Frost Heaves, Kluane and Tok

Day 43 – June 13 was a beautiful drive over to Haines Junction, Yukon.  There were beautiful views of glaciated highways. At the Chilkoot Pass I took a video at the summit, which was 3,510’.

Check out the glacier!

The highway just keeps winding through the scenery!

Thoroughly enjoyed a stop and quick hike to Million Dollar Falls.

Next was a photo viewpoint of the Kluane range. We decided to stay at Pinelake Government Campground which is a few miles outside of Haines Junction.  It’s ok. Nothing to write home about.  Haines Junction is a small town, at the southern point of the Alaskan Highway. They have a very nice visitor center here.

View of Pine Lake

Day 44 – June 14 was an easy drive day.  We were going to the Cottonwood Campground which is located on Kluane Lake, close to Destruction Bay.  It’s a beautiful campground!  But no laundry or trash service here, due to the remoteness.  And it’s only 15 amp since they run off of generator.  But it’s plenty cool so don’t need any a/c.  Kluane Lake is really big!

Very scenic!

Cute campsites.

Kluane Lake

We went to the Visitor Center at Tachal Dhal. We spotted Dahl sheep on the mountain.  Took a drive down a gravel road to see Silver City. It was once the site of a trading post, roadhouse and the NorthWest Mounted Police Barracks.  There are also some old fox pens.  Pretty interesting.

Can you spot the sheep?

Love how the Canadian parks have these chairs!

Silver City ghost town

Pretty cool

What would it take to get it running again?

Greg and Donna found a good fixer upper!

At the campground this evening we enjoyed some Canadian country and western music at the campground!  Unexpected and very much enjoyed it! And then a great kinda sorta sunset.

Ron taking it all in.

Day 45 – June 15 was our day of driving over the frost heaves!  Oh my!  We did enjoy sleeping last night to the sound of rain on our roof.  It was 42 degrees when we woke at 6:00 a.m.  A beautiful morning – low clouds on the mountains, reflected in Kluane Lake.

Beautiful morning!

We are headed to Tok today. It is a hard 240 miles, slow driving, 6 hours and rough.  Going through customs this time was a breeze. No questions asked about veggies, alcohol, tobacco or guns. The trailer got very dirty on the road. We are staying at the Sourdough RV Park which is nice.  Did laundry and cleaned house. Ate an awesome dinner at Fast Eddy’s – grilled salmon but we all soaked up that beautiful, fresh green salad bar! We have lived in fear of having our veggies confiscated at the border(s) so chose to live without lately. Ron and I went to the pancake toss they have at the campground which was a lot of fun.

And that swatch of cleared land is the international border.

Sit in the middle and enjoy being in 2 countries!

That is what a frost heave looks like through our front windshield!

Day 46 – June 16. How sweet it is!  Decided to cover the kitchen window last night and guess what…..we more or less slept in until 8:45! You just have to get used to this daylight all night long! We are finding that Tok isn’t that exciting of a town like we had hoped.  Decided to take a road trip up to Chicken where we did a little panning for gold (flakes I should say).  On the drive back, the guys stopped to help 3 older ladies (2 in their 80’s) that were on their 2^nd flat tire. 

Doing a little gold panning.

Well if you gotta go, you gotta use an outhouse up here.

Greg and Donna

The official "chicken" of Chicken.

It's all about gold mining around here.

These are the buckets they would use.  Lots and lots of buckets. Hard to imagine.

Thought this stage was cute!

Back to the camper for a great dinner, and then we all went to the Pancake Toss at the campground. Everyone won a free breakfast but me. Boo!

Next up is Fairbanks!

Skagway AK to Haines AK

Day 39 – June 9 and we are off bright and early today for Skagway, Alaska!  (And we are really glad to leave that RV park behind.)  We continued on Alaska Hwy. 1, but didn’t see any wildlife today.  We stopped at the Continental Divide which divides two of the largest drainage systems in North America – the Yukon River and the Mackenzie River watersheds.  The Yukon goes to the Bering Sea (Pacific) while the Mackenzie flows northward and empties into the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean). 

 

I know, but there really wasn't a spectacular picture to take.....

Next stop was the Nisutlin Bay Bridge which crosses the Nisutlin River into Teslin.  This bridge is the second longest water span on the Alaska Highway at 1,917 feet. 

We are straddling the British Columbia/Yukon Territory border several times on the highway. Next we choose the route to Skagway so at Jake’s Corner, we get on Highway 8 to Carcross by way of Tagish where we stopped for a quick lunch break ono the beautiful river.  Once we reach Carcross, we stop to admire the Carcross Desert. Pretty interesting to see sand dunes here.

Now we are on the Klondike Highway headed south to Skagway. Oh my – getting some beautiful scenery here!  We stop at Bove Island Viewpoint.

Then there are snowy mountains reflected in Tutshi Lake.

Abandoned mine by the highway.

Then the rocky valley of Summit Lake.

Then we are into the good old USA!  I have to admit, the photos you see from today are Donna’s.  Silly me forgot and did not get my memory card back into my camera and for the life of me, I couldn’t find pictures saved on internal storage on this camera.  So, our photos of us standing in front of “Welcome to Alaska” are lost somewhere…….  It was a breeze going through customs this time.  Now we are in to the history of all the gold seekers!  We are staying the night at Pulleln RV park which is on/at the ferry dock.  It’s a real close walk to town.  Not too bad for a full hook up park – at least it isn’t a gravel parking lot. LOL!  There is an excellent National Historical Park here – The Klondike Gold Rush . Enjoyed an awesome dinner at Skagway Fish Company on the dock.  It’s so windy!

Well, I know, it's Donna and Greg. But just imagine it is me and Ron......

Day 40 – June 10 is another one of those “slow” days.  We are supposed to get in line at 12:30 for the ferry to take us to Haines, AK.  Of course, the ferry leaves at 2:30…… We went and got our passport books stamped at the Klondike Gold Rush NHP. Walked around town again.  Loaded the campers and got to the ferry. Then we had 2 hours to burn, so went to the Red Onion for some pizza!  Now getting onto the Fairweather ferry – all I can say is, so glad Ron and Greg are very capable of backing our rigs in and doing a 90 degree turn inside. I am including a picture showing Greg backing in to give you an idea.  A very pretty, short 15 minute ferry ride. 

Train tracks for the historic train

A little history.....

Wonder if this bike is named "Klondike Gold"?

Skagway....a port city kind of town.

They put the baby fish in here.

This is how you get loaded on the ferry

See how you have to back in?

In the lot waiting....

Gives you a little more perspective on how you get the rigs loaded.

All backed in. Not the easiest....

We think we saw a small beluga whale. Here’s all I got captured of it – the tail.

We are spending the night at Oceanside RV in Haines.  Yes, there is an awesome view.  But along with it, we are camped within 6’ of complete strangers on one side, having to listen to them dredge the harbor, and then there is such strong wind here!  On the up side, it was fun to sit on the edge of the bay and watch the eagles.

Day 41 – June 11 we got up early. So easy to do when the sunrise is around 3:15 am and your neighbors that you don’t know are banging around by 6. We decided to move to Chilkoot State Park, about 10 miles down the road.  It is absolutely beautiful here.  We have a site on the lake. 

Mama duck and a LOT of ducklings!

The view of Haines.

Took a short drive and went to Chilkat State Park, where there are 2 glaciers you can view.  The wind was blowing at least 50 mph here, but the glaciers are beautiful. The Davidson Glacier and Rainbow Glacier.

Rainbow Glacier

This is where they were counting the salmon on the Chilkoot River.

We did get our Alaska fishing licenses today.  Geez….$145 each. But think of all the fun we hope to have!!! We came back and did a little fishing before dinner, but didn’t catch anything. But we heard a story from a man that was there about when he caught a salmon last year, and as he is reeling it in, an eagle swoops down and catches the salmon, that he has hooked.  I can only imagine. It would have to be like kite flying, in a way. Finally, he said the eagle broke his line and took his fish.

Sunset on Chilkoot Lake

Day 42 – June 12 – Thankfully, in the trees, it is dark. And it is quiet here. And we slept in!  We decided to launch the canoe on this beautiful lake.  Had fun spotting eagles on the shore. As I said, it is a beautiful lake.  Went to town later and went to the Bald Eagle Foundation. Interesting.  Came back and went for a hike – wasn’t too long.  Enjoyed visiting with our neighbors from The Woodlands.  They shared good campsite information with us.

Nothing better than being in the canoe on the lake.

Until next time………