What's Up in Chicken

After miles of driving north on the Taylor Highway, you’ll find a close cluster of summer campgrounds, restaurants, a bar, and gift shops.

No flush toilets. After a long time without a phone, there's now a satellite phone link – and an internet cafe. The population is between 4 and 21 people.

The Goldpanner offers a walking tour of the old settlement, where you can see mud-insulated log cabins, and the schoolhouse used by “Tisha,” who wrote a book about her life as a teacher in Chicken.

( Photo, Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost)

Chicken: Gold Dredge City

There are 3 gold dredges in the Chicken area.

1. You’ll drive right by the Jack Wade Dredge at mile 86.

2. There is a somewhat difficult 2.8 mile trail starting at Mile 68.3 of the Taylor Highway to an overlook of the Cowden Dredge.

3. The Pedro Dredge was moved to the Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost, and refurbished. Pedro Dredge tours will be given this summer.

(Photos 2 and 3, Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost)

Hot Chicken

A record 5 million Alaskan acres burned in 2004. You’ll see miles of blackened spruce on the Taylor Highway.

Rumor had it that Chicken was destroyed. Not so. But it barely escaped --with its feathers. Summer travelers were stranded here for days.

Gold Rush For Mushroom Pickers

Forest fires in 2004 led to a healthy crop of wild morels on the Taylor Highway. In 2005, professional pickers came here from across the world.

Morel-picking can bring in big money -- sometimes. In 1992, Oregon, Washington & Idaho pickers earned $5.2 million.

But it’s dirty work, and not easy. Some pickers paid more for their gas than they got in cash.