Back Through the Yukon

Beaver Creek, the first town after Canadian customs when you're leaving Alaska, meant a stop at the famous Buckshot Bettie's for lunch.  The toughest part of the AlCan road lie ahead - approximately 60 miles of unpaved, gravel road - a typical Yukon highway. We checked all our options before driving this route as we were not looking forward to driving the RV on anymore Canadian goat trails - we priced the ferry, which was too expensive.  We considered taking the  Top of the World Highway, which is also unpaved and too dangerous.  Taking the AlCan was our only option unless we left the RV behind and that wasn't an option.

Destruction Bay to Kluane Lake and Congdon Creek Provincial Park shook us to the bone but we looked forward to seeing the fabulous views on the largest natural lake in the Yukon. We had camped at Congdon Creek on the way to Alaska and it was one of our favorite stops.  When we stopped for gas a few miles before the park, we spoke with fellow end-of-the-season travelers also heading south. We invited them to Congdon Creek and one truck camper followed us down the road. As we pulled in, we noticed they had added bear boxes and that tent camping was still forbidden.  The park had experienced a large amount of grizzly bear traffic this summer but even though we camped there twice we never saw any evidence of them.

The park was about half full and it rained all night.  It was the darkest night ever!  No outside lights, moon, stars, or aurora borealis.  We couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces.  Our 12 volt system lit up the inside of the RV perfectly and the furnace kept us warm and toasty.  We ran the generator for awhile but our new batteries worked like a charm!  

The next morning, Joy had the coffee pot plugged in, our phones charging and an electric heater on which popped the breaker on the generator.  Kathy found the right switch and got us working again within a few minutes.  We hit the road after a yummy breakfast and headed to Haines Junction.

At the junction, we turned east onto highway 1 and drove the last 80 miles of the Alaskan Highway that we had skipped on the way up by taking the ferry from Skagway.  The route brought us through historic Whitehorse which was still relatively busy, especially with European tourists in their rented RV's.  As we drove around town on the loop, we realized we hadn't missed much and found it somewhat disappointing.

Near Whitehorse, Joy noticed that the AlCan bible, the Milepost, mentioned the Tahini Hot Springs which weren't too far off of our route.  It sounded like a welcome escape from the cold rain we'd been driving in so we took a detour so Joy, who is not a shower lover, could actually enjoy the ultimate bath.  She hadn't been able to soak in a tub since we'd left the lower 48 and "hot springs" is just another term for a really big warm bathtub!  

Kathy walked the dogs and started to read a new book while Joy soaked her cares away.  She hadn't been that relaxed since before the trip started.  Her shoulders loosened and her skin turned silky soft from the minerals.  When she arrived there were only 10 others in the pools but when she left it was after school and young hard bodies in bikinis and skimpy trunks began to fill the pool.  She made her exit quickly.  

Kathy drove hard to make up time and due to the extra miles and constant rain she was pretty grumpy and tired by the time we arrived at the Yukon RV Park.  We had filled up on both gas and LP at the park's gas station on our way to Alaska and also bought a yummy loaf of homemade bread.  Joy remembered to use her 4 cents off a litre coupon that we'd received during the first visit.  The women working in the cafe and store were younger and didn't seem familiar with procedures so we thought that maybe the place had recently been sold to new owners.  We picked a site, got a discount and set up in the light rain.  The park's Wifi only worked in the cafe so after dinner we had desert in the cafe and caught up on Internet stuff.  

In the morning, we tried to buy LP but the employees said the system was broken and obviously didn't know how to work it. LP was a priority as weather reports forecast snow in the days ahead. Sure enough, as we neared Watson Lake, beautiful snowy mountains welcomed us. We ended up driving to town 20 miles out of our way for LP.  Kathy felt rested so we went on to Jade City so Joy could get her mineral fix.  We had hoped to be able to camp there but there was only dry camping in the parking lot and no RV park.  We hoped that an advertised RV park several miles down the road would still be open.  

Joy bought jade earrings and we ate at the restaurant which served the best cheese burgers ever. There were several jade and gold miners at the table next to us and we enjoyed eavesdropping on them as we ate.  They told us the campground we planned to stay at was closed for the season - an occurrence that we were finding more and more of.  We decided to try anyway and, if nothing else, would simply pull over somewhere to sleep.

The drive was beautiful and the quality of the roads improved as we moved further south.  We arrived in Dease Lake andsure enough, the RV park was closed.  We found a long parking lot near businesses closed for the night and dry camped.

Getting up early to leave before the businesses opened meant a quick bowl of oatmeal and wearing yesterday's clothes.  Getting out of a parking lot before business owners noticed us is an important task when dry camping.  The drive south became green again - no snow and some wildflowers still in bloom.  

We turned west and began our decent from 4000' feet to sea level on highway 37A toward Stewart. The grades were 7 to 8%  and we were glad there was no hint of snow on the roads.  Kathy spotted something dark ahead on the side of the road and, sure enough, a big old black bear was in the ditch munching away on roots.  A semi coming from the other direction didn't even disturb him - he'd obviously been through this before.  He looked much older than the other bears we'd seen and took a good look at us before deciding to leave his dinner by walking back into the woods.

We pulled in and set up at our site in the Bear River RV Park in Stewart - excited about cable and hot showers.  As usual, we were disappointed that the cable was weak, the wifi had a 50 mb per day limit and showers were pay showers.  Canada was wearing thin on us and we were eager to get back to the lower 48.

 

Finishing the AlCan

From British Columbia to Alaska, the Alaskan Highway aka the AlCan, was the answer to the Japanese threat during World War II.  Completed in 1942, it ensured the United States and Canada could defend their northern borders as well as provide support to their Russian allies.  Our journey to the end of the AlCan ended in Fairbanks.

On Tuesday we headed into Tok as soon as we closed up the Visitors Center.  We stayed at the Tetlin NWR Headquarters, which allowed us to easily dump our black an gray water tanks, fill our fresh water tank, do our laundry and reconnect briefly with the world.

We were on the road the next morning by 10:00 am and spotted two moose before we even got to Delta Junction.  The first was a cow with twin calves who ran along the highway while considering crossing until she saw us.  The cow turned and gently nudged one of the calves toward the woods and away from the road.  It was an obvious gesture that mommy knew best as she taught her young ones road safety.  They disappeared safely into the woods and we drove on.

The views of the Alaskan Range were wonderful and we began to talk about our future trip to Denali. We still needed to make reservations and see if we could get more consecutive days off to make the trip.

Just south of town is the Delta Junction Meat Market.  A clean  processing plant that packages local domestic protein including reindeer, pork, elk, yak, and beef.  We sampled and then stocked our freezer.

Back on the road, we followed the Alaskan pipeline across the bridge honoring the black army brigade that helped construct the highway.  It's amazing bridges stand for so many years.  What beautiful works of architectural art they are!  The pipeline follows many miles of the Richardson Highway and became our shadow between Delta Junction and Fairbanks as it ran beside the highway, through the woods and along mountain ledges.

We arrived in Delta Junction and located the original mile post signaling the end of the Alaskan Highway. There is also a final milepost in Fairbanks which we address below.  One of the intentions of the highway was to join up with the north to south running Richardson Highway.  We took our photo with the milepost and Joy got silly with the worlds largest mosquito.

Nearing Fairbanks, we noted two significant military bases.  Eielson Airforce base and Ft. Wainwright Army base.  As we drove past Eielson, we warned by signs to not stop, stand or photograph, as the highway paralleled the airport where we saw C-130's and F-16's parked.  Joy, of course, ignored the signs and got a great shot of an airwacs doing touch and go's.

After driving on the first divided "highway" we'd seen in months, we saw signs for the North Pole. Driving right past Santa's house, we decided to save our visit for the trip home.

We drove to the county park that we had intended to stay at but all sites with electricity were full.  The air was also full - of mosquitoes - so we drove down the road to Rivers Edge RV park.  Clean and busy, the park was clean although a little cramped.  At least they had cable and yes, we watched TV!

After getting hooked up and taking care of the pups, we went out looking for Mexican food (the last time we've done so in Alaska.)  We found a promising restaurant and even had a Hispanic waiter; but alas, the food was gringo style.  Sweetened tomato sauce instead of enchilada sauce and microwave quality food.  The chips and salsa were actually good so we ate our fill.

The next day we went to the visitors center and cultural center.  We watched a movie about the aurora borealis, walked the river path to other attractions, and actually ran into some tourists from Germany we'd met at the Visitor Center back in Tetlin.  Eventually, we found the final AlCan milepost signifying when the the AlCan was rebuilt to make the road available to car travel and Fairbanks became the final milepost. It was the first city in Alaska available for tourism via automobile.

With our sightseeing done, we headed out to conduct business.  Keila and Frances conducted theirs at PetCo.  Keila got her nails trimmed, Frances found an antler and both got their next month's supply of dog food. After Petco, we all headed to the dog park as it had been quite a while since the pups were allowed to run off leash.  At the park, we met a nice young woman and her typical Alaskan street dog, long legged with long pointy ears, playful and energetic.

After dropping the pups back at the RV, we headed to Fred Meyers, a cross between Wal-Mart and Costco.  The store was enormous, clean, well stocked, and provided  great customer service.  We bumped into some more people we'd met at the Visitor Center - this time a graduate student who was studying the aurora borealis and her older sister.  We laughed as this was the third time we'd run into visitors we'd met at the refuge in other parts of the state.

The next morning, on our way out of town, we conducted our last piece of business - getting the tires rotated on the Jeep and having someone look at a faulty valve extension on the RV. We found a tire shop large enough to work on the RV.  They were friendly and helpful and let the dogs hang out with us in the shop as they worked on the vehicles.  It was cold and rainy so we enjoyed all being together.

Within an hour, we back on the road and headed to the North Pole!  Growing up, Joy's neighbor, Pinky, and her family were from Alaska.  They moved to Minnesota after working on the pipeline.  Pinky often told Joy about meeting Santa Claus in North Pole but Joy never believed her - until now.  North Pole, Alaska is home to Santa's shop and post office where it is Christmas every day of the year.  The shop is full of not just decorations, but clothing, gifts, and fudge.  Joy lined up to sit on Santa's lap just like all the children - thankfully, she wasn't arrested.

We purchased our few items, including fudge, and got back on the road.  The stretch between Delta Junction and Tok provided several more moose to view and we now tell our visitors to look for them when we find out they're traveling that same stretch of road.

On our way home, about 10 miles from the visitor's center, we rounded a corner and found this juvenile black bear sitting smack dab in the middle of the road.  We came to a stop as he stood up, glared at us, and walked away.

We would hear several visitors report to us about seeing him as the summer went on but luckily, we don't think he got any closer to our campsite.  Juvenile black bears are unpredictable and certainly not the animal you want to confront.