25 August 2017
Left our dry camp spot behind at the Chevron station in Tok at 9am with a light misty rain. We have about 100 miles until we get to Chicken, as we travel NE on the Taylor Hwy. The highway is all chip seal, gravel, and some dirt stretches as we wind our way through some remote and beautiful scenery.
There are lots of hunters out scouting as Caribou season starts on the 29th. So we are on the look out for a herd out here some where.
As soon as we get to the top of an elevation of 3500 feet we started to zig-zag down the mountain.
For the most part, the road was good, slow going, maybe 30-35 mph max, and much slower going down 9% grades on loose gravel.
We arrived in Chicken about 3pm, and want to make sure the road is dried out, so we went to the Gold Camp, found a dry ( no hookups) camp spot, and we will leave for the 110 mile journey over the Top of the World Highway in the morning to Dawson City in the Yukon.
The Pedro Dredge, is now in Chicken, originally at Pedro Creek north of Fairbanks in 1938 and operated there until 1958.
In 1998, after sitting idle for 31 years, the million pound dredge was moved one mile in one piece, on a trailer constructed in place, to the Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost.