Travelin’ to Tok

Sunday morning we packed up for the trip to Tok on the Alaska Highway and the beginning of our trip south. As we prepared to leave, a black bear came wandering past our motorhomes. Perhaps he was looking for a snack? Who knows?

It was foggy and rainy as we left town. The rain quit after a few miles, so we stopped to take pictures of a couple of beautiful waterfalls, Horse Tail and Bridal Veil. They were really flowing, maybe because of all the rain we had in Valdez. As we climbed Thompson Pass, it got really foggy; we could only see about 200 feet ahead. We scratched our stop at Worthington glacier, but about ¼ mile before reaching the glacier turnoff, the fog cleared, and we even had a little sun. So we stopped after all. We’re glad we did.

We traveled on, and stopped at a roadside rest area about 100 miles from Tok. This was a large paved, flat area with restrooms, and it is just a few steps from the Chistochina River. The weather was OK, so we sat outside for happy hour and dinner. Shortly after dinner, the rain returned, and it kept up all night.

Monday morning brought more rain but it was not bad traveling. We planned to stop at a national park visitor center, since the Milepost Travel Planner said that there was a large vehicle turnaround just past the visitor center. Whoops! The turnaround was dirt and gravel, and was pretty soft after the all-night rain, and we were reluctant to get off the pavement. So, we all had to unhitch our cars so that we could turn our coaches around. It’s a maneuver we’ve all done many times, but this was the first time on this trip. Not bad!

We got to Tok about noon, and after fueling our motorhomes ($5.41/gallon) we stopped for lunch before checking into the campground. This is the same campground we stayed in as we came into Alaska, and at that time we made good use of a reasonably priced vehicle wash to get the dirt off our rigs. This time, though, we expect lots of construction on the next leg of our trip, so we’ll hold off on the wash.

Tomorrow we leave Alaska, not for the last time, but we’ll be traveling through the Yukon Territory to catch the road to Skagway, AK. We’re going to stop for a couple of days at Kluane Lake, a Canadian National Park. If the weather is good, we’ll get in some kayaking while we’re there. Then we’ll continue to Whitehorse for a couple of days before moving on to Skagway.

More soon, when we have internet access again.