Scenic Turnout – Top of the World Highway Yukon, Canada

Mileage:  46,479

There was gentle, steady rain all night long.  I lay there thinking about the 14 miles of muddy gravel road we had yet to travel before we got to paved road again.  Tim was quickly dressed and out the door to check road conditions or “to do some reconnaissance.”  I was thinking that we just might have a quiet day at the campground.

Tim returned saying that the road would be slow but he believed it was passable.  He said “Don’t be mad at me…but I saw a black bear and 3 caribou!”  The black bear was crossing the road about 100 feet from the entrance to the campground.

A short distance later 3 caribou leaped out from the brush along the river and hustled across the road in front of him.

As we left, the sun was trying to make its way through the dense cloud cover.  We made our way at 15 mph and sometimes slower.  We have nowhere else to be and there is no traffic…both blessings.  We had more time to look around and to think.  Me: “Slow and steady wins the race.”  Tim:  From NASCAR “To finish first, first you must finish.”

Tim is a very good driver and I never felt worried or unsafe.  We traveled the 14 miles in 55 minutes.  We were both glad to see pavement…and great, smooth, new pavement!

Where the pavement begins so does the Top of the World Highway.  Driving here is to be among the clouds.

We are far above the treeline and the views are glorious.  This is one of the prettiest drives of our trip.

We are glad that we took the “risk” to come here.  It was a calculated risk.  We gathered information, prepared as much as we could, and went slow and easy.  It was well worth it!

At the last scenic viewpoint in Alaska we spent extra time.  I was watching the light change over the mountains.  I know that we were both reluctant to leave Alaska.  I feel sure that we will come back someday!

A little more than 10 miles later we went through customs and into Yukon, Canada.

The views from the Top of the World continued to be spectacular.  We decided to park at a scenic turnout for the night before going into Dawson City tomorrow.

We rested awhile…the tedious driving was exhausting.  Refreshed, we decided to take the Jeep and explore.  We found a couple of trails that led to areas where locals who had permits could harvest firewood.  We ended up on Clinton Creek Road.  This is a 33-mile gravel road that leads to the confluence of the Yukon and Fortymile Rivers.

This continues to be caribou country.  The Fortymile herd numbers more than 46,000 caribou.  We saw 1 caribou running down the road in front of us.  Then we saw 6 more in the trees to the right.  Two of them stayed back and we got a picture of them.  If you look carefully they are in the middle part of this picture near the taller trees on the right!

We got to the bridge over the Fortymile River.

Here we must have made a wrong turn because a woman in a red pickup truck came racing down the road behind us.  I’m happy to say she didn’t shoot us and she gave us good directions!

We took the Jeep down to the gravel bar beside the river.

Continuing on we found the confluence.

These grizzly bear prints were on the muddy riverside.

As we headed back we saw this moose.  See that she is standing next to the “No Hunting” sign…smart moose!

In the distance running in front of us we saw another group of 3 bachelor caribou.  They ran on the road in front of us for more than a mile.  It was great fun to watch them.

We got back after 7 pm and made eggs for our dinner.

Our campsite.

Our sunset.