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We left Hyder Sunday morning, July 22 heading north on 37A. We stopped in Stewart at the gas bar (that’s what gas stations are called up here) and noticed a sign that said the Cassiar Highway (CA 37), north of Iskut, was closed due to a "washout" on the road. The sign indicated that the road would be reopened within 36 hours so we decided to continue with our plan to go to Iskut for the night.

As we approached the Hwy 37A/Cassiar Highway intersection, we were stopped by a construction worker who validated that the road was, indeed, washed out. Man – living up here is hard! He, too, had information that the road would be reopening tomorrow. A quick look at the map told us that we had no other choice unless we backtracked all the way back to Prince George, and we weren’t willing to do that. We were concerned that, with the road closed and travelers stranded, we might have trouble finding a campsite for the night with only one big rig campground near Iskut. We asked the road worker if he knew where the nearest phone was and he laughed. We found out why when we stopped at the Bell II Lodge. There are no phones and little electricity in this part of the world. To say it is remote is an understatement so we trudged on hoping for the best when we reached our destination.

We quickly found that, while the Cassiar’s surface south of this junction had been good, the northern section was terrible. In fact, just past Bob Quinn Lake, the road became decidedly narrower and there was no longer a middle stripe. But the good news was that we only encountered about eight miles of gravel that day, a mere shadow of what was to come. It was a nasty, rainy day making for poor photo ops but we passed a number of beautiful lakes and ponds along the way.

We reached Mountain Shadow RV Park early in the afternoon and found that we were one of only two campers – the others were stranded north of the washout. The campground was in a beautiful setting and, combined with the pitter patter of rain all night, made for a wonderful evening’s rest. We would need it for what was to come.

We hit our first road construction early Monday morning but, luckily, it was the resurfacing of a bridge so the wait was only a few minutes. We covered 43 miles of dirt/gravel road surface that day with many gravel "breaks" along the way that are not included in the total. We also encountered six road washouts/cave-ins with single lane traffic around the problem areas. One of the nice things about the Cassiar is that there isn’t much traffic. It’s a pretty lonely road but very, very beautiful. We traversed Gnat Pass, the highest summit on the Cassiar, at 4,072 feet and passed many more beautiful lakes and ponds. We saw a number of "Watch for moose" signs but not once did we even catch a glimpse of one. We did, however, see a herd of Stone sheep feeding alongside the highway north of the town of Dease Lake. It was another nasty day with lots of rain but we didn’t complain because the water helped soften the roughness of the road.

About 70 miles north of Dease Lake, we passed through the small community of Jade City (population: 12). Jade City was named for the jade deposits found in the Cassiar Mountain Range. We learned that there are several major jade mines about 80 miles from here and, in fact, the Princess Jade Mine accounts for about 75% of the world’s jade supply. I had no idea! I thought all jade came from Asia.

We were excited to see the "Welcome to the Yukon" sign just before the Cassiar’s intersection with the Alaska Highway, also known as the Alcan. Once on the Alcan, we turned east for about 15 miles to reach our destination of Watson Lake.

Watson Lake (population 1,563) was an important camp during construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 and during World War II. We visited the airport terminal which featured an excellent display of historical photographs, depicting the rich aviation history of this area, including early bush pilots and the WWII Lend Lease program. The airport, built in 1941, was one of the major refueling stops along the Northwest Staging Route, the system of airfields throughout Canada, used to ferry supplies to Alaska. These airfields would later determine the general route of the Alcan Highway. During WWII, over 15,000 American built aircraft would be delivered to the Soviet Union through the lend-lease program with some 8,000 of these planes coming through the airport at Watson Lake. The lend-lease program was a $50 billion effort to assist our Soviet allies. In addition to planes, the program also included the shipment of 400,000 trucks; 12,000 tanks; 32,000 motorcycles; 40,000 field radios; and 13,000 locomotives and railway cars. All but $480 million had been repaid by 2001 but, with the breakup of the Soviet Union, repayment efforts are at a standstill. Interestingly, this airfield complex was once heavily populated and operated almost entirely by American soldiers.

It was interesting to learn how closely the US and Canada worked together during WWII. Construction of the Alcan (a military acronym for the Alaska-Canada Highway) began on March 9, 1942. It ended 8 months and 12 days later on October 25, 1942. According to The Milepost, the formal agreement between Canada and the U.S. stipulated that the U.S. pay for construction and turn over the Canadian portion of the highway to the Canadian government after the war ended. In turn, Canada furnished the right-of-way; waived import duties, sales tax, income tax and immigration regulations; and provided construction materials along the 1,422 mile route.

A massive mobilization of men and equipment took place in that first month following the executive order by President Roosevelt. The Public Roads Administration tackled the task of organizing civilian engineers and equipment. Trucks, road-building equipment, office furniture, food tents and other supplies all had to be located and then shipped north. By June, more than 10,000 American troops had poured in the Canadian North. For the soldiers and civilian workers who built this road through the wilderness, it was a hard life. Working seven days a week, they endured mosquitoes and black flies in summer and below zero temperatures in winter. Rations were short which made for grumpy workers.

In June, 1942, the Japanese invaded Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutians, adding a new sense of urgency to completion of the Alcan. Crews working from east and west connected at Contact Creek on September 15. By October, it was possible for vehicles to travel the entire length of the highway, although much improvement would be needed and made in future years. The Alaska Highway opened to the public in 1948 and was named an International Historic Engineering Landmark in 1996.

While in Watson Lake, we spent some time in the Sign Post Forest. This phenomenon was started in 1942 by Carl K. Lindley (1919 – 2002) of Danville, IL, a US Army soldier in Company D, 341st Engineers, working on the construction of the Alaska Highway. Homesick, he tacked a sign to a tree that noted the mileage to his home town. Since that time, travelers have been adding to the collection and now, there are almost 62,000 signs in the Forest. It is probably the largest collection of stolen goods in one location in the world! There are highway signs, street signs, business signs, homemade signs – it is one of those quirky things you just have to see to appreciate. Of course, we added our own sign – NOT stolen property I might add. It is located on the highway side of the forest on a new pole in the front. We noticed while we were there that there is an ongoing refurbishing effort by the city to remove old posts and put up new ones. All of the old signs are remounted on the new posts. We also visited the Northern Lights Center, the world’s first multimedia "Electric Sky" Theater, where we enjoyed a presentation on the mysteries of the universe and on the myth and science of the aurora borealis. Jerry was intrigued with the idea that the edge of the universe is 15,000 light years away.

After two nights in the Downtown RV Park, we decided to make a long day of it and drive all the way to Whitehorse, 271 miles west on the Alaska Highway. We pulled out of the campground at 7:15 a.m. (early, early for us!) to get a head start on one of the caravans that were staying in the park. It was our first bright, sunny day in a while and we were so happy to see the sunshine. It wasn’t "impossible blue" as the Jasper National Parks employee described their skies but it was blue, we were happy and were finally headed west on the famous Alcan Highway. Just being on this road makes it feel like we have finally made it! It was a very pretty drive, dotted with a number of large and small lakes. And it was on this day that we got our first glimpse of the mighty Yukon River which, at nearly 2,000 miles in length, is the fourth or fifth longest river in North America (depending on the information source). The Yukon is the principal river of both the Yukon Territory and Alaska, draining three-quarters of the Yukon Territory and a third of Alaska. Some 30-50,000 prospectors followed the Yukon to Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-1899. More about that later.

We stopped in Teslin for a $279 fill up. Teslin has one of the largest aboriginal, or First Nation populations (as they are called in Canada), in the Yukon. The Tlingits’ (pronounced Klink’-its) livelihood revolves around traditional hunting, trapping and fishing. There are 14 First Nations, or bands of natives, in the Yukon Territory. Each First Nation now has a defined, traditional territory similar to where they lived and traveled prior to European settlers. They, like our Native Americans, were denied many of their traditional rights through the years. In 1927, they were even denied the right to have their own language. But in recent years, the government has negotiated First Nation Final Agreements with most of the Nations and work continues to assure them guaranteed territory and the right of self-government. Of the 14 Nations, there are basically only two languages: Athapascan and Tlingit.

We arrived at the Pioneer RV Park, just outside Whitehorse, where we would spend three nights, and drove into town to pick up information from the Visitor Center. We learned that Whitehorse has been the capital of Yukon Territory since 1953 when the capital was moved from Dawson City. Roughly the size of Spain, or three times larger than Florida, there are only 32,000 people who live in this vast province. Of those, 23,500 live in the city of Whitehorse. Compare that to the 18+ million people who live in Florida and it should give you some idea of how remote this place is! We are told that there are 50,000 moose within the Yukon but we haven’t seen one yet.

One of the historical sites we visited on Thursday, July 26 was Miles Canyon, located on the Yukon River two miles south of Whitehorse. The canyon was an imposing challenge for miners and stampeders on their way up the Yukon to the gold fields, mainly because the narrow channel through the canyon was followed by the more daunting Whitehorse Rapids. However, the rapids were eliminated by construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Yukon in 1959.

We also toured the Klondike II, the largest and last of the cargo sternwheelers that plied the Yukon River until around 1950. Klondike I was built in 1929 but sank in 1936. Klondike II, an exact duplicate of the first, was built and launched in 1937. The Klondike II was over 200 feet in length, had no keel, and could haul some 300 tons of cargo on a shallow draft of only four feet. However, the Yukon River's chief liability as a major transportation route was its open navigation season, restricted to only four or five months of each year. The Klondike II traveled the river until 1952 when the Alaskan Highway was completed and offered another option for shipping. They converted it to a cruise ship but in 1955, it made its last trip upriver. It was later donated to Parks Canada and they have spent the last 14 years restoring it as it would have been in the 1930s.

We visited the MacBride Museum with exhibits on mining and the stampede, Mounties, Yukon wildlife and minerals, First Nations, and the history of Whitehorse. Also at the museum is the North West Mounted Police Patrol cabin, a recreation of an early patrol cabin. The NWMP were bestowed the title "Royal" in 1904 and, in 1920, became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The distinctive red cloth tunic – or red serge – of the RCMP was first worn by the Mounties in 1897 but is now worn only at formal occasions or for special programs.

Friday night, we went to see the Frantic Follies, a vaudeville stage show that has been running for 38 years. The show featured cancan dancing, rousing music and hilarious skits from Robert W. Service ballads. We loved it and are so glad we went. All in all, we really enjoyed Whitehorse. It is a thriving community filled with warm and friendly people. There are lots of services here and the setting is beautiful.

Saturday morning, July 28, we left Whitehorse and the Alaska Highway behind to follow the Klondike Loop north to Dawson City. Almost all the road was paved with only about 20 miles of gravel. There were also frequent gravel "breaks" interspersed but we have come to expect and accept these "breaks" as a way of life here. We checked into the Bonanza Gold RV Park for two nights.

Dawson City was the capital of Yukon Territory until 1953, when the government moved the capital to Whitehorse and Dawson lost its preeminence. Whitehorse was located on the rail line and had become a center of commerce and the government felt it was a better choice for the seat of government. As a consolation, Parks Canada has worked hard to restore and maintain many of the old historic buildings in the area. In fact, they own 35 or so buildings in town. We took a guided walking tour to and/or through some of the Parks properties, including the Palace Grand Theatre, post office, bank, mortuary, Ruby’s Place (a brothel that remained in operation until 1961), and the Red Feather Saloon. Our tour was led by Rachel, a Parks Canada interpreter.

On Saturday night, we visited Robert Service’s cabin where he penned some of his most famous poems including "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Killing of Dan McGrew". A Parks Canada employee (Johnny) presented information on Service’s life and recited some of his work. Johnny truly brought life to Service’s writings. We were very impressed and highly entertained by this program. We also went to Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Gambling Hall for the cancan show.

On Sunday, we toured Dredge #4, the largest wooden hull bucket-line dredge in North America. Owned by the Klondike Consolidated Mining Company, it was built in 1911-12 and operated on electricity. It was used in another creek until it flooded and sank and remained underwater until 1927 when they refloated it. In 1940, they relocated the dredge to Bonanza Creek and used it until 1959 when a dam broke on the Yukon Ditch and flooded it and washed it over. The Klondike Mining Company then gave it to Parks Canada but the dredge remained partially submerged for 30 years until 1990 when the Canadian equivalent of our Corps of Engineers spent two years digging it out of the mire, muck, and permafrost. They refloated and uprighted the dredge and have been restoring it ever since. We have noted that the park service doesn’t do things in a hurry. They are deliberate and consistent but slow. Another interesting note – Canadians will tell you that no one gets in a hurry up here . . . no reason to rush, they say.

We followed Bonanza Creek to the Discovery Claim where the Klondike Gold Rush began. It seems that George Carmacks came to this area in 1885, hoping to strike it rich. He spent the next 10 years prospecting without success and married a First Nation woman. In 1896, he moved his family to Fortymile, where he could fish to eat and cut timber to sell. That summer, Carmack’s remarkable persistence paid off – he and his brothers-in-law Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, unearthed a $5 pan of coarse gold on Rabbit Creek, during a time when a 10-cent pan was considered a good find. Since Indians could not file claims, Carmack registered it under his name. That same winter, Carmack, Jim and Charlie extracted more than a ton of gold from the creek, which Carmack renamed Bonanza Creek, and its tributary, Eldorado. When word of Carmack’s discovery reached the outside world the following spring, it set off the Klondike Gold Rush and Eldorado Creek turned out to be the richest placer stream in all of North America.

The effect on the landscape is still obvious in this semi-arid area. An 1898 observer described the mining operation as "a scene of devastation, as if an earthquake had smitten the valley. It was an inferno of a world defacing God’s fair country, all for the sake of a few bags of course gold." The effects are still present.

We also visited the Jack London Cabin and Interpretive Center where noted historian and author, Dick North, shared his perspective of London’s life. The center features a log cabin built with half of the original logs from the cabin where London spent a year (1897) when he came here to search for gold on north Henderson Creek. The other half of the original logs were used to build a second replica cabin located in Jack London Square in Oakland, CA, London’s hometown. Although 50 of London’s books were published, two of his most famous works are The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Interestingly, London didn’t spend much time in Dawson City, other than to file his claim which was about 75 miles from here. However, for some reason he got stuck here for about six weeks waiting for the river to freeze over so he could get back to his claim. He also contracted scurvy and had to come back to Dawson for treatment.

We visited the Dawson City Museum, located in the Old Territorial Administration Building. One of the highlights of the museum was a film, narrated by native author Pierre Berton, which featured Berton’s perspective on growing up in Dawson. While visiting the museum, we learned that there were two kinds of folks in Dawson in the late 1800’s: the sourdoughs and the cheechacos. Sourdoughs were defined as experienced Yukoners who had weathered a winter here. Cheechacos were newcomers. And, yes, it is the Land of the Midnight Sun. Several of the photos I took along the way shot after 11 p.m. And it was in Dawson that we paid the highest price for gas - $5.29 per gallon.

An interesting note: This area sits on permafrost, which is soil that remains at or below freezing for two or more years. Overlying permafrost is a layer of soil that thaws during the summer but refreezes in the winter. Because of this freezing and thawing, the soil experiences shifts and creates problems with building foundations. For that reason, the buildings in this part of the country are built on runners on top of the ground rather than on foundations, as we know in our part of the world. This method allows the buildings to be moved and re-leveled as needed. Permafrost is said to be a relic of climatic conditions during glacial ages and wreaks havoc with roadways, creating what is known as "frost heaves".

We were in line for the free ferry across the Yukon River at 11:00 Monday morning, July 30. After about a 30-minute wait, we crossed the river and were officially on the Top of the World Highway. Noted as one of the rougher stretches of the north country roads, it lived up to its reputation. In fact, it took us 5 ½ hours to travel 107 miles. The washboards were so rough that, at times, we had to stop in the middle of the road just to let things settle down again. Jerry was convinced that we were going to tear Bubba apart! But we made it to the summit (4,515 feet) and enjoyed seemingly endless views along the way. We entered the US at the Poker Creek, Alaska checkpoint – the most northerly border port in the U.S. – and picked up the Taylor Highway at Jack Wade Junction for 29 more miles of terribly rough dirt/gravel road into the community of Chicken, Alaska. We were luckier than some. Just before Chicken, we came upon a motorhomer who got too close to the soft shoulder and ended up on his side in a ditch. Ouch!

Beautiful downtown Chicken, Alaska . . . how can I describe it? It is a combination store, restaurant, saloon, gift shop and gas station owned by a woman named Susan. Chicken has a population of six in the winter but it swells to 30 in the summer. For the most part, the residents are gold seekers, looking for the motherlode in the area’s streams. There is no electricity in Chicken. There are no flush toilets. If residents want electricity, they have to generate it themselves, as did our campground. The generator went on at 7 a.m. and off at 9 p.m. There was no electricity for ten hours each day. There are no phones in Chicken and mail is delivered by air on Wednesdays and Fridays. I asked the postmistress if mail was delivered all year and she said, "Of course!".

There are actually two campgrounds in Chicken – we stayed at the Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost. We thought it was really cheap at $15 a night until we realized that they charge a fee for using the dump station - $3 for grey water and $6 for black. We’ve never seen that before – ever. But gas was sure cheaper here at only $3.45 a gallon (compared to $5.29 in Dawson City).

How did Chicken get its name? Well, it seems that the miners who established the town in the late 1800’s wanted to name the town Ptarmigan but they couldn’t spell it. So, it became Chicken. It’s a quirky place for sure but the folks there are hardy and quick-witted and the tour busses flock (no pun intended) to see the place. The gift shop is filled with items that play off the town’s name and the tourists buy them by the gross. We fell in love with one of the local dogs, Katie, a 5 pound black and tan chihuahua.

On Tuesday, we made a day trip to Eagle, on the banks of the Yukon River. Eagle was touted to be one of the better-preserved boomtowns of the Alaskan mining era. Fort Egbert was built there in 1899 to maintain law and order in the Alaskan Interior and Judge Wickersham established a federal court. In 1901, President Teddy Roosevelt issued a charter that made Eagle the first incorporated city of the Interior. However, the gold strikes of the early 1900’s drew residents away, the court was moved to another city and the fort closed. Today, there are only 115 residents in Eagle. The town appears to be in dire straits but those who live there say they love it. There are a number of restored buildings at the fort and a few in town. There are five churches in this little town. We were told that the ministers’ names are Jerry, Larry, Barry, Gary and Terry. Go figure. Several people recommended the trip to us but, looking back, it was not worth the 190-mile round trip on dirt/gravel. Been there, done that.

The bad news is that we had our first flat on the return trip when a rock punctured one of our brand new tires that we bought in Reno in early June. And, of course, our spare needed more air and our air compressor didn’t work. Luckily, we stopped at a highway maintenance shop to ask for some air and Pug, one of the workers, not only aired up our spare, he repaired our flat tire for us. What a nice man!

On Wednesday, August 1, we followed the Taylor Highway to Tok, getting our first taste of frost heaves along the way. We also saw much evidence of the 2004 Taylor Complex Fires which burned 1.3 million acres. 2004 was a particularly bad year for wildfires in Alaska, burning 6,385,496 acres before the summer ended. At mile 1313 in Tok, we stopped at an Alcan landmark, Fast Eddy’s, and had lunch. We also bought gas in Tok for $3.07 and thought it was a bargain!

We picked up the Alaska Highway again to Delta Junction, where we spent an uneventful night at Smith’s Green Acres RV Park. Thursday morning, we took the Richardson Highway for the final 97 miles into Fairbanks and caught our first glimpse of the Alaska pipeline. We encountered many frost heaves on this section of the road.

Of course, we had to stop at North Pole, about 11 miles south of Fairbanks to visit Santa’s Workshop and to see the live reindeer. Yes, Alaska is full of quirky folks. More on that later.

Until next time, happy trails to you . . . til we meet again!