Sam And Saundra's Second Time Around - Part 71

Sam And Saundra’s Second Time Around – Part 71

Alaska 

8/4/11-8/19/11 – Chicken

We waited for the silvers to arrive. We waited for the clouds to depart so we could see the high ground.  Neither happened.  It did start raining again.  We decide to continue on down the road.  We go back to the Glenn Highway to return to Glennallen. We are going to see if we can outrun the rain, check out the Klutina River and Valdez when we get there, just because we still have a little fish oil in our eyes. The drive was beautiful.  Cloudy, but beautiful.  Due to the cold (Valdez was falling into 30’s), we decide to forgo going after any more fish.  After all – we want to return in a couple of years, and this will add to our reasonings. We have a fabulous dinner with Bill and Dorothy at Gakona, touch bases with Joel and get back on the road home. 

Road To Chicken

We stop at Eagle Trail State Park, just before Tok, the hub of Alaska.  One cannot drive anywhere in Alaska without going through Tok. We decide to take a day trip to Chicken. Chicken is on the Top Of The World Highway on the way to Dawson City. Not to be confused with Dawson Creek. The road has very little pavement, a lot of dirt/gravel and is extremely agitating in places. It has a ferry somewhere in the middle.  Sam really wanted to see Chicken. We did not want to add any stress to Brutus.  A day trip was our answer.  Brutus was cooperative and took us through Tok, then turned left. We go about 80 nicely paved miles and there is Chicken. 

Chicken?

You know it is Chicken because it is the only town we have seen on this road, the sign says Chicken and right over there is a chicken.  We pull into one of two apparent sections of the town, designated by two RV Parks.  We opt to go to the one with the Chicken, a duet of outhouses, next to a big dredge.   Sam wants to pan for Gold.  He has his own pan from South Dakota and is ready to try it out. A long, wooden trough, filled with water, is conveniently placed by a big pile of dirt-filled gravel. Sam pays his daily fee of $8, gets a lesson and goes to it. Chicken Creek has a lot of working gold mines along its shores. I shop and use the outhouse.  The shop is pretty normal. The outhouse is outstanding.  I have never seen a better waterless ‘powder room’. The Hen’s is brightly painted inside and out, flowers and all.  I walk around the dredge, read up on it, and to my surprise, Sam is soon ready to move on.  We have a very good lunch at the gift shop and call it a day.  Brutus goes on autopilot back to camp. We have been to Chicken, Alaska.

Community Gold Panning

Know why they called it Chicken? At the gold camp they ate a lot of ptarmigan back in the beginning.  They wanted to call the town ptarmigan in honor of their food source.  You try to say ‘Go Ptarmigans’ three times fast – let alone spell it – and you’ll know why Chicken was chosen. Owen would have named it ‘Meat-On-A-Bone’.