The continuing rains and washouts have threatened bridge integrity, so the Top of the World Highway connecting Dawson City, YT, and Chicken, AK, is closed indefinitely, with folks stranded along it and at least one person missing.

This is going to severely impact Dawson tourism. The prediction is that a season that was off to a roaring start has screeched to a halt.

I’m pretty bummed about this. I’d hoped to use one of my precious afternoons off to make a jaunt to Chicken and back, just to get out of town. There aren’t really any places to ‘go’ from Dawson within a reasonable day’s drive round trip and there’s no point in going back up the Dempster for a few hundred clicks since I’ll be doing it in its entirety in August.

But, at least I’m not stranded on a dirt track or lost in the muddy waters of the Yukon River.