NTA Day 30

Once upon a time, there were a number of villages along the Yukon which existed for the purpose of servicing the ubiquitous river boats with fuel wood and other supplies needed for the trip to Dawson City.  With the post war advent of highways to the area, however, the need for water transport diminished, and with it the boats, which were basically gone from the river by the mid 1950s.  Most of the villages suffered the same fate, with the exception of a couple.  One of the remaining villages is Eagle, which is accessible by air, river or the Taylor Highway, which passes through Chicken on its way north.  We decided that it would be a great idea to have Sunday lunch in Eagle.  So we loaded the dogs and ourselves into the Jeep and off we went.  The trip to Eagle is about 95 miles, and requires back-tracking to jack Wade junction, which is the end of pavement noted in yesterday's blog.  We turned north at Jack Wade and hunkered down for sixty five miles of the most beautiful scenery of the trip so far.  And this is the road less traveled.  Over the next two hours, we only saw about three other vehicles on the road as we passed vast forests, crossed rushing streams, climbed steep grades and descended into narrow valleys.  At the end of the road, the village of Eagle sits on the banks of the Yukon, with magnificent panoramas of the waterway and the mountains.  We ate lunch at the local hotel with the dining room overlooking the river, bought two bags of gummy bears to fortify us for the trip back to Chicken, and set out for home.  The trip home went a bit more quickly, 3:15 up and 2:45 back, as a result of feeling a little more confident about the road.  Surprisingly, we saw not a single wild creature in either direction.  It did rain a bit on the return trip, resulting in the Jeep being encased in mud.  We got back to Chicken about 5:00 pm, ready to kick back and collect ourselves.  Wow, what a day!