK is closed until the 30th, 3 days away, since the ferry at Dawson isn't even in the water yet. The unusually later spring has delayed everything.What? This throws a bit of a wrench into the works, but fortunately, we have a bit of extra time, and decide to explore this part of the country a little while we wait for the border to open.
We leave Tok and drive to Chicken, AK. Chicken is a mining town established in the mid 1800's when they found Gold in the area. The story goes that they wanted to name it Ptarmigan after the birds that were plentiful in the area. They didn't know how to spell Ptarmigan (and neither do I, if they had spell-check there never would have been a town called chicken) so they called it Chicken instead. Theres a few small shops, Saloons, and Cafe's as well as several RV parks but not much else. There still remains a few working gold camps, but alot of Chicken is about tourism now. There are chicken statues and signs all over the place, including a giant 20' tall one made from old school lockers. Theres also alot of old mining memorabilia, including an actual dredge on display.
We were lazy, and didn't feel like feeding ourselves, so we went to one of the Cafe's and asked about food. Nope. No food until thursday. Huh. Oh well. Cara and I share a sandwich she made while I talk to a couple travelers about where there going and where we've been. We leave Chicken and decide to take a detour and check out the town of Eagle. We stop for the night on the side of the road just a few miles north of the Cuttoff on Jack Wade Road and share a Burrito My Cousin donated to us for the trip, it was Delicious! We camp there for the night, a beautiful spot near the top of the surrounding snow capped hills. It was Sunny when we went to bed at 10pm and sunny when we got up at 7am.
The next morning we continue north on Jack Wade road, this area is still in spring breakup mode. Theres lots of snow around, most of it melting and creating huge amounts of water. In areas the road drainage can't keep up and we see the beginnings of washouts or the evidence of previously repaired washouts everywhere.
We also saw at least 3 small herd of Caribou, a porcupine, Ptarmigan, and rabbits.
We eventually arrive in Eagle, a small town built on the shores of the Youkon River in 1897 following a gold discovery nearby. According to the Milepost it grew to 1700 residents by 1898, grew an Army outpost and became home to the first Federal Courthouse in the interior of Alaska by about 1901. Due to Gold strikes in Fairbanks and Nome many miners left and the population dropped under 200 by 1910. The sign coming into town claims a population of about 180, but we saw less than 10 of them. We asked a couple of them we found chatting on 4 wheelers if there was anywhere we could get some food or Gas, they pointed down the street and we wandered down the dirt main street and found a small trading post. Surprisingly, Fuel was only $5/gallon, so we filled up. When we inquired about showers, they informed us the shower facilities had been destroyed in the flood in 2009 when an ice dam caused the yukon to rise and destroy many historic waterfront buildings. There was still evidence of the rebuilding process when we were there.
We checked out the courthouse and museum, neither were open yet. We've discovered theres not alot of tourism before the border opens, and the late spring has resulted in most businesses to be closed. We decide to make our way south, we still have another full day before we can cross the border. While leaving town, I see the sign for the historic Army Fort, and we decide to check it out. It was abandoned by the army in 1911 when radio replaced telegraphs, but there are still 5 buildings (of the original 45 that were restored in 1975. Also closed, but they looked nice on the outside. Just past the fort, we happen across Eagle Campground. It's completely empty, clean, and the sign proclaims no fee camping. Well, heck. We decide to take advantage of the convenient picnic table and outhouse and Cara cooks us a delicious steak with a side of fried rice and veg. We both spend a couple hours attending to small projects on the Donkey, Cara fabricates a screen for a sliding window and I install some aux power ports for the back seat. I also find the cause of the radio/DVD/monitor malfunction, replace a fuse and we watched a movie before going to bed.
We wander out of town, thinking to camp along the road and wind up driving all the way to the border. It was fairly uneventful, and not much to see aside from some spectacular views. We camped out about a half mile short of the border since the border was still closed. Cara wanted some exercise and made me hike up a mountain, we found the border marker and I almost got detained for crossing the border without authorization. Likely, thge only thing that kept me out of a canadian prison was the fact that I was on top of a small mountain and the guy yelling at me wasn't. I hopped back over the border, snapped a quick pick of the guy that yelled at me, and we made our way back to the Donkey.
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