Top of the World Highway

Fine enough when we started out

Uh - oh...potholes ahead

Even our GPS is saying go back - this road is not for you

Lots more potholes

Way up in the clouds

Eric emerges from the mist

Yukon River & Dawson City below - nearly there

Waiting for the ferry

Our dirty RV boarding the small ferry

Driving off the ferry in Dawson City

This Combi is dwarfed by our RV

Marie & I celebrate surviving the Top of the World Highway with our Margaritas!

Next day...let's do it all again!

So THIS is what the road was supposed to look like!

Yep - it sure feels like we are on top of the world

Picnic on Top of the World Highway

'Lewis & Clark' show the way ahead...hmmm

Few visitors to Alaska can pass up the challenge to drive the 127 km (79 mile) Top of the World Highway - and we were no exception! It is a notorious, mostly unpaved highway, full of potholes. The highway officially begins after you have left Chicken (see previous entry), Alaska and crossed the border into Yukon, Canada, and finishes at the Yukon River with Dawson City on the other side. Don't be fooled by the length of the highway - it took us 4 hours to do the 80 miles, and that was without stopping. The day we did the drive was the worst day we could have done the trip, as it was drizzling with rain and once we got up to the high elevations (most of the highway is over 3000 feet and peaked at the border at 4,127') we were surrounded by mist, fog and low-lying cloud. It was all we could do to see Eric & Marie's headlights ahead of us most of the time. While the road is the worst in Alaska, they say the scenery makes up for it - ha - we couldn't see a thing - just mist, mist and more mist.

The Top of the World Highway can be quite dangerous as it is narrow in parts with only room for one large vehicle, and sheer cliffs on the other side for those who disregard the rules to stop at these narrow points and let the North-bound traffic continue. Despite being advised against doing the drive in wet weather (the road surface fills your tyre treads with mud/clay and then you slide around the bends), it seemed a preferable option to staying another night in the town of 'Chicken'.

We soldiered on and as we turned a bend on the last mountain we could finally see the Yukon River and Dawson City below. Now all we had to do was catch the Government Ferry to cross the Yukon River (and find my bonanza gold) - thankfully that only took a few minutes and we arrived safely on the other side. Hurrah, we survived the Top of the World Highway. Time for a celebration!

Wouldn't you know it, the next day I woke up and was startled by a bright light shining into the bathroom - it was the sun! Whoo hoo. The skies were blue and it was lovely & warm. We didn't hesitate when Eric & Marie asked if we would like to take a drive back up the Top of the World Highway - we left the RV's behind and just went in their 4WD. We would get to see the scenery we missed the day before. We had a great drive and had a lot of laughs, and ended our foray with a picnic lunch up the top. Then it was time to return to Dawson, absorb the 'aura' and experience a little bit of this isolated city and its historic beginnings.