Back on the Alaska Highway

We drove on up to join the Alaska Highway at Tok, with just a quick lunch stop at the historic Mentosta Lodge. It is out in the middle of nowhere, but it did have internet access so I could post yesterday’s blog.

The weather was drizzly and grey with one final cloudburst just as we stopped for fuel at Tok ($4.189/gal).

After Tok, we had mixed sun and clouds and it was possible to get a few decent pictures of the scenery. This is a ‘scenic byway’, but it needs to be clear to get good views of the Wrangell Mountains and the Alaska Range.

There isn’t much civilization along this whole stretch of the highway and the scenery consists of mainly scraggly black spruce over permafrost, scattered lakes, rivers and rocks.

This pretty spot is Midway Lake.

Tok River (pictured) starts at Tok Glacier then flows into the Tanana which flows into the Yukon which flows into the Bering Sea.

The road was pretty rough in spots so it took us about six hours to drive 343 km. We hear that the next stretch of road (starting at the Canadian border) is REALLY bad so will tackle that first thing in the morning when we are fresh.

We are spending the night at ‘Border City’ which really isn’t even a town, it’s just a couple of RV parks on the U.S. side of the border between Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

There is a big grassy area in front of our RV and since there wasn’t anyone else around when we pulled in, we got to play ball with Gino and Reba. Such fun for them! We haven’t let them off-leash, other than on the beach at Homer, all trip.

It is about 200 miles to Haines Junction, YT which is our goal for tomorrow night.