Day 12: Chicken AK - Whitehorse YT

With it being officially Quite a Long Way from Chicken to Whitehorse, I opted for an early start, stuck my snout out of the cabin and found this:

"We have two seasons here: August and Winter" ~ Yukon Native to Phil Llewellin before persuading him to return and travel the Dempster Highway in winter

And promptly went back to bed again, a decision helped by the fact that the caff didn't start serving breakfast until 08:30.  -2 degrees according to That Shitbox Dodge.  I wore socks and Proper Shoes.

If you were to turn right out of Chicken RV Park you would find yourself back on the Taylor Highway, and because the paved road ends immediately after crossing the bridge over Chicken Creek, I didn't go that way.  If I had, I would have found that the Taylor continues up hill and down dale for 50 km to Jack Wade junction and, although it is said to contain some rough bits, is generally held to be not much worse than an an English country lane in winter.  Certainly better than the road off Watership Down in February, as can be seen from this photo which I did not take today:

At Jack Wade Junction, a traveller could head further north to Eagle, on the bank of the Mighty Yukon river, or continue east to the USAnia-Canuckistan border.  I didn't do the latter because, remember, I wasn't there.  The road - according to The Milepost - becomes a beautifully smooth stretch of tarmac yclept the Top Of The Word Highway, from its habit of running along the ridgelines rather than sticking to the valley floors.  Rather like Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, where, unlike the TOTW, I have actually been.  Shame, really, as otherwise I would have seen views like this:

Once back into Canuckistan, a traveller might be forgiven, from looking at the map and the route description that the continuation of the TOTW Highway in Yukon is mostly tarmac, but the traveller would be this: wrong. I am told that it is actually (mostly) smooth dirt on which, unlike the Taylor, it is possible to maintain the 80 km/h speed limit without fearing for one's tyres.  If one were to continue that way, one would eventually find oneself descending a gert big hill.  At the bottom of which it is, apparently, wise to stop as otherwise you will drive into this:

The Mighty Yukon at Dawson City.  The pile of Mudde in the foreground is the ferry dock.

It doth flow most deep and fast, so it is recommended that any traveller who, unlike me, finds themselves on that side of the Mighty Yukon, uses this instead:

The "George Black" ferry across the Mighty Yukon

This lands you in Dawson City, connected to the rest of Canuckistan by a proper paved road.  Thus it is safe to say that I have been there.  Dawson City hav a very interesting history if you are interested in hist. which few boys are.  Lying as it does at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers it became a boom town during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896-99 and shameless trades on this state of affairs to this day.  It'd be entirely possible to spend a day or two twatting around in Dawson City, but lacking the time I just had a quick shufti at this:

and went on my merry way.  The SS Keno is one of two surviving Yukon stern-wheelers, the other being located about half a mile from here in Whitehorse.  They ran between Dawson City and Whitehorse until 1955, when the road reached the former.  The road south is relentlessly more-of-the-same trees and lakes for about 550 km.  It rained a bit, I stopped to fill That Shitbox Dodge with motor-spirit and it rained some more.  And there were some occasional views, and the odd bridge.

Five Finger Rapids on the Mighty Yukon

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory, so you'd expect decent internet connections, yes?  Well, they were deeply shit when I went out in search of Dirty Pizza but seem to have got the message now and actually uploaded today's photos without deviation, hesitation or repetition, and I've probably spoken too soon because, as is my wont, I'm typing this in a text editor prior to pasting it into Blogspot's webby SCIENCE...

Additional: this place - the Elite Hotel - may have a slightly down-at-heel ambience but the room has a kettle.  Moreover, it has a kettle that can bring a litre of water to the boil in about five minutes!  I may have to steal it.