June 11, 2018 – Chicken, Alaska

What can you say about Chicken Alaska?  Turns out, a lot of things.

Chicken is east of Fairbanks, north of Tok, west of Dawson, and south of Eagle.  Its population ranges from 15 to 50 depending on the time of year.  It got its name when the original settlers wanted to name it after a locally abundant bird named the ptarmigan.  No one knew how to spell it so they settled on Chicken.

Chicken is a long way from other towns with chicken-themed names.

Chicken has a large chicken.

Chicken has been a mining town for some time.  They still mine for gold in Chicken.

Chicken has dangerous chickens.  No.  Mom isn’t the dangerous chicken.  Even though I wouldn’t want to be around if you made her mad!

Chicken has food.  It’s quite good, too.

Chicken has refreshments.

Chicken has stores.

Chicken has bathrooms.

Chicken has a music festival.  They call it Chickenstock.

Chicken has dirt.

Chicken has wildlife.   We saw this moose with her twin babies running down the street.

Ok, Chicken doesn’t have everything. It doesn’t have electricity, running water, or flush toilets. It doesn’t have cell phone service either.   It is truly off the grid, but for those arriving in Alaska via the Top of the World Highway it is a welcome oasis.