This seasonal road (mostly gravel) runs 108 miles between Dawson City Yukon and Chicken Alaska on the top of the mountains.  The drive winds through pristine wilderness with views of mountain tops and valleys along either side of the road that go on for over 100 miles some of which are still snow covered.  It seems to go on forever.  Midway through the trip you cross from Yukon Territory Canada into Alaska at a part time border crossing.  The crossing is only open 12 hours a day during the summer months.

Days ago we heard our first stories about the road construction on the US side.  One visitor center specialist put it in perspective by saying “no has been pulled out by a Euc(earthmover) yet”.  They can still say that, BUT it was 13 miles of driving on road base on the US side with survey sticks down the center and edge of the road sticking up between 1 inch and 2 ft depending on how much they need to add before they install gravel.  They use 1 to 6 inch crushed stone for base so for a while it was rough and tedious for our travel.  I really had to feel for the motorcycles and bicycles we met trying to bump on through without taking a spill.  We finished the construction portion and stopped for the night at a BLM campground about 15 miles short of Chicken Alaska, 93 miles in 5 hours and worth every minute of it.

Never thought I would see this on a gravel road about 50 miles from the nearest electric pole. Can you name the device?

It is a culvert heater. They actually need to heat some road culverts during the spring melt to facilitate drainage. The permafrost keeps the culvert frozen while the snow on top is melting and creating lakes along and over the road. We have so far seen electric and steam heaters.

After many years of adjustments and modifications Dawson City YT has determined the best way to build on permafrost is to raise the building up about 3 feet on cribbing and allow the cold air of winter to get under the building, keeping the soil under the building frozen. Seems when you place the building on grade it warms the soil over time and the thawed soil turns into soup and the building sags or heaves with the changes in weather. The cribbing can be adjusted as needed to maintain a level structure. Same thing goes for the sidewalks of Dawson City YT. They are elevated boardwalks and nearly all the streets are dirt/gravel (not paved). Removing your dirty shoes when you get to the library takes some getting used to but, paved streets and sidewalks heave and crack.

We are approaching the summer solstice and we are nearing the Arctic Circle. That means it never gets dark. We came home from a late show in town and at 1:30 am you did not need headlights. Officially Dawson gets about 20 hours of daylight. That means with the twilight, it is always light. Makes it a little hard to sleep. You get to sleep and roll over and it’s daylight, must be time to get up. Not. Oh, BTW if you ever wondered why the Arctic Circle isn’t at an even number, it is defined as the location where the sun does not set on the summer solstice; N 66 degrees 33 minutes.