Our Northern Adventure – Part 3: Anchorage to Dawson City
May/June 2026:
This leg of our trip did not start off well. No sooner had we left Anchorage to explore the Kenai peninsula than Big Bertha suffered a fuelling problem necessitating a visit to a workshop back in Anchorage. We did manage a good walk at Russian River Falls in the Chugach National Forest and then went onto Lower Ohmer Lake before having to turn back.
Although we stayed with Big Bertha during surgery, we hired a car over a long weekend to drive down to the city of Homer at the end of the Kenai Peninsula. On the way down we stopped at Ninilchik, to visit the church. This quiet village, established by fur trappers, has amazing views across Cook Inlet and a fascinating Russian history. It also had two moose chewing by the roadside, who didn’t seem too worried about us gawping at them.
It was a whistlestop tour of Homer, staying two nights in a motel and exploring in a single day before heading back to Anchorage. Nonetheless we managed to pack a lot in, starting off with a short hike down at the beach, a walk on Homer’s spit (a 7.2km narrow gravel bar and the touristic centre of Homer featuring a fishing harbour, art galleries and restaurants to a backdrop of the rugged Kenai Mountains and dramatic volcanic peaks across Kachemak Bay), a fish’n’chip lunch, an excellent ramen dinner and a drive up the hills behind Homer to an overlook. Homer is the launchpad for flights to see the bears on the Katmai National Park and for halibut fishing trips. It was very unfortunate that BB broke down and limited our time in Homer!
On the way back to Anchorage we took a detour to the Exit Glacier, just outside Seward, and then Seward itself (for a brief packed lunch stop). The Exit Glacier, like most glaciers, is receding and it was sobering to see the increasing distance it receeds as each year passes.
Reunited with Big Bertha in Anchorage, we completed repairs and immediately took a return train trip from Anchorage to Whittier. Whittier is only accessible by ship or through a single lane 4,100m tunnel which both, road and rail traffic share, according to fixed schedules. The train ride is incredibly scenic, passing first along the shore of the Turnagain Arm, continuing beneath (and through!) the mountains, before finally arriving at Whittier, which is surrounded by more snow capped mountains. Busy in summer, it has a very small winter population that predominantly live in the multi-story BTC building. During our six hour stay, we took a cruise to visit the Beloit and Blackstone glaciers. Whittier has a maritime climate and it is normally cloudy/wet. We were extremely lucky to visit on a clear day which our Captain proclaimed to be the best day yet that season. After the cruise we had a quick walk around before our train ride back to Anchorage. A very nice day out!
Bidding Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula goodbye, we headed north towards Denali National Park. We had hopped to cross the Hatcher Road Pass, but discovered the high pass would not open for another month (snow) and so we took the (not so scenic) main road instead. We did divert to visit the the (tourist) town of Talkeetna, which is inundated with tourists, deposited by trains on their way to Denali and Fairbanks from Anchorage. We had a quick walk around before continuing to the park.
Denali park has a limited area accessible by private vehicles and to see the greater park, you need to take a park operated bus service. Even then, a road closure limits what can be seen. On our first afternoon we hiked the Horseshoe Lake trail (6.5km) and then drove to Savage River (as far as we were allowed to go). We exited the park to camp and re-entered the next day to take the bus tour further into the park. The weather was not great, but we did see some animals (notably, a porcupine, some caribou and a mother moose with her two offspring). After the bus trip we visited the kennels where park staff look after their Huskies used to patrol the park in winter on dog sleds.
It was time to head west back towards Canada and we took the Denali Highway (a dirt road) across country from Cantwell to Paxson. This is an ovelanders ‘must drive’ and it did not disappoint! Very little traffic and stunning views.
At the end of the Denali Highway, we turned north towards Delta Junction on the Richardson Highway and then at Delta Junction we joined the Alaska Highway before turning off north on the ‘Top of the World’ highway to Dawson City.
Just before the Canadian border is the town called Chicken, a sleepy little town apart from the annual music festival weekend, aptly named ‘Chicken Stock’ – and guess when we rolled into town!
Leaving Chicken (great name that!), we crossed the Canadian border and made our way to Dawson City (“city” is a bit of an exaggeration). We crossed the Yukon river by ferry and rolled into this very historic town. The visitor centre gave us a map for a walking tour and we explored the town for an hour or two before succumbing to ice-creams (as one does). In the evening David joined the sourtoe cocktail club at the Down Town Hotel by taking the oath “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe” and drinking a whisky shot served up with some poor soul’s detached body part. Francine declined to become a member (as she still possesses her sanity). The next day we had an interesting visit to the fire station staffed by volunteers – we asked how often did they get called out and was told a significant building burnt down two weeks ago (we had walked past the rubble), so it is still a very important service and not just a tourist attraction.
Whoa. You did the sourtoe. Brave soul.