Hurrying towards Haines

MM1148 Alaska Highway, Beaver Creek, YT Pullout and MM226.5 Haines Highway Kathleen Lake Overlook Pullout, Haines Junction, YT – August 26 and 27, 2014

A few last words about Tok. It’s nickname is “The Gateway to Alaska”. The reason is, if you are driving to Alaska on your great adventure, the only way to most places is through Tok. For those of you paying attention, yes there is another way to get your rig into Alaska. It involves using the Alaska Marine Highway, but be honest now, that’s not driving that’s riding in a boat!

Although Tok has been referred to as a tourist town, it’s really not.Tok is a place that you pass through to get somewhere else. It has the basic necessities. This makes Tok a place to recharge for a day or two, clean up your RV and car, get a flat fixed, get something repaired and buy a few groceries before heading off to the rest of the state.

That said, that is where we spent the last 5 days and felt like a local by the time we leave. And yes, we are dragging our feet but it is time to start heading towards the lower 48. Reluctantly, we move on in an easterly direction.

On the way out, we stop at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located on a major migratory route for birds traveling to Canada from as far away as South America.

We pause at the Alaska/Yukon border. Neither one of us is happy about leaving mainland Alaska.

This is our “cheeky” or “Frank’s on the border” or “Butt I don’t want to leave!” shot. Ok, groans are permitted.

Finally after weighing the option of spending the winter in Alaska, or basking in the sunshine in one of the lower 48 states, we continue our journey “outside”, Alaska talk for going somewhere warm in the winter.

Signs that summer is about over are everywhere. Leaves are turning yellow and the fireweed blooms are all gone.

On our last trip up here in 2011, upon leaving Alaska we encountered the worst part of the ALCAN between the Alaska state border and Canadian Customs. This time it was paved. Could this be an indicator of what was to come?

Of course not!. After passing trough Customs(no wait, no problems), the road became a tapestry of potholes woven together with more potholes bordered with a rare patch of gravel or pavement just to lull you into thinking that the road might be improving. Then the whole experience would repeat again, and again, and again.

Just past Beaver Creek, YT we find a pullout without the all too common “No Camping or Overnight Parking” sign. We breathe a sign of relief as the constant pounding temporarily comes to an end. Good place to spend the night.

We reminisce about traveling this road this past June and remember that there was a lot more pavement and a lot less potholes. Ahh, you only remember the good stuff, right?

The next morning Frank chats with another fellow RVer that just pulled in from the other direction and asked him about the road ahead. Nice fellow said there’s only 5 more miles of this ‘crap’ then you’re back to pavement.

Well, what this nice fellow neglected to mention was that the pavement soon ended and you were back to the ‘crap’ again.

They are definitely working on the the road as we see gravel truck after gravel truck thundering down the pothole highway trailing a cloud of dust.

And then, just before we leave, a water truck zooms by laying down a spray that turns the dust into a viscous goo that adheres to every exposed surface of Big Guy and the Element like a coating of grey paint . Great! How are we gonna get that off?

And the rare paved sections are made more interesting by being populated with ‘frost heaves’. If you don’t spot these in enough time to drastically reduce your speed you can actually get airborne. Not something you want to try in a 26,000 pound motorhome.

The signs of autumn continue their display.

At last we reach Burwash Landing, the home of Yukon Territories largest gold pan.

Eventually Kluane Lake reveals itself.

As we travel around the south end of the lake, it looks like we’re headed straight into a mountain.

We roll into Haines Junction and fill up with $5.68 a gallon diesel and try to find a place to boondock for the night. It appears that an excess of ‘No Camping or Overnight Parking’ signs were purchased by the local government as those things are popping up everywhere. Anywhere there is a spot that looks big enough to park an RV one of those signs has been slapped up.

Well, we still had a little juice left, so we continue on towards Haines. Still, on every pullout or parking area we find one of those signs. Finally at the Kathleen Lake Overlook that evil sign is missing and we find the least angled spot in the paved parking area and  get Big Guy settled in.

We explore our surroundings and discover an old jeep trail. After following it about a half mile, we turn around as it’s getting late in the day and yes, it is getting dark around 9:00. The jeep trail goes on and on. We wonder what tales it could tell.

On the way back to Big Guy, we run into a covey (?) of Ruffed Grouse. They weren’t too sure about us , but they didn’t run off.

Back at our camp, we have some meat we purchased in Tok that is waiting to be grilled. So Frank gets busy setting up the table and cooker.

Where we’re camped is called Kathleen Lake Overlook. We found that if you stand on top of a boulder on your tippy toes and hold the camera high over your head you can get a picture of the lake. The foliage between the parking area and the lake has overtaken the view.

 

Still, it’s a great place to spend the night and we hope the next leg of the road will be much better.