Top Of The World Highway

Beginning the trip across the Top Of The World Highway, leaving Dawson City, required us to drive onto this very small ferry (not our rig but you get the idea). The George Black ferry is free and operates 24hrs a day if necessary to ferry almost anything across the Yukon River. The ride is only about 10 minutes long but when you are at the head of the line and looking across the ramp directly into the water, it can be unnerving. No, Red Fox are not allowed on the ferry.

Begun as a pack trail, the road did not improve until the 1930's. Today it remains mostly a gravel road. From Dawson City, YT to Chicken, AK is a mere 108 miles, however, it took us 6 hours to reach Chicken.

Admittedly the drive did take us through the remote and pristine back country of Alaska.

Yep, the highway folks are always out trying to keep the road graded and safer for travelers.

The scenery was always majestic whether looking at nearby green mountains or the further away snow capped mountain ranges. The skies were very cloudy and full of storms around us. We would see lightening far away and hear thunder claps, but were lucky enough not to get rained on. When we got to the Alaska part, the sun was out but the scenery was simply not as outstanding as the Yukon.

Only a few times did we see snow, never on the roads. At one point a snow mass was next to the road where it had been plowed and was a good 1/3 as high as the motorhome.

Hopefully you can see, we were truly driving "on the top of the world", as the roads you see (right) were the ones we traveled on. At the summit we were up at an elevation of 4,289 feet above sea level.

The beautiful bird to the right was a great find for me and I can add Gyrfalcon to my birding life list. He is one of the largest falcons, powerful and deceptively fast. His favorite pastime is hunting birds mainly in level chase. I did snap a picture of him taking off from the limp, which helped me confirm the bird.

Ya Hoo! Alaska Tundra and finally I see flowers.

Left is the Four-Angled Mountain-Heather.

Bog Cranberry, I believe.

Can you even imagine how frustrating it is for me not to be able to identify this beautiful white flower next to this Arctic lupine. There were masses of each on the tundra.

And this quirky fellow seemed to prefer to walk rather than fly, which gave me more changes to get a good picture. After much searching, I believe him to be a West Taiga Sparrow. Adorable orange bill and legs.

Even the roadside "rivers" have beautiful tumbling waterfalls and the wend their way beside the road, down the mountains.

TTNF, Karen and Don