Chicken

Chicken August  25^th and 26^th

We left Fairbanks fairly early so that we could get through Tok on the Richardson Highway then pick up the Taylor Highway to Chicken. The road was good with a few exceptions of patch work until the last couple of miles or so when it changed to dirt with soft shoulders and began to get a little narrower.  

We arrived after about an 8 hour ride which was longer than we have been doing in Alaska. We were not overly surprised to see what Chicken looked like as friends, Jill and Bob, and others had told us that there is nothing here.  Still, you need to see Chicken to believe it.

Town Statue

There are four areas of buildings.  Two of them have RV parks, stores, and cafes. One of these used to be the original gold mine in Chicken. The third area is called the Town Center.

Camping in Chicken 

The Gas Pump

The Town Center

The buildings look to be falling over and when you walk inside, you are walking atilt. The fourth area is the Post Office which is on its own dirt road just outside of “the town.” The mail comes and goes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer time and when it can in the winter.

Post Office

 Evidently, years ago when it was founded it was a gold mining town and the folks wanted to name it after the state bird, the Ptarmigan, but they could not agree on how to spell it, so they called it Chicken instead. There are chicken signs everywhere and everything that is here references hens and roosters with the exception of the gold mining. There are still private gold mines on the Forty Mile River which is close to here and people come up and mine their claims all summer. They have pans and gravel here so you can use one of their pans and try your luck. The gold is in the gravel they tell us. Tim tried with only two specs of gold for his 2 hour effort.

The population of Chicken in the winter months is three- the postmistress and her husband and one other hardy soul. The State stops maintaining the road up to Chicken on October 15^th. After that, they use snowmobiles for getting around, I presume.  In the summer time, there is lots of traffic through here up from Tok through Chicken to the Top of the World Highway and into the Yukon Territory in Canada (40 miles from Chicken) and vice versa. The Top of the World Highway is said to be quite a ride! Dirt or, most likely, mud with all the rain we have had, with a lot of potholes and wash boarding and very narrow. We’ll let you know how we make out on it after our trip to Dawson City, YT tomorrow.