2 July 2018. Driving from Haines AK to Tok AK
Monday was back on the road. We had to leave our camping spot northwest of Haines, drive back down through Haines, and up to Tok AK. This required driving back into Canada, through a corner of British Columbia and then the Yukon, for a total goal of around 450 miles.
The drive just north of Haines, headed to the border were spectacular. Lots of snow covered jagged mountain peaks and views of glaciers.
Our second border crossing into Canada was much smoother than the first. We had all the paperwork for “bear deterrent” filled out and stamped, so a quick check of serial numbers and we were on our way.
Even the worst parts of the day’s drive were pretty darn neat. Lots of stretches of empty road, followed by the passing of a couple of RVs, then more empty road. Cars were certainly in the minority.
We happened upon our first scary bear. He (she?) wasn’t bothering anyone, just eating grass alongside the road. But that didn’t make a bear that could eat you if it chose, less unnerving…. A quick picture, and we continued down the highway.
We also got to experience “frost heaves”. The building of roads in this part of the world is on ground that gets wet, expands as it freezes, and that mucks up the asphalt a bit. A nice frost heave just feels like a whoop-d-doo, a not so nice frost heave results in a crap load of unavoidable pot holes. Canada does a good job of putting out red flags where the bad road sections are, Alaska not so much…. There were a lot of places they fixed the road damage, but they did it by replacing the road with nice dirt and gravel. The dirt/gravel was smooth, but you’d fling up a bunch of rocks if you hit it at 60+mph.
Tok AK is at sort of a crossroads. Major Alaska highways coming and going in several different directions. We chose an RV park that had good reviews, but I don’t know how it got them….. Another night of showing in our camper. We’ll be hitting Tok again on our way home, I think we’ll try one of the other seven RV parks then…..
Still, a most excellent day for one that was just about getting some miles driven.
Chuck & Karen,
You are just having too much fun. I am very envious of you. I wish I had been smarter when I still could do some traveling.
I really look forward to your Blogs. I enjoy them very much.
I was over at Gary Wright’s today and was telling him about your adventures. He would like to get on your Blog List. His Email is w**. In case you would like to include him and do not have his Email.
Keep up the great work and have some fun for me.
Chusk
Thanks, Chuck! I’ll send him the link!