26 June. Top Of The World Highway to Alaska!!!

The top of the world highway is the "hard" way to get to Fairbanks. But since I wanted to drive to the Arctic Circle, that required visiting Dawson City then heading up the Dempster highway from there. The options for continuing north west are few. One is driving 170 miles over one of the sketchiest roads on earth, The Top Of The World Highway.  It's a mixture of dirt, asphalt, gravel, steep, flat, pot holes, whoop-dee-doos, drop offs. Look it up on the Web. You will get the idea.

The first step is crossing the Yukon River.  We were bright and early for a 7AM crossing. The would get us to the US border crossing (Poker, Alaska) at around 9AM. 

The weather held on the dirt portions, though we did have rain later in the day after crossing into Alaska.

You can just see the US/Canadian border on the hill top in the center of this photo.  It has to be the most beautiful crossing anywhere in the US.  We are still in The Yukon, looking into Alaska.  

The border crossing opens at 9AM.  We were there on the dot, 6th in line. It took us about 30 minutes to crawl forward while Customs and Border Patrol sorted out the terrorists ahead of us.

We stopped along the way at Chicken, Alaska.  This is quite a place.  Mary and I each had a piece of Susan's World Famous Pie.  It was pretty good, I must say.

Once we departed Chicken, we found ourselves on the "Taylor Highway."  Just 100 miles back to intersect the Alaska Highway. It was pavement. We were in the US!!  Yes.  Mary and I have around 6,500 miles on the car so far since departing Austin.  This 100 miles was hands-down the worst section of road we have driven on.  No comparison. John and Pam, who had driven it two days prior warned us. John broke the leaf springs on his trailer on this section of road.  The repair shop in Tok says they replace 3 or 4 sets per week from unsuspecting travelers who hit the pot holes, and whoop-dee-doos on this road.  Considering how good all the roads in Canada are, this is the first pavement some Canadians see.  I am embarrassed at the condition.  How apropos, the "Taylor" highway.