Top of the World

As my last official Alaska adventure, I’m heading up to the Top of the World highway in search of big aurora. Was I successful? Did I have the awesome Northern lights experience? Read on!

Leaving Tok, the road heads for Chicken, Alaska. The road will soon be paved all the way to Chicken, thanks to recent and ongoing construction, which I encountered. On the way up, every roadside pullout is packed with hunters. yes, hunting season is open and the Alaskans turn out in force!

  

The town of Chicken is just this neat little funky place, and is just about the last bit of Alaska I’ll see. I pull off at Beautiful Downtown Chicken and park for the night.

  

Ain’t no aurora till after dark, but it’s looking pretty good. The sky is mostly clear. To kill some time, I get a beer (or two) at the saloon, then sit out on the porch with some local hunting folks and chew the fat. Feels very homey here, nice folks. The tourists think I’m some of the “local color” haha.

  

That night, I’m standing outside, the sky is clear, the stars are out in profusion, but no aurora. Damn! I stick it out till about 0130, but there's not even a hint of activity. so far, not good!

The next day, I leave Chicken and head for some currently-unknown high place to camp along the top of the world highway. The rod runs along the ridgelines, and should offer outstanding views. No pavement anymore, the road is dirt and gravel, but in very good condition. The fall colors are amazing!

  

I find a truly high place: it’s a graded area way up on the hillside above the road. This should be a great place to watch the sky tonite!

By 10pm, it’s getting dark, but unfortunately, it’s getting cloudy too…. Damn! By 11, it’s totally socked in, not a star in sight. No aurora for me tonite…. Worst of all, I’m just positive that the most amazing display is going on up there above the clouds, and I can’t see it. I go to bed a bit dispirited.

The next morning I continue on the road to Dawson City, and the amazing fall colors along the way really cheer me up! I know, you’re probably getting tired of all these leaf pix, but maybe just a few more….

     

The road ends at the Yukon river, and to get across to Dawson, you have to take the ferry. It’s free, and no problem for even a large RV. Here it comes!

  

A 5 minute ride later, I’m in Dawson. I stayed here in 2014, and it’s a great little town, very historic and original, from the gold rush days and all. This time, I’m not going to stop, I need someplace darker, maybe I’ll get lucky tonite So it’s on down the road. The town is surrounded by huge piles of tailings from the mining days, and there’s still a lot of active gold and silver mining in the area.

  

At this point, I’m just cruising down the road, looking for a likely place to stop for the night. Coming into Pelly Crossing ( a tiny town with a bridge across the Yukon) I spot this sign. It leads to a very nice, deserted, free campground. Hey, this’ll do!

  

Best yet, the evening is warm, the sky is clear, hey, you never know….. I’m sitting out with a beer and a cigar, enjoying the beautiful fall evening, and I’m looking at this bridge. Hey, there’s a pedestrian walkway along the bridge. Oh, Hell yes! I’m going to walk across it…. Might be photogenic.

  

The walkway is one of those steel grate affairs, so that’s pretty cool, looking down at the treetops beneath my feet. Got a nice shot of the RV across the river. Fun! Just something RVers do, I guess.

     

As the sun sinks, the sky is 100% clear. Hey, this could be the night!

It is.

I am treated to a truly spectacular aurora display, the best and brightest I’ve seen, and it goes on for hours. The aurora is trippy, it changes in intensity and shape constantly, it ebbs and flows like an ocean in the sky. I spend several hours just watching it. Sometimes it’s so bright you could read by it, other times, it’s real dim and subtle. Hard to put across in words, guess it’s just something you have to experience for yourself. Finally, I get some good photos.

     

Aurora quest: successful!

Now it’s truly time to put Alaska in my rear view mirror and head south to friends and home. It’s a long road, guess I better get to it! I’ve decided to keep the blog open a few more weeks as I travel home, so stop by occasionally. Never know what you might see.

Bye, Alaska, see you again sometime!