Day 659- Alaska Trip-Chicken-Cantwell

Alaska!! We made it

Gold was discovered on nearby Franklin Creek in 1886 and on Chicken Creek in 1896, kicking off a major influx of prospectors before the famous Klondike Gold Rush

Chicken, Alaska got its name because early gold miners couldn't agree on how to spell "ptarmigan," the name of the abundant game bird they relied on to survive the winter

Reindeer is the term used for domesticated or semi-domesticated animals. 

Caribou is the term used for the wild populations that roam North America. 

 Top of the World Highway is a spectacular, 79-mile seasonal gravel route connecting Chicken, Alaska, to Dawson City in Canada's Yukon. Famous for running directly along mountain ridge tops rather than through valleys, it is typically open only from mid-May through mid-September due to harsh winter conditions.

We managed to get the flat repaired

North Pole is a small Alaskan city, near Fairbanks. It's known for its year-round Christmas decorations, including candy cane–striped street lights. Santa Claus House is a Christmas store with walls covered in children’s letters to Santa and a huge Santa statue outside. Streets have names like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane. Nearby, the Chena Lake Recreation Area has a beaches, nature trails and picnic areas.

Denali National Park and Preserve encompasses over 6 million acres of sub-arctic wilderness. Originally established as Mount McKinley National Park in 1917 to protect wildlife like the Dall sheep, its history is rooted in a fascinating mix of Indigenous heritage, early climbing expeditions, and shifting conservation efforts.

Day 647- Alaska Trip -Dawson City

Sign Post Forest is a collection of over 90,000 signs at Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada, and is one of the most famous of the landmarks along the Alaska Highway. It was started by a homesick GI in 1942. He was assigned light duty while recovering from an injury and erected the signpost for his hometown: Danville, Ill. 2835 m

Whitehorse began as a vital transportation hub for prospectors during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Named after the nearby white-crested river rapids, the city survived the end of the gold rush by transforming into a base for mining, military logistics, and eventually the territorial capital

Dawson, Yukon, is a legendary frontier town forever defined by the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush. Named after Canadian geologist George M. Dawson, it rapidly swelled from a traditional Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in fishing camp into the bustling "Paris of the North," serving as the Yukon's capital until 1953

Gold Rush premiered in 2010 as Gold Rush: Alaska. The hit reality series follows multi-generational family-run crews and independent operators, most notably in the Klondike region of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, as they risk millions to extract gold from deposits. Here we met some of the crew.

Reaching the Arctic is no easy feat, and just getting close means we tackled some of the most remote and challenging terrain.

Dredge #4, located 13 kilometers south of Dawson City on Bonanza Creek Road, is a massive, eight-story mining vessel and the largest wooden-hulled bucket-line dredge in North America. Built in 1912, this engineering marvel operated for nearly five decades, symbolizing the shift from manual panning to corporate gold extraction

Day 643- Alaska Trip-Jasper

 

Exploring British Columbia and the Yukon is a humbling experience that puts mountains, forests, lakes and streams into perspective. The sheer scale of nature's splendor is awe-inspiring. This wondrous beauty is undeniable proof of God that lovingly created all this and us. We've started to see wildlife on the roads. Still hoping to see my moose in the water.

The Upper Arrow Lake Ferry is a free, year-round inland ferry in British Columbia that connects Shelter Bay and Galena Bay along Highway 23. Serviced by the M.V. Columbia, the crossing spans the lake in about 20 minutes and carries up to 80 vehicles. 

Banff National Park, established in 1885, is Canada’s first national park. It grew from a small 26-square-kilometer hot springs reserve meant to protect natural wonders into a UNESCO World Heritage site. The area's development was driven by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the subsequent luxury tourism it enabled

Jasper National Park, Canada's largest Rocky Mountain park, was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907. It was named after Jasper Hawes, a fur trade clerk who managed an early North West Company outpost in the Athabasca Valley. The area officially became a national park in 1930