Yukon and Alaska Bound Part 37. Denali to Fairbanks and Quartz Lake

Drive From Denali to Fairbanks to Quartz Lake

Drive from Denali to Quartz Lake, Alaska. This is north of Denali.

Road Construction north of Denali and south of Fairbanks.

Road Construction. One way traffic with pilot cars.

It is the 31st of July 2014 and we were breaking camp and leaving Denali National Park behind.




The first part of the road toward Fairbanks was under construction, so there were quite a few waits along the way.




Once in Fairbanks we stopped in at Safeway and stocked up on some more supplies. We all felt it was time to move on, so we did not spend any more time in Fairbanks. Have to leave some for next time.




East of Fairbanks we made a quick stop in North Pole and visited Santa's village. It was fun, and the store had tons of decorations to choose from.

Lisbeth and Hansuli at Quartz Lake, Alaska

Christian and Annemarie at Quartz Lake, Alaska

We stopped and set up camp at Quartz Lake State Recreation Area. This a a very nice park and the campground is great. We were the only campers in the park.



We had a wonderful evening with good food and wine. Before bed time, we went down to the dock and watched a moose foraging in the shallows across the lake. Here are some more pictures from Denali to Quartz Lake.

Quartz Lake to Chicken Alaska

The next morning the 1st of August we continued our trip south east on #2 Hwy with the rain clouds chasing us from the west.


We make a stop at the Sausage Factory or Delta Meat and Sausage Co. They are at Mile 1413 Delta Junction. Wow, they sure have some good sausages. Love the reindeer summer sausage. We filled our freezer up!

Pit-stop along the trail from Quartz Lake to Chicken Alaska.

Liz taking in the sights at the Tanana River

Alaska at its best.

An almost dry river bed.

Pit-stop on our way to Chicken Alaska.

Chicken Alaska

Celebrating the Swiss National Holiday

Soon we were passing the village of Tok and intersection HWY 1 south. We continued on number two HWY till we came to the intersection of number five highway also called the Top Of the World Highway.



Our destination is a village called Chicken. The distance from Tok to Chicken is approximately 130 km. The number five highway is bumpy with lots of curves and you will not break any speed records on these parts.



We eventually arrived in Chicken in pouring rain. Chicken is a surviving old gold rush town dating back to the late 1800's.



The name was supposed to be "Ptarmigan" because the abundance of this bird around here.



However, no one was really sure how to spell Ptarmigan, so instead of being publicly humiliated, they named the town Chicken instead.



The town is home to about 17 people with many more moving in during the summer months when the gold mining is at it's peak and the tourists come through here.



We checked in at the local hotel / restaurant / RV Park. The RV park is OK with water and electric hook-ups.



They do have a dumping station that needs leveling. It is leaning the wrong way so your lines do not get clean.



That evening we celebrated the Swiss National Holiday, and reflected on yet another wonderful day.



More pictures from this part of the trip here.

>>>NEXT>>> post in this series.

Here are some shortcuts to all the blogs post from our Yukon and Alaska Trip. Just hover over the number to see where it will take you.

  1,    2,    3,    4,    5,    6,    7,    8,    9,  10

11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20

21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30

31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37, 38,  39,  40

41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,