The "Top of the World Highway” connects the Yukon (Canada) with Alaska (USA). More precisely, the 281 km long road consists of two highways: the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City, over the Poker Creek border, to Jack Wade Junction and the Taylor Highway from Jack Wade Junction to Tetlin Junction, right before Tok. Some parts of it are paved, some parts are gravel. Most commonly, though, the road leads steeply up away from the Yukon River to the crest and then "roller-coasts" in seemingly endless ups and downs through the Fork River Valley and along Mount Fairplay’s feet into the plain of the Tanana River. For us, the "Top of the World" Highway was meant to be the queen stage of our biking tour - and it truly lives up to its name! We had to earn it well and also encountered our most strenuous legs on this road. The climb from Dawson City we had to master in deep fog and additionally the gravel road was so soaked, that our bicycles dug themselves right into the mud. We gritted our teeth and fought our way. Passing RVs stopped and offered us a ride, but we were too dirty to feel comfortable enough to load our bicycles into their living rooms... and we were also too stubborn and proud :-). Finally - and just as we reached the crest - the fog lifted and we had a gorgeous view over a manifold of mountains. Continuing seemed so much easier now and when we crossed the border, we were cheered upon by the awestruck border control agents. Pictures were taken of us, the giraffe honk was admired and we received drinking water and plenty of good wishes for the rest of our trip. That was the nicest US border crossing we have ever experienced! On our second day, we cycled on to Chicken. The former gold mining village was intended to be named Ptarmigan - a common bird in this region - however, it is said, that its inhabitants did not know how to spell the word, so it was soon established as Chicken. We will also remember Chicken for another reason: just as we were having lunch next to the only Café and souvenir shop, a truck camper pulled in and Philipp's parents were waving at us! It was all arranged that we will meet them in Anchorage at the end of our bike trip, but it was a total surprise to see them already on the road. We celebrated the gathering by spending the rest of the day in Chicken and the night together on the RV Park. We got spoilt with news and food from home and felt very lucky altogether :-). It made it just slightly harder the next morning to wave good-bye and part in different directions. Here we went on another roller-coaster tour towards Tetlin Junction. After every climb we hoped it was the last one, but sure enough we could spot the next one once we were on the top... perseverance and stubbornness became a new meaning on this day for us! We stayed optimistic (after all what other choice did we have and let's remember that we absolutely wanted to cycle this road) and were happy that the sun was shining, temperatures were high and the view priceless. In the end we made it to Tok after only three days and had dinner observing a movie-like sunset from our campsite. It can't get much better, seriously :-).
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Blog Archive
September 2016
CountersKilometers pedalled
Hours on the bike
Meters cycled uphill
Flat tires
Burgers eaten
Bears sighted
Day by day statisticsFor those interested in our day by day activities and statistics, please download the following document.
World Clock
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