August 2
59 miles
4500 feet elevation gain
Today was one of those days that was somewhat monotonous. The scenery is pretty but repetitive: rolling hills, spruce and birch or aspen forest, the road lined with willow and fireweed. There was a wildfire 20 years ago that killed much of the spruce, so there are large sections with standing dead spruce trees and young birch forest replacing it. This is where I watch for Northern Hawk Owls but I’m still not seeing any. Just more ravens, robins, jays, flickers, and grouse.
We took a break at a wayside and met an Ottawan couple who told us they would look for us in Dawson City, where they will be visiting their son for several days.
The climbs were shorter today but it was still a neverending up and down. At one point, we could see the next 4-5 climbs coming up, so we took guesses as to how far away the farthest one we could see was. We figured 7 miles, it turned out to be about 8. The air is slightly hazy and smells of wildfire today. I’m not sure exactly where it’s coming from but I know from experience it is either too small or too far away to be a danger to us right now. We will check on the situation when we get to Dawson City.
The highlight of the day was coming to the community of Chicken. One of the few surviving gold rush camps, and with a current year-round population of only 12, in summertime it’s busy with tourists and gold miners. Sadly for us, we arrived around 3:45 and the restaurant closed at 3:00. Fortunately, the saloon served us some bratwurst with chips and a coke, and the outpost store had coffee and ice cream. They also allowed us to fill our water bottles. This isn’t a place with services, so the businesses haul in water. We wandered around the “town” and looked at their unique chicken sculpture, with signs pointing to just about every other town with a chicken related name and how far away it is.
The biggest attraction to see was the Pedro Dredge National Historic Site. The dredge operated from 1936-1967, and was transferred to Chicken in 1958 and started operating in 1959. At its peak, running 24 hours per day for two weeks, the dredge brought in $40,000 in gold. Just by the size, you can really get a sense of how destructive gold mining can be to a river ecosystem.
While there were camping options in town, we decided to get in another 9 miles, leaving a clean 100 miles left to Dawson City. The first 1.5 miles out of town was climbing over 400 feet, and when we arrived at the wayside we planned to camp near, we did not like the options. It was another 7 miles to an actual BLM campground, so we decided to push on. Of course we had to climb for 3 miles and gain another 800 feet! After we left Chicken, the road turned to dirt and gravel, and every driver has been more courteous and friendly. Everyone gives us a wave.
These BLM campgrounds are pretty nice. There’s plenty of people here, almost all in RVs and many clearly here for gold mining activities. We chatted with a couple from Florida also heading to Dawson City. With the extra miles we did today, we are 27 miles from the Canada border, which means this is our last night in Alaska!
