Top of the World Highway and a town called Chicken

Leaving Kluane National Park we headed northwest towards Alaska again to the small and exciting (not) town of Tok, Alaska. As boring as Tok is, it's a good place to stock up on supplies and fill up the car before setting off for the Top of the World Highway.

Downtown chicken

A far more interesting stop is a town called Chicken that was settled by gold miners at the end of the 19th century. When a post office was established, the settlement required an official name. Since nobody could agree on the spelling of Ptarmigan, a name suggested based on the prevalence of ptarmigan in the area, they agreed upon Chicken to avoid embarrassment.

These days, Chicken is home to 17 inhabitants and downtown Chicken consists of a souvenir shop, a saloon and a cafe as well as Chicken Poop, the public bathroom. There are still some active gold mines in the area and some old dredges can be seen around Chicken.

Chicken Poop

The Top of the World Highway is one of the most northerly highways in the world and it winds its way along the crests of the hills. It's supposed to be one of the most scenic highways, but I was a bit disappointment. The scenery is beautiful and the views are spectacular but I expected snow capped mountains instead of rolling hills.

Poker Creek is the highest US road border and there is a one-hour difference in time zones at this border. The highway is mostly paved on the US side but once you cross into Canada, most of it is unpaved until you reach the vicinity of Dawson.

US-Canadian border along the Top of the World Highway

The Dempster Highway

According to our rental car agreement and the waiver we signed, we were not allowed to take the rental car on the Dempster Highway, a 760km unpaved road built on permafrost that connects Dawson City to the Inuvik on the Artic Sea. However, the weather forecast was good and we couldn't resist the temptation of at least exploring part of the Dempster Highway. There is a visitor centre dedicated to the Dempster Highway in Dawson City where we got the necessary maps as well as information about the sights along the highway.

A few facts about the Dempster Highway:
- Built in 1958 for oil and gas exploration
- 761 km of unpaved road built on a gravel berm to
   insulate the permafrost in the soil underneath
- the only service station is at Eagle Plains at 370km
- Only road in Canada that leads to the Arctic Sea
- Flat tires and cracked windshields are the norm
- Named after RCMP Inspector William John Duncan
  Dempster who ran the dog sled trail from Dawson to
  Fort McPherson

A rain shower along the Dempster

The first stop along the Dempster is the Tombstone Territorial Park, part of the First Nations traditional territory. The park protects a unique wilderness of rugged peaks and permafrost landscapes with an abundance in wildlife. We did a couple of short hikes accessible from the visitors centre and the Dempster Highway and got a glimpse of the beauty of this unique landscape.

Tombstone Territorial Park

Eagle Plains (Population 8) at km 369 is the halfway point of the Dempster and also the only access to civilization along the highway. It's an important stop for food and fuel and a small hotel offers accommodations to stranded travellers. Although there is a small campground at Eagle Plains, we decided to drive to the Rock River Campground at km 440, past the Arctic Circle. In hindsight, we should have stayed at Eagle Plains as the other campground was in the woods along a river, not only was it infested by millions of mosquitos we also didn't have a view to enjoy the midnight sun on the longest day of the year. 

We made it!

The next day we decided to drive up to the border with the Northwest Territories before heading back towards civilization. The temptation to drive all the way to Inuvik was hard to resist but in the interest of time, we had to start trekking back. We also didn't want to jinx our luck by getting stuck somewhere with our rental car as we were not really prepared for this adventure in the first place. We didn't have any spare tires nor a jerry can with extra fuel but the luck was on our side this time!

The furthest North we have ever been!

Along the Dempster

The Dempster also serves as an airstrip